African Film Festival 2020

March 4–May 8, 2020

This year’s edition of the African Film Festival welcomes new voices and veteran filmmakers from both the African continent and the diaspora, spotlighting stories, communities, and struggles rarely seen in Western cinema.

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  • The Two Faces of a Bamileke Woman

  • Chez Jolie Coiffure

  • Fatwa

  • My Beloved Co-Wife

  • The Mercy of the Jungle

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • CANCELED: The Mercy of the Jungle

    • Friday, May 8 7 PM
    Joël Karekezi
    Belgium, France, Rwanda, 2018

    All film screenings and public programs at BAMPFA have been temporarily canceled. Learn more

    Two Rwandan soldiers embark on a journey of survival through the unforgiving jungle in this visceral feature—inspired by Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line—from Joël Karekezi, himself a survivor of the Rwandan genocide.

  • CANCELED: African Short Films: Women’s Stories

    • Sunday, May 3 7 PM

    All film screenings and public programs at BAMPFA have been temporarily canceled. Learn more

    This program of recent shorts focuses on women’s stories and struggles in Africa and the diaspora. Titles include Marielle’s Legacy Will Not Die (Leonard Cortana, Brazil), My Beloved Co-Wife (Angèle Diabang, Nigeria), Awani (Aderonke Adeola, Nigeria), and The Prophetess (Sylvie Weber, Congo).

  • CANCELED: The Two Faces of a Bamileke Woman

    • Wednesday, April 29 7 PM
    Rosine Mbakam
    Cameroon, Belgium, 2016

    “The filmmaker reinventing how African women are portrayed in movies” (NPR), Rosine Mbakam turns the camera on her own remarkable mother and her generation in this captivating documentary. With Haminiaina Ratovoarivony’s short Razana.

  • CANCELED: Fatwa

    • Saturday, April 25 7:15 PM
    Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud
    Tunisia, 2018

    A Tunisian living abroad returns home to discover his deceased son had joined a radical Islamist group in this passionate drama on fanaticism and the Arab Spring’s broken dreams, coproduced by the Dardenne brothers. Winner, Best Arabic Film, Cairo Film Festival.

  • CANCELED: The Wind

    • Sunday, March 15 7 PM
    Souleymane Cissé
    Mali, 1982

    All film screenings and public programs at BAMPFA have been cancelled through March 29. Learn more

    Cissé’s remarkable satire on Africa’s ruling class follows two college kids rebelling against military control and the establishment, and is by turns fierce, romantic, and ultimately hopeful.

    Souleymane Cissé and Akin Adesokan in Conversation

  • CANCELED: Baara

    • Saturday, March 14 5 PM
    Souleymane Cissé
    Mali, 1978

    All film screenings and public programs at BAMPFA have been cancelled through March 29. Learn more

    The unlikely friendship between a young worker from the countryside and a progressive factory engineer leads to the triggering of political and class fault lines in Cissé’s searing drama. “Cissé makes explicit the infrastructure of corruption” (New Yorker).

    Souleymane Cissé and Akin Adesokan in Conversation

  • Brightness

    • Thursday, March 12 7 PM
    Souleymane Cissé
    Mali, 1987

    A young warrior/seer must overcome his own father to gain the knowledge of the ancients in this visionary reimagining of Mandé creation myths and oral tales. “Not only the most beautifully photographed African film ever, but also the best African film ever made” (Film Comment).

    Souleymane Cissé and Akin Adesokan in Conversation

  • Chez Jolie Coiffure

    • Wednesday, March 4 7 PM
    Rosine Mbakam
    Cameroon, Belgium, 2018

    A Brussels hair salon catering to West African immigrant women is at the center of this warmhearted documentary. “A must-see! An atypical and timely portrait of the intersection between the immigrant experience and female identity” (Indiewire). With Ellen Spiro and Cheryl Dunye’s short DiAna’s Hair Ego REMIX.

    Introductions by Ellen Spiro and Cornelius Moore