12TH AFRYKAMERA FESTIVAL
CHILDREN OF AFRICA - SHORTS
SAMEDI CINEMA
Watchable. Interesting civilization-wise - little boys in Senegal earn money writing letters for adults. The story, however, leads to nowhere.
THE SENTINEL
Recommended. A hard-hitting animated tale of child soldiers and the circle of violence.
KHALLINA HAKKA KHIR (WE ARE JUST FINE LIKE THIS)
Recommended. An endearing short film about family ties.
TALES OF NAZIR
Watchable. An educational video where an animated virus teaches what it doesn't like. Well made but about a local problem the notion of which, in addition, is salient in Europe.
BEHIND THE WALL
Watchable. I couldn't really make out what it was about but it was well shot and I hoped I would finally see what was behind the wall.
MARABOUT
Watchable. Shows the mechanism: a marabout has child slave-disciples who steal for him. The policeman could be less stereotypical: he moves and dresses like in film noir which is just over the top.
ዕቅድ ሐ (PLAN C)
Watchable. A heart-warming tale of a girl fighting a bully with her knowledge and making friends with him. Straight in your face but pleasant.
AYA WAL BAHR (AYA GOES TO THE BEACH)
Recommended. A 10-year-old girl working as a servant is shocking enough. It's just heart-wrenching when she's not allowed to go and visit her mum.
MAMAN(S)
Recommended. Legal bigamy through the eyes of a child. An intimate portrayal of a family pattern unknown in Europe.
KIMPA VITA: THE MOTHER OF THE AFRICAN REVOLUTION
Watchable. A history of the Congo in which too many detailed facts mix with the legend. Also a bleak picture of the Catholic Church.
CHILDREN OF THE MOUNTAIN
Recommended. Many times the film selection felt like a festival of sexual violence. It's one of several movies of Afrykamera in which it's eminently present. It's like the reversal of recent German "24 Wochen" ("24 Weeks"). In the Ghanaian film the woman gives birth and there's more superstition than knowledge around its disability. The story's powerful all the same. Picturesque landscapes and many beautiful dresses make the story vivid rather than bleak.
COMBOIO DE SAL E ACUCAR (THE TRAIN OF SALT AND SUGAR)
Watchable. I didn't quite get the ins and outs of the political and economic situation background. The people story is straightforward, grim with a light of hope but with a tacky ending, very African however so their audience should like it.
NOEM MY SKOLLIE (CALL ME THIEF)
Watchable. A gangster and prison story so not my favourite. Awfully brutal but, supposedly, inspired by a true story - John W. Fredericks's autobiography. For a bigger part I waited for him to get his back on the guy who'd raped him. That didn't happen. Instead more brutality, with and without rapes, followed.
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