Colours of the Nile International Film Festival Launches Monday 24 March 2014

48 African films from around the continent will be highlighted during the festival, which runs from 24 – 31 March 2014.

The second edition of Colours of the Nile International Film Festival (CONIFF) launches on Monday 24 March 2014 highlighting 48 African film offerings from around the continent, all of which will be African, East African or Ethiopian premieres from African directors or producers. There will be competitive categories for features, documentaries and short films, with ten awards being given out, including The Great Nile Award for Best Feature Film Director.

The feature selection of 11 films spans a number of debut features: Chika Anadu’s B for Boy, Kenneth Gyang’s Confusion Na Wa, Soussaba Cisse’s Rumours of War, David Tosh Gitonga’s Narobi Half Life, Shams Bhanji’s Zamora: to the more established names of Lincino Azavedo’s Virgin Margarida; Moussa Toure’s La Pirogue; Ntshaveheni Wa Luruli (Elelwani) and Judy Kibinge’s Something Necessary. The list is completed with the Second feature from Ethiopian Director Yidnekachew Shumete, Nishan.

“The festival provides an opportunity to showcase some of the latest films by African filmmakers in its competition sections and to introduce audiences also to older films that they may not have had the opportunity to see, out of competition, including a country focus this year inviting the audience to look back at some of the films from the post-apartheid South Africa, a country which has had a very unique journey of renewal” says June Givanni, the artistic director of the festival.

The line-up of seven impressive documentaries in competition includes both of the filmswhich are from North Africa in this festival: Bout de Vie: Bout de Reve (Algeria/France) and Boxing with Her (Tunisia) presenting unusual and radical perspectives of the world.  All of The films in this section were made in the last two years. Here again, established names of Jean Marie Teno (Leaf in The Wind), William Mbye (President Dia): rub shoulders with the rising stars such as Mati Diop; Lovinsa Kavuma; and Shannon Walsh&Arya Lalloo (Jeppe on a Friday).

The short films competition contains 14 films which were all made in the last 12 months and which provide a kaleidoscopic vision of images, sounds and stories of the continent that will provide audiences with a real treat.  The section included five films which have resulted from the Focus Features Africa First Short Film Programme, Twagga,Security, Adamt, Kwaku Ananse, and Berea. The range of genres and styles attest to the fact that the skills and ambitions of young filmmakers remain as varied and ambitious powered with a Renaissance vision and spirit.

In its country focus section dedicated fully to South African cinema this year, CONIFF programmed a tribute to Nelson Mandela – Madiba, the Great Man of Peace who has marked humanity. Nelson Mandela: “The Struggle Is My Life” by the ANC member Lionel Ngakane will be one of the films to be screened in this section. Oliver Schmitz’s Hijack Stories and Mapantusla, Zola Maseko’s Drum and Madoda Ncayiyana’s Izulu Lami are the other films screened in the South African focus together with a documentary by David Forbes, The Cradock four.

The non-competitive section of the festival “Best of the Rest”  includes a retrospective of the works of Newton Aduaka and an important ‘Mockumentary’ by Cameroun DirectorJean-Pierre Bekolo that sets a challenge to spirit of Renaissance (The President). The feature Kinshasa Kids by Marc-Henri Wajnberg and three engaging documentaries Creativity in Exile:  Joy its Nina; and Messages by Music that are linked in their expressions of migration and PanAfricanism, complete the out of competition section.

“Our selection captures the shifting paradigm in African cinema that is brought forward by extremely talented young African filmmakers. At the same time the festival upholds and celebrates the extraordinary work of established names of African cinema. This flavour opens a new window to dive into the captivating yet unexplored world of African cinema” says Abraham Haile Biru, CONIFF’s founder and president.

Oliver Smitz’s film Life above All will open the festival.

The 2^nd Edition of Colours of the Nile International Film Festival is organized by Blue Nile Film and Television Academy in partnership with the Ethiopian Filmmakers Association.  The festival is made possible with the generous support of the European Union, Institut Francais, UNESCO, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Alliance Ethio-française d’Addis-Abeba, Embassy of the Republic of France in Addis Ababa, Embassy of the Republic of France in Kenya, The Italian Cultural Institute, Timret Lehiwot Ethiopia, W/Loul Travel and Tour, Reporter News Paper, KETA Printers Plc and Leyu Design.

 

Colours of the Nile International Film Festival 2014: Line Up

Lenses on African Renaissance 2014 Line-up

Opening Film:           Life above All

Oliver Schmitz/South Africa, germany/2011/100’/ Southern Sotho/English Subtitles

A.   Feature Competition

1.    Por aqui tudo bem (All is Well)

Pocas Pascoal | Portugal, Angola | 2011 | 94’ | Portuguese | English subtitles

2.    B for Boy

Chika Anadu/ Nigeria/2012/ 118’/ Igbo/ English subtitles

3.    Confusion Na Wa

Kenneth Gyang /Nigeria/2013/104’/ English/Pidgin/English subtitles

4.    La pirogue

 Moussa Touré /Senegal/ 2012/ 87 min/Wolof/French/Spanish/ English subtitles

5.    Nishan

Yidnekachew Shumete/Ethiopia/2013/105’/ Amharic/English Subtitle

6.    Something Necessary

Judy Kibinge/Kenya / Germany /2013/85’/ Swahili, Kikuyu, English & Kalenjin/English subtitles

7.    Virgin Margarida / Virgem Margarida

Licínio Azevedo/Mozambique/2012/ Portuguese/English Subtitle

8.    Zamora

Shams Bhanji/Tanzania/2012/96’/ Swahili/English Subtitles

9.    Ngunu Ngunu Kan (Rumors of War)

Soussaba Cissé/Mali/ 2012/90’/Language/English Subtitle

10.  Nairobi Half Life

David Tosh Gitonga/Kenya/2012/96’/Swahili,Kikuyu,Sheng,/English Subtitles

11.  Elelwani

Ntshaveni Wa Luruli/South Africa/2013/103’/ Venda/English Subtitles

B.   Documentary Competition

1.    Bouts de vies bouts de rêves/Pieces of lives, Pieces of Dreams)

Hamid Benamra/Algeria / 2012/100’/French/English subtitles

2.    Jeppe on a Friday

Shannon Walsh & Arya Lalloor /South Africa/2012/87’/English & Zulu/English Subtitles

3.    Leaf in the Wind

Jean-Marie Teno /Cameroon, Gabon/2013/ 55’/English, French/English Subtitles

4.     President Dia

Ousmane William Mbaye/Senegal/ 2012/54’/French/English Subtitles

5.    Curse of an Addict, Zanzibar

Lovinsa Kavuma/Tanzania/2013/25’/Language/English Subtitles

6.     Boxing with Her

Latifa Robbana Doghri & Salem Trabelsi / Tunisia / 2011 / 52’/ Arabic/ English subtitles

7.    Mille Soleils (A Thousand Suns)

Mati DIOP/Senegal/ 2013/45’/wolof/English Subtitles

C.   Short Competition

1.    Adamt (Listen)

Zelalem Woldemariam/Ethiopia/2013/19’/Amharic/English subtitles

2.    Cleaning Time (Etzlenu)

Alamork Marsha/Ethiopia/2013/15:17/Amaharic & Hibrew/English Subtitles

3.    Hold Strong

Marius Bonfeu /South Africa /2013/15:17/Amaharic & Hibrew/English Subtitles

4.    Meniscus

Marc Thomas & Chloe Speller/South Africa/2012//10’/English

5.    Sodique

Adeyemi Michael/Nigeria/2013/16:9/English/English Subtitles

6.    Parameter

Tigist Selam/Ethiopia, USA/2013/3:33/English

7.    Security

Mark Middlewick/South Africa/2013/15’/English

8.     Shoeshine

Amil Shivji/Tanzania /2013/24’/ Swahili /English Subtitles

9.    Touch

Shola Amoo/Nigeria,UK/2013/14’/English

10.  Twaaga

Cedric Ido/ Burkinafasso, France /2013/30’ /French/English Subtitles

11.  Kwaku Anansi

Akosua Adoma Owusu/Ghana/2013/25’/Twi/English Subtitles

12.  The Line Up

Folasakin Iwajomo/Nigeria/2013/13’/ English, Pidgin, Yoruba/English subtitles

13.  The Other Woman (L’autre Femme)

Marie KA/Senegal/2013/12:15min/ French /English subtitles

14.  Berea

Vincent Moloi./South Africa /2013/15’/ English

15.  The secret of Love

Alemayhu Wosen/Ethiopia/ 2014/7:48m/ Amharic / English Subtitles

D.    “A Taste of South African Cinema” 

 1.    Hijack Stories

Oliver Schmitz /2000/South AFRICA/Oliver Schmitz/90’/English

2.    Drum

Zola Maseko’s/South Africa/2004/’94/Afrikaans & German/English sub title

3.    Izulu Lami

Madoda Ncayiyana/South Africa/2008/90’/Zulu/English Subtitle

4.    Mapantusla

Oliver Schmitz/South Africa/1987/104’/Zulu | Southern Sotho | Afrikaans | English subtitles

5.    The Cradock four

David Forbes/2010/’92/ English / English Subtitle

6.    Nelson Mandela: The Struggle Is My Life

Lionel Ngakane/South Africa/1985/45’/Englis

7.    Mandela 

Clifford Bestall/South Africa/2009/52/English

 

E.    “Best of the Rest”

1.    The president

Jean Pierre Bekolo/Cameroun /2013/’65/ French/English subtitl

2.    Kinshasa kids

Marc-Henri Wajnberg./Belgium-France/2012/’85/English Subtitle

3.    Creation in Exile

Daniela Ricci/France/2013/’52/English

4.    Message By Music

Cornelia Strasser/Switzerland,Senegal/2013/76’/French Wolof/English Subtitle

 5.    JOY IT’S NINA

Jane Thorburn/ NIGERIA, UK/2012/’35/English

6.    Ezra :  Newton Aduaka: Retrospective

Newton Aduaka/Nigeria/2008/’110/English

7.    Rage; Newton Aduaka: Retrospective

Newton I. Aduaka/UK/1999/’100/English

8.    One Man’s Show: Newton Aduaka: Retrospective

Newton Aduaka/Nigeria,France/2012/’75/French,english,Latin.Beti/English Subtitle

Workshops

1.      Making of an independent low budget film

By Newton I. ADUAKA

2.      Writing Short Film & Directing Feature Film

By Solomon Bekele Weya

3.      Hands on Documentary Filmmaking

By Hamid Benamra

4.      Film Criticism and Curating

By June Givanni

5.      Festival Organization and Management

By Dr. Lizelle Bisschoff

6.      Cinema for peace and dialogue

By Designed and facilitated by Taghreed Elsanhouri

 7.      Acting for the Big Screen

Susan Wanjiru and Eric Mugambi Nthiga

8.      Indian Ocean Short Films

Sponsors and Partners

The 2^nd Edition of Colours of the Nile International Film festival was made possible with the generous support of:

• The European Union
• Institut Francais
• UNESCO
• Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie
• Alliance Ethio-française d’Addis-Abeba
• Embassy of the Republic of France in Addis Ababa
• Embassy of the Republic of France in Kenya
• The Italian Cultural Institute
• Timret Lehiwot Ethiopia
• W/Loul Travel and Tour
• Reporter News Paper
• KETA Printers Plc
• Leyu Design (Abraham Taye)
• The Ethiopian Film Makers Association
• Reporter and The Reporter News Papers
• R.M Stekelenburg Webs design & Development
• P.A.R van dar Zijden Webiste Hosting Service
• Doum Media and Promotion
• Abraham Gizaw Entertainment & Press Works
• MELOR Printing & Advertising

 From the Artistic Director

Renaissance Spirit:  A Festival Against the Odds

This year’s festival is brought to you with the sheer dedication and hard work of a small team working against severe resource constraints, but managing to secure the goodwill and co-operation of   filmmakers who have submitted their films willingly to engage and entertain the Addis audience, young and old.   That generosity of spirit from all those whose films are showing, has made it possible for us to be able to present to you over 45 films from more than 19 countries, North, South, East and West of the continent: including 4 films from Ethiopian filmmakers.   Together the films in this programme provide stunning visual entertaining and informative images of Africa’s contemporary and historical journey of renewal in all spheres of its existence; celebrating primarily the cultural Renaissance that testifies to the continents continued and growing relevance to humanity.  Though all is not celebration:  some of the films using drama, documentary and satire also challenge us with the reminder that there is still much to be done to keep the spirit of Renaissance moving us forward as a people.

The festival provides an opportunity to showcase some of the latest films by African filmmakers in its competition sections and to introduce audiences also to older films and others that they may not have had the opportunity to see, out of competition, including a country focus this year inviting Addis audiences to look back at some of the films from the post-apartheid South African Film Industry, at a country which has had a very unique journey of renewal.

In keeping with the festival’s origins at the Blue Nile Film and Television Academy, concerned with supporting and training the next generation of African filmmakers, the festival is able to present this year a series of topical workshops to educate and to inspire them. The festival is also blessed to have the co-operation of the Sudanese filmmaker Taghred Elsanhouri on the jury who will also conduct the workshop around a selection of short films from North Sudan ‘Cultural Healing’ and South Sudan ‘Juba Youth’:  and Mohamed Said-Ouma from the Reunion and Comores who is also a Jury member, will conduct the workshop featuring short films from the network of festivals of African islands in the Indian Ocean (Reunion/ Madagascar/Comores/Mauritius) whose impact on the cinema of the continent is growing.

We are honoured to have a retrospective of the films of the award-winning Nigerian filmmaker Newton Aduaka who will also be conducting a workshop around his feature films which will be shown in a short retrospective of his work  in the festival.  His award-winning film Ezra; his first feature Rage and his latest feature film One Man Show will be shown this year.  The festival is particularly blessed to have the generous collaboration of Newton and 3 other African filmmakers as jury members this year.  The festival is also pleased to present two debut feature films in competition from Nigeria, and 3 short films from Nigerian filmmakers.

The festival could not take place this year without remembering one of the most historic events of 2014, so early in the year, the passing of Nelson Mandela – Madiba – The Great Man of Peace who has marked humanity.  Two documentaries made by South African filmmakers will be shown to pay tribute to Madiba.  Nelson Mandela:The Struggle Is My Life by the ANC member Lionel Ngakane who helped to raise the profile of the anti-apartheid struggle while in exile and working as a filmmaker in the UK; and the filmmaker Clifford Bestall who made the film Project Mandela, as part of the MNet series on African leaders.

In addition to the Madiba Tribute; the South African films in competition (one feature, one documentary and 3 short films); and the small repertory programme on South African cinema, we are pleased to have, the film last from one of South Africa’s prolific feature film directors Oliver Schmitz, Life Above All, which will have its Ethiopian premiere as the opening film of this year’s festival.

So you can see there is much to take in at this year’s festival.  Come and laugh, ponder, learn, reflect and be transported to worlds beyond your own.  We look forward to seeing you at the many screenings and festival events.  May the festival continue to entertain and inspire you this year and for many years to come.

June Givanni/March 2014

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