NIEWIDZIALNA WOJNA (THE INVISIBLE WAR)

Watchable. As typical for Patryk Vega, it consists of vivid scenes. This time he has shot his own biopic finishing with the disclaimer "All characters are fictitious." While those are all plausible, whenever the director turns his movie religious, it becomes ludicrous. Also, Rafał Zawierucha looks bored all the time which is barely credible with such a special life story. Fashion-wise it's off too - the outfits don't always match the decade. One thing depicted well is how full of himself he is.

WARSAW FILM FESTIVAL

THE CITY

Walked out. Shooting Tokyo in black and white is an insult to the colourful city. What's worse, here the pictures are dark and dimmed, you can barely see anything. Frequent jazz attacks your ears. Last but not least, I didn't come to see Japanese cinema to watch an umpteenth lousy underworld depiction. 

WARSZTATY SZTUKA MONTAZU (THE ART OF FILM EDITING WORKSHOP) BY WOJTEK WLODARSKI

It's hard when there are many protagonists because you don't know who to hold on to. In parallel editing protagonists are reminded of all the time, the action becomes dense, it's time-saving. When the comparison of parallel and linear was presented though, the latter version confused me. Others thought it was clear but still weren't sure what came first. A flashback in a flashback or a scene continuous in the middle of the film was another comparison. Cuts serve to shorten the protagonist's change. The serial had a few scenes more so a recap was provided at the start of episodes. Still parallel cut. "Furioza" was cut from 3 hours to 2 hours 13 minutes. As for "Apokawixa", initially the character exposition was too long, while the journey to the seaside too short. So part of the exposition moved to the journey time as flashbacks. Those were clear for me, not for everyone. The intro used materials from TV, YT, shot on mobiles, his wife's eye - editing took 6 months. Later the parts became all parallel - in the script they were put down as separate scenes so it was clear it had to be parallel. He didn't read the script of "Furioza". Normally he reads first, then decides if to do. Next waits for the film to be shot and he doesn't re-read. He likes making commercials too. He quickly forgets films, e.g. 6 months later he works on it like anew. 

OFF THE RAILS

Recommended. This documentary about free runners performing mind-blowing stunts, including train surfing, is filled with the athletes' passion for parkour which is marred by repeated court cases, fines and even one prison sentence. They've all gone through hardships in life and aspire to be working class whereas they rarely manage to hold on to any job. I just couldn't stop thinking they should do the stunts or even act in movies and commercials - get paid instead of getting fined.

VERHÄNGNISVOLLE VERSPRECHEN – DAS NIGERIANISCHE NETZWERK (THE DEAL)

Watchable. A comprehensive documentary following the trail of Nigerian human traffic from Nigeria to Europe, mostly Italy, France, Germany. Other than the difficulty of following small amount money transfers or the fact the gangs rely on juju, you don't learn much you wouldn't have known before. What's remarkable in this film shot during the pandemic, the ex-prostitutes don't wear masks, the DA office workers do. Puts into perspective who fears what.

DRAGON WOMEN

Recommended. People of power seem hard to approach. This documentary gives you the chance to get close and personal with a few top bosses in the financial world. Whether Switzerland, Hong Kong, South Korea or the UK, they're all control freaks, who plan two weeks ahead, have no children or "don't like kids" even if they have two of their own. They buy upmarket personal products, hire Feng Shui counsellors or executive career coaches, work out at home - every stereotype is true. So is the one about sexism in top men's circles. You need to be competitive and persevere, be tough. Still, even when you hear how exhausted they are, they beam with the happiness that comes with confidence and the great financial freedom of choice. The only choice unattainable to them is to work less. This fascinating documentary tells you all that in just 82 minutes. 

VENUS

Watchable. A beautiful club platform dancer opens this movie titled with the name of the female goddess of beauty. Ester Expósito is perfectly convincing in the leading role of Lucía, the dancer. The building in Madrid, the planet, feminine power, including that over men (see the blood-letting scene) - the plot is mayhem, with some derivative horror gimmicks like presents called 'offerings' in the shape of children's tears or teeth. Gore abounds. The drug plot pretext is corny too. "Overdrive" by The Killer Dolls opens and closes the film. 

NEW RELIGION

Walked out. This Japanese wannabe horror drags. Each shot is overlong. The mysterious music is evocative only for the first few minutes because it never changes. 

KINO DZIECI ONLINE

FORSVUNDET TIL HALLOWEEN (THE SEEKERS: THRILL NIGHT)

Switched off. Mid-way through the film I could barely make out who was doing what and when. Chaotic.

KAPA (BEANIE)

Watchable. The first scene is gross, the bullying in the orphanage, as if being unwanted by parents wasn't enough, depressing. The action picks up when the boy goes to his host family for Christmas.and meets their sulking daughter, because, as her mum put it collecting him from the orphanage: "they promised us a girl". The host parents though are wonderfully tolerant and kind and the place does evoke a festive feeling. Their urban adventures in not-so-picturesque Ljubljana are on the gloomy side again. So is their visit at his drunken parents' home. The final half an hour is heart-warming due to the kids' friendship, taking care of the stray dog and standing up to the bullies.

WARSAW FILM FESTIVAL 

ДЕНЬ УКРАИНСКОГО ДОБРОВОЛЬЦА (ONE DAY IN UKRAINE)

Recommended. A life-like depiction of the war. The documentary just puts you in the middle of war-torn Kyiv - in March 2022. The city's virtually abandoned, children and dogs play in metro stations, troops patrol the city under the constant noise of bombing, shelling, sirens, a drone films burnt fields, looters are stripped and tied to posts, people cook, dead bodies and car wrecks lie along roads.  An ordinary day in a time of madness. Brutal. But so is the reality of Ukraine. Excerpts from "Мої думки тихі" ("My Thoughts Are Silent") and another film are used. I loved the anti-Russian song.

SPLAT! FILM FEST 

The 2022 festival video was fun. The festival took place around Halloween: 26-30 October in Warsaw and Wrocław, 3-13 November online, on mojeekino.pl. The organizers want to stick to the Halloween dates in the future. Horrors, thrillers, dark comedies, fantasy, SF, dramas, documentaries. Mostly vivid, crossing lines, dripping with blood. 28 full-length, 1 medium-length, 24 short length, 52 films in total, 78 with the online ones. Each movie was screened only once, apart from "Terrifier 2" - about a murderous clown, truly brutal. The first part had been crowdfunded. Iranian directorial debut "زالاوا" ("Zalava") opened the festival. Other offerings included: Italian giallo "Occhiali neri" ("Dark Glasses") by Dario Argento, "Candy Land" - a slasher on young people's prostitution in the US, Senegalese "Saloum", "Gæsterne" ("Speak No Evil") was later in distribution, as was South Korean "늑대사냥" ("Project Wolf Hunting") which was one of the bloodiest ever - 2.5 tonnes of fake blood had been used in the production. "Coupez!" ("Final Cut") closed the festival, it had opened Cannes before - about shooting a film about zombies, it had provoked some walk-outs in Cannes. "All Jacked Up and Full of Worms" was the most disgusting. The director of "Le Daim" ("Deerskin") appeared in the WTF section. Also in WTF was "La Pietà" ("Piety") - all in pink, where a toxic mother-son relationship was compared to North Korea. Documentaries included: "A Life on the Farm" - on a farmer who e.g. shows around his dead mother, "The History of Metal and Horror" - Alice Cooper, Megadeath, John Carpenter et al. Polish input was "Obróbka skrawaniem" - gore, from 2001, 200 zł budget. Selected over a year from about 300 titles. But 2022 saw also 'The Best of the Worst' with "Birdemic". Audience vote took place online in 6 categories. The 24 short films were put in 4 blocks: 2 in Warsaw, 2 in Wrocław, 4 online. The online offer was different than at cinemas, including previous years' cinema offerings - this time online. "The Quarry" video game sponsored the festival. Short films creators, the director of medium-length "Obróbka skrawaniem" and the director of "Eating Miss Campbell" were guests.

 زالاوا (ZALAVA)

Watchable. It starts as a budget drama about superstitions, next turns into a thriller which keeps you guessing whether the demon is real or a figment of mass imagination. Sadly at some point it becomes a drowsy love tale. The finale brings back suspense but is largely predictable. 

NIE CUDZOLOZ I NIE KRADNIJ

Walked out. Constant deja vu was praying on my mind - it's so derivative. Filled with foul language, low-end attempts at humour, Biblical quotes and the most sacrilegious of all - Mozart's "Lacrimosa". 

IO (EO)

Watchable. Polish Oscar candidate. Shot in Poland and Italy, the film's a string of incidents in which the donkey partakes. It does put our attitude to animals: entertainment, fur, meat, hunting, dog-like robots in the limelight, but the style is a mixture of mundane, unsophisticated shots and highly artistic ones. It often drags. The sound is sometimes mono, sometimes it surrounds you - unsteady quality again. A set of vital issues is tackled but they're meaningful for few, few are evocative too. Most of it seems accidental. Though the animal changing hands is casual in real life as well. It doesn't tell you anything you wouldn't have known already. One important human-related issue is when the truck driver is taming the black girl like a dog. My guess is it's been nominated for an Oscar because so many Academics share the moral values. But it has strong competitors in terms of cinematic quality.

THE SILENT TWINS - Q&A WITH THE PRODUCER, THE DIRECTOR AND A PSYCHOTHERAPIST

The director first read an article in "New Yorker", next read the script, next read the book, she also saw a documentary film. June, the surviving twin, was happy for the movie but didn't want to meet the director. So next she used the girls' works as a means to get to know them. Ania Cyklińska from @Psychoedu saw a documentary about them on YT. The animations, the sisters' works weren't in the script. The script was based just on the article and the book. Originally Marjorie Wallace (the book author) was the guide through the movie. Tim Thomas - the doctor was a go-between between the producers and the protagonist - he's a very warm person. The book explains what really happened, the film retains mystery. It might be schizophrenia but that would have appeared in adolescence. Here selective mutism is most probable and there may be various reasons for that, maybe because of their accent they experienced racism so felt alienated. In the girls' diaries they are violent against each other - cut-outs were used to show actions rather than words. They distanced the film from their violence, decided to show their art rather. In the book they'd describe the same day in two ways. Jennifer was into drawings and voodoo so the animations are her stories. June's  is "Pepsi-Cola Addict". Possible induced paranoia - they were isolated so one could infect the other with her hallucination. Jennifer would draw the twin into her visions. Stress can cause one to imagine incredible things. When you read you realise they decided one of them had to die for the other to live and Jennifer decided to die. After Jenny's death June started to speak, stopped writing. Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, the producer said making films was like having an independent state. Her earlier movies were "Córki dancingu" ("The Lure) and "Fuga" ("Fugue") - I've reviewed both before. This one was fully shot in Wrocław, with a Polish crew. The scriptwriter gave her the script because she wanted them to be like "Córki dancingu" ("The Lure"). Broadmore (in England, not Wales) was for murderers etc. They had art therapy there and nature. The wall is there because in the 19th century a patient had run and murdered someone. In the book, they're constantly bulimic. The director and cinematographers went to Haverfordwest, Wales and then chose the palette. British sockets were delivered. Only one scene was filmed in the UK, took 1 day of shooting - they smell glue in a studio in England. The road struggle was shot in Ursus, Warsaw, the brick houses in Wrocław. The poems and animations were used emotion-wise, they aren't chronological. Work on music had been done before shooting, they had listened to more than 3000 pieces. In the book you learn they listened to Blondie's "Heart of Glass" a lot but that piece was too expensive to use in the film. "Hot Love" was also popular in Wales in the 80s. The documentary is on YouTube, it's BBC "Silent Twins: Without My Shadow". Jennifer died of heart muscle inflammation. Earlier she hadn't eaten for a few days, she collapsed in the van, died in hospital. Potential reasons: medicines, stress, hunger - any was possible.

KINO DZIECI ONLINE

JACKIE EN OOPJEN (JACKIE AND OOPJEN)

Watchable. Originally Dutch so a person walks out of a painting at Rijksmuseum. The plot is based on differences between our times and a few centuries ago. Pleasant but not really funny. It only gets hilarious at school, especially the punching the teacher scene and the lady's knowledge of Rembrandt.

MARMADUKE

Watchable. A completely different story about the mischievous dog. Also, unlike the 2010 movie, this one is a cartoon version. Here the dog is naughty and ravenous but good-natured. The film regurgitates that plot formula where an animal protagonist has to take part in championships with an obstacle course. Animation-wise, it sees shiny cookery, mediocre fur and hair, a life-like backdrop and a rudimentary foreground. Often surrounding sound. They get creative with possible film titles: "The Fast and the Furriest", "Paws" during credits. Still, taken the plot, "Dog Recycled" would match it best. Less fun than the 2010 movie. There's a brief post-credit.

THE SPINE OF NIGHT

Switched off. This animation for adults is an extremely brutal, bloody fantasy with a ludicrous plot where a scholar craves blood and his wishes are fulfilled.

Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.

SEE HOW THEY RUN

Watchable. Too crazy to be entertaining as a classical whodunnit. While it's set in London of 1952 and Agatha Christie is even one of the characters and the basis of the story is her "Mousetrap" - which opened that year, the number of script alterations, fast pace and constant movie quotes make the story overcomplicated, perplexing and just over the top to be fun. OK, it does have funny moments, like when the movie director shows one storyboard picture too many, but most of it, however engaging, requires constant deciphering of who says and does what and you can't just relax and have a laugh. Shirley Henderson doesn't resemble Agatha Christie in the slightest. Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as Gio doesn't look, sound or act like a "temperamental Neapolitan". Saoirse Ronan and Adrien Brody shine as Constable Stalker and Leo Köpernick respectively. It's a film about a film and a theatrical play - neither of the tropes work in movies in general. A least there's lots of Englishness: accent, tea and biscuits. Jazz music annoyingly accompanies end credits.

The film leaves you with a craving for tea and biscuits.

AFRYKAMERA

AFROSZORTY VOL. 2 - AFRICA CALLING

This set comprised of 8 short films:

PRECIOUS HAIR & BEAUTY

Watchable. Immaculately acted, with a funny sci-fi style disappearance - a guy gets kicked out into space - and typical black hairdresser chatter. Funny, surprising but with no plot as such.

ASTEL

Watchable. Beautiful cinematography and colourful clothes. Immaculately acted. The story, which starts with a muezzin's call for the dawn prayer and ends with Astel donning a headscarf, although simple, doesn't express much, maybe it's the actors that don't.

JUA KALI (HOT SUN)

Recommended. The sun shines strong on what rich people (black in this case) leave for cleaners. Immaculately acted.

CAI-BER

Recommended. A gripping thriller on Egypt and leaving the police state. The ruse is as simple as leaving a backpack in a club. Immaculately acted. It ends during the end credits when an off-screen announcement from the plane is heard.

A LISBON  AFFAIR

Watchable. An unfaithful couple start-up an affair while musing on how expelling the Moors drove slavery and indirectly led to them meeting in Lisbon. A forced fact connection though.

At least it's immaculately acted.

هو ميت الآن (HE'S DEAD NOW)

Watchable. A black and white, immaculately acted film about men's promiscuity in Egypt and about conscience. The story's incomprehensible. But the imam's singing impressively echoes.

STILL LIFE

Watchable. Black females pose dressed up for white women's paintings - shallow and pointless, even if intriguing artistically. Immaculately acted though.

IRREPROCHABLE (FLAWLESS)

Recommended. A gripping tale of a black pupil afraid of disappearing if she's imperfect. Immaculately acted

The director, Anaïs Lonkeu, says she's wanted to be in movies since 13 because she felt invisible. No dad in the picture because her own passed away, so she's dedicated the film to him, he had no chance to see it. It's her first short film, actually her graduation film from film school. This story is about the fact no one can be perfect. She smokes. Times are changing so people went to see such films in France. It's a kid's film. She's still happy with the story but not with camera angles, she feels she'd do it better now. (In my view, it's perfect now.) She finds the Little Mermaid polemics funny - a mermaid doesn't even exist. She's working on her second short film. Growing up she did gymnastics for 9 years "with competitions and stuff". Her protagonist is 23 and the only black gymnast. 

UNDERNEATH: CHILDREN OF THE SUN AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR DAVID KIRKMAN

Watchable. This full-length film is less professional than the short ones mentioned above. The realistic slave story is fine but I couldn't find any rhyme or reason to the sci-fi layer, with all this going to and fro in time and parallel timelines. The plot is full of cliches and yet diverges into 3 parallel timelines. It's appalling technically, dialogues aren't clearly audible, sound mono or are metallic, some scenes are in odd green or blue light. And what on earth was the director thinking playing music, loud in that, during most of the dialogues?! Wooden acting of sound parts is annoying too. 

He was making short fun films for 1.5 years. He made the movie because he wanted to see more blacks in space. He hadn't heard of afrofuturism before. Till last month when they were posting the 3rd act he didn't know what would come out of it. He's not based in LA, he made it in the middle of the US - he had to bring actors from all over. Sound costs tonnes of money. His taste is for music to engross you. The complicated storyline, with 3 different timelines was a plan from the beginning. He's going to continue work on this one, to get it off the ground. He sees some "overarching idea" and "there are certainly some deep things in there". He's a big "Star Wars" fan. He read few books on slavery which was traumatising. He admits his movie was inspired by many sci-fi films. The filming was "organic: let's try this, let's try that". He's 25 and proud of making a feature film: "we were quite resourceful", "some people first time acting, some people first being on set". As for film, he sees it as the most powerful medium and hopes to "plant some seeds". With his short films he was creating stories he wanted to see. Now he sees afrofuturism important for re-claiming imagination. "The Black Panther" opened the floodgates of afrofuturism.

KOLO FILOZOFII POSTKOLONIALNEJ ON AFROFUTURISM AGAIN

There's no opposition of science fiction and fantasy, the future is based on history.

NO SIMPLE WAY HOME AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR AKUOL DE MABIOR

Watchable. It's a bit on the slow side, family-oriented and told from a very privileged position by a young girl from a presidential family so it's a bit naive, especially in terms of the civil war whose atrocities are never mentioned, only vague 'trauma' is. But it shows how difficult it is to bring about stability to the country economically damaged by a war, politically torn apart and resentful. In fact she made a documentary on finding her feet as a South Sudanese returning from exile. 

The challenges she sees is that women in Sudan are expected to be married with children and not too outspoken. Coming from such a prominent family, they're often asked if they want to get into politics. Juba is the capital city but just a few minutes out of Juba if you take a boat down the Nile it's beautiful. Yet the country is chaotic, unstable. She has no vision of the future of South Sudan. She says that to learn more you should come and visit South Sudan. She was born in Cuba, lived mostly in Kenya, studied in South Africa, now she's living in Nairobi and Juba. The film is about her mother so you don't see her father much. The documentary was funded by Kenya, IDFA et al. She acknowledges the fact the film comes from her own limited perspective. She neither earned nor chose her privilege. South Sudan probably has the worst situation in the world. She's seen lots of content with graphic images of people dying in the street but finds it undignified. She's aware of the astronomical numbers of people who died and are dying. She could also cover only a limited period of time. Her mum is still 1 of 5 vice-presidents in South Sudan. Her sister is younger than her, she thinks differently and is still her role model. Her earlier documentary, "On the White now" - on YouTube now, is about a woman's fishery business in South Sudan. Now she's working on another documentary in Kenya. 

LA GRAVITE (GRAVITY)

Recommended. The story of drug dealers in French tower blocks didn't attract me at first but the characters where one dealer is skilled at drawing, another is an inventor and the teens' gang doesn't care about money but has an ulterior motive, unseen in those circles, make it engaging and special. The visuals of the planets aligning, the changing light - natural-looking yet clearly taking on various shades of red are extraordinary in their own right.

The festival used plantable/compostable badges 4th year in a row - I'm a big fan of them and would love other festivals to follow the suit. Too few films at this edition came from the black continent itself. It was more like a black film festival rather than Afrykamera. No catalogue was offered, just a leaflet listing the program so you had to go online to read about the films - quite inconvenient. At least all screenings were on time. For some reason many were deafeningly loud. 

FESTIWAL PRZEMIANY (PRZEMIANY FESTIVAL)

3 documentaries:

GOING CIRCULAR

Watchable. The introduction is protracted. The view of Gaia restructuring mostly just 2 materials is inspirational. The innovators' life stories are fun. 

STRAY

Watchable. The highs and lows of being a stray. Canine or human. Philosophical quotes and free-of-commentary pictures follow dogs through crowded and noisy streets. It doesn't teach you any more than what you know about dogs already, more about people rather. The pooches are cute. Poor music, dimmed light make the picture grim though. The finale, along with the end credits, is disarming - a dog responds to a muezzin's call with howling.

REJSEN TIL UTOPIA (JOURNEY TO UTOPIA)

Watchable. I couldn't help thinking it wouldn't have worked in Poland. Going through with the decision and investment required enormous trust in others. So did creating a community. An impressive cultural difference on the one hand and some food for thought regarding the amount of effort and money needed to create sustainable living. The film starts like a family story but quickly turns into a gripping almost-thriller as you witness delays and a string of other issues.

AFRYKAMERA

BLACK MAMBAS

Watchable. A two-fold look at young black women working as anti-poachers. The white Black Mambas founder is very conscious of the problem where blacks live next to Kruger National Park but rarely benefit from it, staying unemployed while it's whites who do the sought-after guide jobs. You learn how rhinos gained national and international publicity hence protecting animals eventually became possible. Sadly the girls see themselves in dead-end positions. Lacking education, they see little value in the work they do. Locals see that foreigners care more about animals than people. A comprehensive picture but with no solution.

Q&A WITH A SOUTH AFRICAN

There's a debate on commercialising rhino horns to eradicate poaching. Impalas, springboks are legally hunted in June, July, August. The Big Five hunt is banned. There's huge youth unemployment in the whole country. That creates crime. In some areas girls skip school because they can't afford sanitary pads. When the ANC gained power, it was political rather than economic or social. Economic empowerment happened only at ownership and managerial positions, not below. The change was for elites. Jo'burg enjoys kind of equality, rural area has disparity, abuse - blacks are paid literally half money. Not all schools are free, many are located far away, e.g. 10 km walking and across a river, there are not enough teachers. You need a loan for a university. Universities are far away. Free education is provided at primary level only. If a school wants to be free, they literally have to apply to be free and their quality is low. University means costs: tuition, books, accommodation.

DYING FOR GOLD AND Q&A WITH DIRECTORS CATHERINE MEYBURGH AND RICHARD PAKLEPPA

Watchable. 5 million African gold miners have died of pulmonary diseases: mostly tuberculosis, silicosis, also anthesis. The documentary focuses on work conditions, it just briefly mentions gold constituting value on stock markets. The aim of the documentary is to support a class case against mining companies. The film charts the economic history having been based on exploitation and endangering healthy people with deadly diseases. It lacks current perspective. 

The directors first heard of thousands of miners dying in accidents. They see the archives on miners akin to Nazi ones - where the crimes were well documented. Hundreds of thousands of the same stories. It was systemic, genocidal. The economy has been based on that mining. Wherever gold exists, uranium is found, mercury is used for extraction - that results in toxic waters. Gold dumps also cause asthma. Small amounts are used in technology: in superconductors. But there are other superconductors. But mostly at times of insecurity people buy gold. It's taken out of ground and put into underground vaults again. Most of investment comes from abroad so a lot of money goes out of the country. White people are affected too but black miners far more. Compensations are peanuts in comparison to shareholders' dividends. The directors' view is "economies are based on harming". The mining sector has been the main source of tax so the government doesn't bite the hand that feeds it. Also within the government there are shareholders. "Extracting industries are extracting" humans too. Universities, highways etc. in South Africa were funded by gold, no other industries.

TYTOT TYTOT TYTOT (GIRL PICTURE)

Watchable. The teenagers' love affairs form the storyline but don't move you much. It's worth seeing for the liberal Finnish culture rather. Some music is surrounding. There's a brief skippable post-credit.

AFRYKAMERA

SISTERHOOD

Watchable. While the twins support each other, the documentary is more about living conditions so appalling that work abroad is the only escape. Being flashflooded so badly 3 TVs and 3 beds go to waste and you find yourself washed into your neighbours' place, for instance. All the women, regardless of age, are incredibly hard-working but, due to Islam, feeling out of control of their lives. While their dreams of working away from home sometimes sway to magical thinking, they stand on their feet strongly enough to proceed with all the arrangements. Local music, plenty of shots of the city and stories of the Fula in Sierra Leone, Kuwait and Belarus create the social backdrop. Not enough is said directly though, e.g. regarding the pregnancy. At least the female genital mutilation is called by its name, with a strong will not to pass it onto future generations. 

LEV LA TET DANN FENWAR (IN THE BILLOWING NIGHT)

Watchable. This slow-paced documentary is a melancholic look cast on Reunion from France, the former metropole. The verdant island is first shown in black and white as the shadow of a memory, with France displayed in colour right away, only historical riots are black and white. All the archive footage is presented with high contrast black so the picture is dark. The slave and overseas-department (1973) history of the Indian Ocean island is told, as well as part of the black history of then-'metropole'. The Reunionese family members feel as if history had been robbed from them. It's not stated distinctly Reunion is now a region of France - owned, incorporated, post-colonial but not independent. While it's not my preferred style of story-telling, it's the first time I've seen La Reunion in such light.

 صبي من الجنة (BOY FROM HEAVEN / CAIRO CONSPIRACY)

Recommended. The Swedish Oscar candidate opens with a fisherboy. Yet it's a political thriller. The boy becomes a pawn in a power struggle in the brutal police state of Egypt under Mubarak. The film is unhasty but constant twists of action build tension up to a blood-curdling point. Both Islam and the shenanigans are presented in a way comprehensible to outsiders. Top-notch performances all around.

SANKARA 

Recommended. The documentary charts his political history from assuming power to being assassinated. He opposed the amassment of riches by African rulers and was an economic revolutionary who made Burkina Faso - he named Upper Volta 'The Land of Honest People' - self-reliant in terms of food. He was also environmentally-aware and a feminist. In the 80s he knew of his country's desertification by 7 square km yearly. In his first government 30% were women. I wish we had a president like that. African music on top of all the swiftly served information makes the documentary fun.

Q&A WITH THE DIRECTOR OF "SANKARA"

The target audience are French youngsters since he's been being erased from history. A lot of screenings have been planned in French schools, often in immigrant communities. The documentary has to be one hour long to attract young audience. 70% of viewers are of that age. Maryam, Sankara's wife, lives in Montpellier, France, but she had enough answering questions about him. The film was made for a platform. The director is a journalist. Shooting the film took about a year. A local journalist and TV archives were the sources of information. They used about 20% of the archives they saw. Now Sahel is terrorism-ridden. Burkina Faso is a red zone for Europeans because of terrorism. Access was only to Ouagadougou, e.g. they couldn't go to the place where Sankara was born. During the post-production Blaise Compaoré was sentenced for life but, since he's living in Ivory Coast, there's little chance he'll go to prison. Sankara created common courts but because of malfeasance they didn't work. The years 1987-2014 when Blaise Compaoré was in power were economically fine but women's and environmental issues went backwards. The helicopter by which Compaoré ran away was a French military chopper sent by French President Hollande. Just a week before the Q&A another coup d'état and an attack on the French embassy took place.

NAYOLA

Walked out. This animation about civil war in Angola drags, the parallel stories of a mother looking for her husband and a daughter singing anti-police-state rap didn't get me hooked. The whole movie seems a set of random images of war. 

AVATAR 3D

Recommended. The re-release was just mind-blowing. It was also a great occasion to jug your memory before the sequel. The first movie opens with Jake Sully looking blue in the space pod light - once you know what's gong to happen it gains a new meaning. I was awed by surrounding sound - even though it  was recorded in ordinary Dolby. The fantastical menagerie still amazed. It ended with an early mid-credit in the form of a preview of "Avatar: The Way Of Water" - beautiful.

AFRYKAMERA

BATTLEDREAM CHRONICLES (2018)

Recommended. Sci-fi animation based on a fascinating concept which could be conceived probably only by a black person. In Western game dystopias people typically compete in deadly rivalry for financial gain, here they are all slaves who hanker to liberate themselves. "Maze Runner", "Hunger Games" were the same genre. But here the gamers are all black. The slave owners/game controllers look Asian instead. The slaves speak a range of accents. Under constant surveillance, they are made compete against one another. Touch (of other slaves) moves them to a different reality, out of the system, they gain temporary autonomy. It's just like colonialism - slaves had no history or understanding of the present. Modern visuals often give an illusion of 3D. Sadly it's a pilot with no continuation. 

OPAL

Recommended. This cartoon fantasy about child abuse demonstrates African inspirations, e.g. black magic, the shape of the spirit. Though speaking with Caribbean accent, characters bear Swahili names: Jeraha (Injury), Huzuni (Sadness), Hofu (Fear), Aibu (Shame), Hatia (Guilt), Chuki (Hatred), Hasira (Anger). Iroko is a tree worshipped in Yoruba. In the film, Iroko speaks creole which renders it cross-cultural. The outfits are inspired by ancient Egypt and modern Africa but the girls have flashlights which constitutes afrofuturism exactly: magic, mythical creatures and technology. The film consists of 3 parts: Superego, Ego, Id. Superego means internalised values, social control. The Superego sign appears on the wall of the princess' parents' chamber. There's a narwhal tusk on father's forehead - the horn has neurons - here: conveys magic. But the tusk first appears phallic and implies a rape.The ending reveals the full meaning of the palace and kingdom story. Visually the animation is stunning. A confection of colours. Matching futuro-magical music. 

KOLO FILOZOFII POSTKOLONIALNEJ ON ALAIN BIDARD'S ANIMATIONS

While I wrote the above reviews after discussing the films with the club, I need to add some information coming from them exclusively: Egypt and Yoruba are very common in afrofuturism since those are the most commonly known African cultures, other rich cultures are obscure. 

AFRYKAMERA

PRISME (PRISM)

Walked out. A trite film that takes itself seriously. Not only is the Belgian documentary philosophical, it's awfully shallow and full of cliches. They're attempting to rediscover colonialism years after all's been said already. They're also imagining problems like the one with rendering the colour of black skin. And many shots are protracted so you're bored even when they aren't rabbiting on. 

LE BLEU DU CAFTAN / القفطان ازرق (THE BLUE CAFTAN)

Watchable. A beautiful, subtle love story, partly straight, partly gay, set in the medina of Casablanca. Hot young عيوب ميسوري (Ayoub Missioui) as an apprentice, a middle-aged tailor of gentle demeanour and his cheeky wife form a peculiar triangle but love blossoms. Her body distorted by a surgical operation is a bit disturbing. But you can admire intricate embroidery and fabrics which will survive those who wear them and enjoy pleasant Arabic tunes. The music at the funeral surrounds you.

ГУЛЛІВЕР ПОВЕРТАЄТЬСЯ (GULLIVER RETURNS)

Watchable. Based on the idea of and co-scripted by Володимир Зеленський (Volodymyr Zelenskyy), this variation of Jonathan Swift's tale is pleasant, brimming with adventure and political hints, even in the Polish translation. As usual in Poland, it's dubbed in Polish, though, this time, a Ukrainian version was screened in some cinemas as well. It's fun, especially the king who "doesn't think, he just knows" and Гуллівер's (Gulliver's) companion mouse - cute and smart. However creatively the Liliput land has been built and however entertaining some lines are, e.g.: "Ciemny lud to kupi" ("The dim-witted public will buy it") - a quote from the Polish Prime Minister, the whole message, about greatness being irrelevant of one's size and of respect to women, is run-of-the-mill. Which doesn't change the fact I loved the mouse eating documentation imagining it was gouda.