Brazil African Film Festival takes place in Curitiba from July 7th to 13th, 2022
In-person event presents unreleased films, international guests, workshops, and more
From July 7th to 13th, 2022, Curitiba is the home of the in-person edition of the 2022 Brazil African Film Festival. There will be screenings of productions from South Africa, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia. The programming on the capital city of Paraná is free and will occur in the Cine Passeio and the Cinemateca of Curitiba. There will be screenings of eight feature films and over 20 short films, with emphasis on female production, the presence of African filmmakers, and screenings of films not yet released in Brazil. The event also takes place simultaneously in São Paulo (SP), from July 6th to 20th, 2022. The festival also screens online short films to the entire Brazilian territory through Sesc Digital platform. More information can be found on www.mostradecinemasafricanos.com/en.
The Festival’s opening film is “Afrique, je te plumerai”, directed by one of the most prominent documentary filmmakers from the continent, Jean-Marie Teno. The film celebrates its 30-year anniversary this year and explores the political oppressions on Cameroon. The filmmaker will attend the screening for a Q&A. Another highlight of our schedule is the South African thriller "Mlungu Wam", by Jenna Bass and Babalwa Baartman. Being a commentary on post-apartheid South Africa racial relations, it had its well-awarded premiere on Toronto Festival. In partnership with the Cineclube Atalante, Jenna and Babalwa will engage in a debate session to take place at the Cinemateca on Saturday (July 9th).
The documentary film "Marcher sur l'eau" marks the first venture on directing of Franco-Senegalese Aïssa Maïga. A well-regarded name of French cinema, Aïssa has an extensive career as actress, screenwriter and activist. On her film, she documents the effects of climate change and globalization in a Nigerien village. “Otiti”, by Nigerian filmmaker Ema Edosio, makes its global premiere on the Brazil African Film Festival, with the story of a seamstress that takes upon the responsibility of caring for her sick father, even though she was abandoned as a child by him. Aïssa attends the Festival with the support of the French Embassy in Brazil, and Ema attends with the support of the Goethe-Institut.
Another highlight is “Nous”, by Alice Diop, a documentary film that focus on six women who travel on a railway that crosses Paris, including the filmmaker herself. From Kenya, the comedy film "Tales of the Accidental City", by Maimouna Jallow, shows an eclectic group that gathers online for an anger management class. Set on the periphery of Chad’s capital city, the drama film “Lingui”, by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, follows a mother and her 15-year-old daughter, both condemned by religion and by law for seeking an abortion clinic for the teenager. The co-directors Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman make their cinema debut with the libertarian, futuristic musical film “Neptune Frost”, from Rwanda.
“Brazil African Film Festival returns to movie theaters in grand style to celebrate Brazil’s biggest African film festival”, says the cultural producer Ana Camila, who is the Festival’s director and co-curator of feature-length films alongside Beatriz Leal Riesco. “The schedule broadens its geographical reach from our São Paulo headquarters to Curitiba, occupying new spaces and bringing more international guests”, she adds.
The Festival in Curitiba also includes three short films schedules: a selection of recent titles from various African countries, curated by Kariny Martins and Bea Gerolin from Cartografia Filmes; a session of Angolan short films produced during the last two years of the pandemic, with curatorship of the audiovisual producer Generation 80; and a collection of short films produced by young filmmakers in a documentary training project supervised by Cameroonian Jean-Marie Teno.
The event also promotes in Curitiba the workshop “Eu, Você, Nós: Contando histórias através de nossos corpos, alma e voz” (I, You, We: telling stories through our bodies, soul and voice”), led by Maimouna Jallow. The free workshop takes place from July 8th to 10th. 15 scholarships will be offered to Paraná’s countryside and coast residents, with priority for black and indigenous people. On Saturday (July 9th), Aïssa Maiga will participate in the session “Reflexões sobre a representação da mulher negra no audiovisual” ("Considerations on black women's representation on screen”). On Sunday, we promote a gathering of our international guests, Aïssa Maiga, Jenna Bass, Babalwa Baartman, Ema Edosio, and Maimouna Jallow, in a roundtable to discuss “Produção Independente no contexto Africano” (Independent production in the African context).
“For some time now, we wanted to bring to Curitiba the Brazil African Film Festival and the debates promoted by African cinema, which is so little seen or discussed here”, points out Andrei Carvalho, founding partner of Cartografia Filmes. “Especially when we take in consideration the kind of cinema we do, as black filmmakers and audiences. It’s very important to recognize yourself on screen and to see new representations from African filmmakers, in a place of self-esteem and inspiration”, he concludes.
The Curitiba edition of the 2022 Brazil African Film Festival is made by Cartografia Filmes and Ana Camila Comunicação & Cultura, with support from the Aliança Francesa - Curitiba, Cine Passeio - Icac, Cineclube Atalante, Cinemateca of Curitiba, Mubi, Goethe Institut and France Embassy - Institut Français, and with incentives from Ebanx. This project is made with resources from the Programa de Apoio de Incentivo à Cultura - Fundação Cultural de Curitiba and from Curitiba City Hall.
