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ABOUNA
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Our Price: $26.95
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Fifteen-year-old Tahir and his eight-year-old brother Amine attempt to adapt to life without their absent father, who has left their small village in Chad near the Cameroon border to find work. Poignant and beautifully shot, the film carefully follows the boys as they struggle to stay together and find hope while the realization that their father may never return sets in. In Chad Arabic with English subtitles. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun---Chad/France---2002---84 mins.
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ADANGGAMAN
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Our Price: $29.95
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Black Africans are capturing African tribesmen and trading them into European slavery in this historical drama set in the 17th century. Adanggaman, played by Rasmane Ouedraogo, is a native tyrant complicit in the trafficking of human cargo. When Ossei (Ziable Honore Goore Bi) is off on a secret tryst, his village is attacked by Adanggaman and his men, who take his mother hostage and murder the rest of his loved ones. Ossei's journey to rescue his mother will define or end his young adult life. "As fundamental, and haunted, as a combat scar" (Michael Atkinson, Village Voice). Director Roger Gnoan M'Bala uses native songs and rhythms to contrast the shocking images. In Bambara, Baoule and French with English subtitles. Roger Gnoan M'Bala---Ivory Coast/Switzerland---2000---85 mins.
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BAMAKO
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Our Price: $29.95
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"The most politically urgent film in the 2006 NY Film Festival combines a bracing indictment of the world financial system with a subtle glimpse at daily life in Africa" (A.O. Scott, The New York Times). Directed by Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako (Waiting for Happiness), Bamako's experimental narrative veers between the story of a young nightclub singer (Aissa Maiga) and her boyfriend (Tiecoura Traore) on the verge of a break-up, and scenes of a court case against the IMF and World Ba nk being held in the courtyard of their apartment complex. In French and Bambara Abderrahmane Sissako---Mali/France/USA---2006---118 mins.
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BOY CALLED TWIST
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Our Price: $19.99
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Director Tim Greene transplants Dickens' Oliver Twist to contemporary Cape Town in a superb South African coming-of-age story. Jarrid Geduld plays the sprightly hero, who escapes from a rural orphanage and travels to the city to fall in with an unruly gang of urchins. By capturing the harsh realities of a socially stratified city, Greene effectively breathes new life into a timeless, powerful tale. "Shows admirable pluck, due to its star's nigh-on criminal kid charisma" (Village Voice). Tim Greene---South Africa---2004---115 mins.
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DARESALAM
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Our Price: $29.95
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Two friends, Dijmi (Haikail Zakaria) and Koni (Abdoulaye Ahmat) find their relationship strained to the breaking point when political turmoil causes them to join rival factions of a revolutionary movement. Issa Serge Coelo's beautifully photographed debut lends an unforgetable human face to the violent strife plaguing central Africa. "A poignant essay on civil war in modern-day Chad... achingly beautiful" (L.A. Weekly). In Arabic and French with Issa Serge Coelo---Chad---2000---105 mins.
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DREAMS OF DUST
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Our Price: $24.95
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In this Sundance Film Festival approved drama, Mocktar, a Nigerian peasant with a haunted past, travels to Burkina Faso in search of a job at a gold mine. Sadly, the gold rush ended long ago, and the population of this ghost town has all but given up on life. That is, except for Coumba, a beautiful woman who wants to give her daughter a better future. In doing so, she also inspires Mocktar to keep dreaming. "Perfectly crafted" (Variety). In French with English subtitles. Laurent Salgues---France/Burkina Faso---2006---86 mins.
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FIRST GRADER, THE
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Our Price: $19.97
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"In 2003, when the Kenyan government offered free education to all citizens, an 84-year-old villager showed up at the gates of his local primary school. Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge may be illiterate, but he knows his rights, and eventually convinces head teacher Jane Obinchu to let him learn beside students eight decades his junior" (Time Out).
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GENESIS
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Our Price: $29.95
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Cheick Oumar Sissoko's Genesis is a beautiful adaptation of the story of the house of Abraham, transported to Mali with a cast of African actors. Based on the book of Genesis, chapters 33-37, the film follows the bitter rivalry between brothers Jacob and Esau and the resulting cycle of violence, with Sissoko mixing relevant allusions to African history and culture into the Biblical tale. "A work of deep conscience and imagination, of great visual beauty, stunning" (Stuart Klawans, The Nation). In Bambara with English Cheick Oumar Sissoko---Mali/France---1999---102 mins.
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GREAT AFRICAN FILMS V1
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Our Price: $39.95
In Stock
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The first in a series of award-winning films from Africa, which includes Drissa Toure's Haramuya (Burkina Faso/France, 1995, 87 mins., French and Bambara with English subtitles), a lively dramatic feature about cultural and economic disparities in the capital city of Burkina Faso. These social conflicts are revealed through the trials of a Muslim family caught between the traps of modernity and the sway of tradition. "Haramuya is an urban chronicle, a gallery of portraits in situations which create a colorful mosaic" (Cannes Film Festival). In Abbdoulaye Ascofare's Faraw! Mother of the Dunes (Mali, 1997, 90 mins., Songhoi with English subtitles), a mother of three tries desperately to keep her family alive upon the return of her mentally and physically destroyed husband, a political prisoner. Determined to have her children survive without prostituting her beautiful daughter, her struggle symbolizes the plight of all African women trapped in a cycle of extreme poverty. "One of the strongest portraits of female determination to Drissa Toure/Abbdoulaye Ascofare---Burkina Faso/France/Mali---1995/1997---177 mins.
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GREAT AFRICAN FILMS V2
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Our Price: $39.95
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The second installment in this series of award-winning films from Africa includes Kollo Sanou's Tasuma (2003, 90 mins., French and Jula with English subtitles), a comic look at the impact of Western colonialism on Africa. Retired from the French army, West African native Sogo waits patiently for his pension, which he plans to use to build a grain mill for the women of his village. When the money does't arrive, he and the villagers take matters into their own hands. "Tasuma camouflages its razor-sharp indignation with warmth and disarming grace" (Village Voice). Next is Dani Kouyate's Sia, the Dream of the Python (2001, 96 mins., Bambara with English subtitles), a modern adaptation of a seventh-century African legend. A poor village decides it must make a human sacrifice to a mystical snake god to guarantee a better future. Sia, the most beautiful woman in the village, is chosen for the ritual, but she runs away in revolt. "Delivers a powerful commentary on how governments lie, no matter who runs them" (New York Kollo Daniel Sanou/Dani Kouyate---Burkina Faso/France---2003/2001---186 min s.
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GUIMBA THE TYRANT
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Our Price: $29.95
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A dark political satire in the guise of a colorful fairy tale, directed by Mali's Cheick Oumar Sissoko, a committed spokesperson for African cinema.
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HOLLOW CITY
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Our Price: $24.95
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One of very few films produced in Angola following the country's bitter civil war (and the only one by an Angolan woman), this affecting drama tells of a 12-year-old orphan who slips away from his caretakers to roam the crowded, dangerous streets of Luanda. As a nun follows him in worried pursuit, young N'Dala meets an eclectic assortment of individuals during his bewildering, often frightening travels. "A hauntingly powerful sketch of the forgotten casualties of Angola's political landscape" (Cambridge Film Festival). In Portuguese with English subtitles. Maria Joao Ganga---Angola---2004---88 mins.
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HYENAS
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Our Price: $29.95
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Based on Friedrich Durrenmatt's play The Visit, Hyenas is the story of Linguere Ramatou (Ami Diakhate), a woman who returns to the village she was banished from 30 years before. She left poor, unmarried and pregnant, and now returns wealthy, free--and vengeful. Linguere promises the people of the village of Colobane her entire fortune in exchange for the life of Dramaan Drameh (Mansour Diouf), the man who betrayed her and sent her into exile. A brilliant metaphor for post-colonial Africa. "A crowd pleaser...a wicked tale told with wit and irony" (Georgia Brown, The Village Voice). Djibril Diop Mambety---Senegal---1992---110 mins.
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JOURNEY TO LASTA
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Our Price: $19.95
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Tsegaye B. Selassie stars as a driven musician who leaves his home in California to search for a long lost childhood friend. Once reunited, they embark on a journey to bring their group's Ethiopian Reggae music to America. Based on true events, and starring Reggae legend Ras Michael as himself.
Wondwossen D. Dikran---Ethiopia---2004---92 mins.
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KARMEN GEI
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Our Price: $29.95
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The legendary story of Carmen, made famous by George Bizet's opera, receives an imaginative reworking by Senegalese director Joseph Gai Ramaka. The film stars Djeinaba Diop Gai as Karmen, a lascivious female inmate whose flirting draws the attention of the prison warden. Karmen's seduction enables her escape, but it isn't long before a military policeman catches up with her. Throughout her ordeal, Karmen stays afloat on the strength of her insatiable lust for life and her sexual magic - until her tragic and inevitable downfall. "[This] may be the most magnetic, most beautiful and bravest Carmen ever to grace a stage or screen" (San Francisco Bay Guardian). Joseph Gai Ramaka---Senegal---2001---82 mins.
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LIFE ON EARTH
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Our Price: $19.98
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In this poetic docu-drama, French-based director Sissako plays a character very close to himself who returns to the poor village in Mali where he was raised to visit his father (played by the filmmaker's real-life dad). As news of the New Year's celebrations in Paris are heard over the radio, this small, struggling community is barely affected at all as a new millennium dawns. This very personal reflection on the state of Africa was made for the 2000 Seen by project, a series of films with millennial themes commissioned for French television. In French and Bambara with English subtitles. Abderrahmane Sissako---Mauritania/France---1998---61 mins.
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LIVING IN BONDAGE
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The first significant entry in Nollywood's burgeoning "home video" market, which would come to supplant the United States in terms of sheer filmic output. Kenneth Okonkwo and Kanayo O. Kanayo star in a longwinded tale of greed and voodoo. In Ibo.
Chris Obi Rapu---Nigeria---1992---163 mins.
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MADAME BROUETTE
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Our Price: $24.99
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Mati (Rokhaya Niang) is a proud and independent woman who sells produce from a wheelbarrow on the streets of Sandaga, Senegal. Together with her daughter Ndeye and her friend Ndaxte, Mati hopes to open a small restaurant that will allow her to earn an income with dignity. But her budding relationship with slick-talking policeman Naago threatens to upend Mati's dreams and endanger her family's lives. In French with English subtitles. Moussa Sene Absa---Senegal---2002---104 mins.
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MAMA AFRICA
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Our Price: $29.98
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All three English-language, African-made film shorts in this anthology present a universal message of how the promise of youth can be threatened by temptation. In Hangtime (Ngozi Onwurah, Nigeria), a promising basketball star is lured by a gang leader. In Uno's World (Bridget Pickering, South Africa/Nigeria), a single mother foolishly gets involved with a diamond smuggler. Then, a woman struggles to leave her drug-dealing past behind her in Raya (Zulfah Otto-Sallies, South Africa). Talented singer, rapper, and actress Queen Latifah introduces each film. "...well-acted, no-frills films...blunt and challenging..." (Stephen Holden, New York Times). Ngozi Onwurah/Bridget Pickering/Zulfah Otto-Sallies---Nigeria/South Africa/USA---2001/2002---89 mins.
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MASAI: THE RAIN WARRIORS
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Our Price: $24.95
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This beautiful adventure shot on the savannahs of Kenya depicts a community's quest to bring rain to their land, ensuring their survival. A band of young Masai warriors sets out to kill a mystical lion, which they are told will end the drought plaguing their village. Barely teenagers, they are untested, unskilled, and unsure whether the lion actually exists. This debut fiction film from Pascal Plisson, a devoted nature documentarian, is the first picture to be solely populated by real-life Masai and spoken entirely in their native tongue. "A lush blend of the exotic and the deeply human" (Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune). In Maa with English subtitles. Pascal Plisson---Kenya/France---2004---94 mins.
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