Africa at the 2015 Oscars ...

Virunga - nominated for Best Documentary. This is an incredible documentary about Virunga National Park located in the eastern DRC home to a remaining third of the mountain gorillas left on the planet. To protect the gorillas, brave rangers led by park director Emmanuel de Merode, have had to to battle oil prospectors, poachers and a full scale civil war. This movie documents just a year in the life of Africa's oldest national park.

The opening of the documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, coincided with the attempted murder of Emmanuel de Merode, the park director. It's an incredibly important documentary, that you should watch even though (disappointingly) it did not bring home the oscar.

Timbuktu - nominated for Best Foreign Language Movie. Directed by Mauritanian born Abderrahmane Sissako, whose film is set  in the ancient city of Timbuktu which was seized by an al-Qaida-affiliated group, who held the town for almost a year. Sissako tells the story of Kidane, a cattle herder who lives peacefully in the mountains with his family. Kidane's fate changes after he accidentally kills a fisherman who slaughtered his cow. A great documentary to watch even though it did not win the oscar!

Africa at the 2014 Oscars ....

The 2014 Academy Awards took place on Sunday, 2 March, and for once Africa was well represented with several Oscar nominations! Africa hadn't seen this much action since 2010 when Invictus, District 9, and Music by Prudence were up for Oscars.

 There's been quite a drought of mainstream recognition and success for African actors, directors and producers. Of course many movies are still being made on the continent, we just don't get to see them unless we're lucky enough to attend a foreign film festival (see list below). 

And the 2014 nominees were .....

Chiwetel Ejiofor  -  Best Actor for a Leading Role in "12 Years a Slave". 

Chiwetel was born in the UK to Nigerian parents. He tragically lost his father in a car accident when the family was visiting Nigeria for a wedding. Chiwetel turned to acting as a way to deal with his grief, and never looked back. He has been nominated for numerous awards including a Golden Globe, but this is his first Oscar nomination. In a recent CBS interview he said: "Somebody had said to me that if you don't change your name, you're going to end up playing a lot of African parts, you know? To which I was like, That's great! I want to play Africa parts, you know what I mean? I'm an African."

Lupita Nyong'o - Best Actress in a Supporting Role in  "12 Years a Slave" - WINNER!!

Lupita was born in Mexico to Kenyan parents, but she grew up in Kenya. This was her first major role in an American movie. She recently graduated from Yale School of Drama with an MFA. In 2009, she wrote, directed, and produced the documentary In My Genes, about the treatment of Kenya's albino population -- a very important film - watch it if you can.

Barkhad Abdi - Best Actor in a Supporting Role in "Captain Phillips." 

Barkhad was born in Somalia and raised in Yemen. He moved to the US as a teenager with his family. This was his first cinematic role, and he really knocked it out the park, incredible performance. He is currently working on directing his own movie, and auditioning for more acting parts.

Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer (Egypt) - Best Documentary Feature - The Square,

The Square refers to Cairo's Tahrir Square - the epicenter of political events that have swamped Egypt since 2011. From revolution aimed at ending political oppression to the overthrow of the new president, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Let's also root for movies based in Africa ...

Long Walk to Freedom which is nominated for Best Original Song - "Ordinary Love"

Captain Phillips which is nominated for Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Africa at the 2013 Oscars

2013 marked the second year in a row that Africa was a complete no-show. But at least Searching for Sugar Man was up for an Academy Award for best documentary -- and WON!

Officially a British/Swedish documentary, Searching for Sugar Man is about two South Africans in search of their musical hero from the 1970's - Rodriguez. Rodriguez was an inspiration to many South Africans (especially white South Africans). In South Africa his albums were more popular than anything the Rolling Stones put out. His anti-establishment songs had a profound affect on the youth of the day who were stuck in the stifling era of Apartheid and sanctions. But Rodriguez, who lived and recorded in Detroit was completely unknown in the US, he only sold half a dozen records.

I won't give away any more of the documentary, you just have see it! 

Africa at the 2012 Oscars

Not a single African film/short/documentary ... in the final list of nominations for the 2012 Oscars. Of course, numerous films  were made in Africa. Nollywood was still booming and FESPACO 2011 was a success. FESPACO is Africa's best known film festival, it showcases plenty of excellent films.

Africa at the 2011 Oscars

Algeria was the lonely African contender for this year's Oscars. Outside the Law directed by Rachid Bouchareb, was nominated for Best Foreign Film. It's a historical drama set during Algeria's struggle for independence from France. (Read the NYT Review)

Africa at the 2010 Oscars

A big year for Africa, with no less than two South African themed movies, District 9 and Invictus  nominated for Oscars and a documentary short nomination -- Music By Prudence about a young Zimbabwean lady. The Oscars had not been this exciting since Tsotsi won in 2006. 

District 9 is about an alien spaceship that lands in Johannesburg. The aliens on board are moved into a refugee camp inside a township. Twenty years later, the government wants to relocate them further afield, they've become a nuisance, people are suspicious of them and crime is rampant. The script is excellent, there are many themes that parallel South African history including what happened in District 6 during Apartheid, recent displays of xenophobia in townships, and corporate greed. The special effects are great and the acting is fantastic, unfortunately no Oscar nominations in that category. District 9 is up for 4 Oscars:

• Best Picture
• Best Editing
• Best Adapted Screenplay
• Best visual effects

Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, tells the story of South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup, a year after the end of Apartheid in South Africa. Nelson Mandela and the Springbok captain Francois Pienaar joined forces and helped unite the country in support of their national team. The team won, South Africa won and now hopefully an Oscar will be won as well. This is a powerful film on all fronts and it's very well acted but still a shame they didn't use South Africans for the lead parts. I guess a political movie set in Africa, and involving Rugby would not have seen the light of day if it had it not been for the star power of both Oscar nominees:

• Morgan Freeman - Best Actor
• Matt Damon - Best Supporting Actor

Music by Prudence was directed and produced by Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett. The documentary tells the story of Prudence, a Zimbabwean lady with a strong voice but a weak body. She suffers from a debilitating condition called arthrogryposis which has left her crippled and deformed. The documentary charts her life in rural Zimbabwe where she led a life of poverty and some years of severe abuse. Her salvation comes in the form of a privately funded school for disabled children in Bulawayo, and from there Prudence finds her voice. Music by Prudence is nominated for:

• Documentary Short - WINNER!

Sometimes the only way to check out new African movies is to attend a festival...

Annual Movie Festivals in Africa:

• Cairo (Nov/Dec)
• Lagos (March/April)
• Zanzibar (July)
• Burkina Faso (FESPACO, biannual March)
• Uganda
• Durban (July) and Cape Town (November)

There are also excellent African film festivals in Tarifa (Spain), Toronto Canada (June/July), Edinburgh, Scotland (November), Nollywood Festival in London, and Portland(Feb/Mar) USA. Universities and other world cinema supporters also host small festivals every year, so check your local listings.