Portal:African cinema/Selected film score

Selected score list

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/3 Goodbye Julia (Arabic: وداعا جوليا, romanized: Wadāʻan Jūlyā) is a 2023 Sudanese drama directed by Mohamed Kordofani set in Khartoum against the backdrop of events that led to the South Sudanese 2011 referendum for independence from the North. It is the first movie from Sudan ever to be presented in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Freedom Prize and the country's submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards, Sudan's second ever to the award.

The film stars Sudanese singer Eiman Yousif and Siran Riak, a first-time actress and former Miss South Sudan, in the title roles of Mona and Julia. Goodbye Julia tells the story of two women who represent the complicated relationship and differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities. Mona, an upper-middle class Arab Muslim singer from the North, seeks to attenuate her feelings of guilt for causing the death of a southern man (Ger Duany) by employing his unsuspecting widow Julia, a Christian of Central African origin, as her maid.

The musical score was composed by Sudanese producer and musician Mazin Hamid known mostly for his popular music videos and was recorded under tight deadline in Khartoum when war broke out in Sudan in April 2023. Kordofani said that the film’s soundtrack, which includes numerous songs from both South and North Sudan was intended to reflect Sudan’s shared culture and ties. "Clearly, through the film’s score...Mazin Hamid makes us see that instead of spending our lives separated, this is what we could have celebrated. [...] Mona sings a song by a late popular Sudanese singer, Sayed Khalifa in a church, with a composition including African accents. There are numerous songs from North and South Sudan, representing different cultures, and an original song closing the film".

The director also has stated that he integrated music in Goodbye Julia to make it more accessible to cinephiles.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/5

Timbuktu (2014) is a Mauritanian-French drama directed by Abderrahmane Sissako. Inspired by real events which first unfolded in June of 2012, the film depicts how a peaceful way of life is brutally upended by the Jihadist group Ansar Dine’s occupation of Timbuktu in Mali.

The musical score composed by Tunisian, Amine Bouhafa was described as haunting and evocative and perfectly complemented the themes of cultural suppression and human resilience, earning widespread acclaim for its emotional depth and cultural authenticity as the film score incorporated traditional Malian instruments and melodies.

Timbuktu went on to win seven awards at the 40th César Awards, including Best Film Score, making Bouhafa one of the Cesar’s youngest winners. His work on Timbuktu also won him the FESPACO prize and the France Musique-Sacem prize for film music. Among Timbuktu’s numerous other nominations and awards include Best Film at the 11th Africa Movie Academy Awards where it distinguished itself with the most wins.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/7

Vusi Mahlasela

Tsotsi, a 2005 crime drama film written and directed by Gavin Hood. It is based on a novel of the same name by Athol Fugard. The film follows the story of a young Johannesburg street boy whose life takes an unexpected turn after he steals a car and discovers a baby in the backseat. The film was praised for its “powerful storytelling and emotional depth”. The film’s soundtrack showcases Kwaito music performance by South African artist Zola and the afropop groupMafikizolo.

Kwaito music is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1980s. Despite its similarities to hip hop music, kwaito has a distinctive manner in which the lyrics are sung, rapped and shouted.​​ The musical score composed by Mark Kilian and Paul Hepker incorporates the vocals of renowned South African singer and poet, Vusi Mahlasela.

It received a score of 82% on Rotten tomatoes and a score of 70 out of 100 on Metacritic. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards, becoming the first African film in a language other than French to achieve this feat.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/9

Khayelitsha

U-Carmen eKayelitsha is a 2005 South African operatic film directed and produced by Mark Dornford-May. The musical score blends Bizet’s original opera with traditional African music, directed and conducted by British Conductor Charles Hazlewood. The film was shot entirely in Xhosa and combines the musical elements to tell a story set in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha. The cast did not have prior film experience and only rehearsed for four weeks before recording the live musical numbers on a set without additional editing. The story follows Carmen and her troubled relationship with Jongikhaya against the backdrop of a South African township. The film received critical acclaim and won the Golden Bear Award at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/11

Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu, the lead actress of Félicité at 2017 Berlinale

Félicité (2017) is a Senegalese drama film by Alain Gomis. The film was entered as the Senegalese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards and was shortlisted. It tells the story of how a single mother who works as a bar entertainer struggles to get funds after her child is hospitalized. The film featured Kasai Allstars, a Congolese "tradi-modern" musical collective of 25 musicians based in Kinshasa. They wrote and recorded most of the film's music. The soundtrack album was entitled Around Félicité.

It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. At Berlin, the film won the Jury Grand Prix award. At the 2017 Africa Movie Academy Awards, it won six awards which is the highest for a film in the history of the award ceremony winning the award for Best Soundtrack amongst other awards. The film currently has 98% rating based on 46 critics’ reviews on the review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/13

Saul Williams

Neptune Frost (2021) is a US-Rwandan science fiction musical co-directed by the husband-wife team of Saul Williams and Rwandan Anisia Uzeyman. It stars Cheryl Isheja, Elvis Ngabo, Eliane Umuhire and Kaya Free.

The film features an original score and album titled "Unanimous Goldmine", also by Saul Williams. Filmed in Rwanda and set in Burundi, the story follows a cosmic romance between an intersex hacker and a coltan miner. It unfolds in the past, present, and future and the aftermath of the nation's civil war. The musical addresses themes of gender identity, colonialism, authoritarianism, and the connective thread of technology. According to Williams:

“This project was conceived as a musical. And for me, the first step in trying to envision this world was to envision the sounds that belonged to it. That was the first step, then writing to and around those sounds. So the story, the characters, much of it really was pulled from the music. I’ve been going to the music thinking of the story. One of the earliest songs for the project was a song called “Burundi,” which was my first take in trying to map out the synopsis, and it happened in a song. From there, we were able to pull ideas, and then other songs would be written and we would say, “What character does this belong to? Whose voice is this? Who’s singing?”

The film debuted at the 2020 Cannes and was well-received by critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 86 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.70/10.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/15

Muthoni Dummer Queen

Rafiki (Swahili for 'friend') is a 2018 Kenyan drama film directed by Wanuri Kahiu. The film had its international premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival; the first Kenyan film to be screened at the festival. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Nairobi, Rafiki tells the story of a romance between two young women, Kena and Ziki, while exploring themes of friendship, love, and the struggles faced by LGBTQ+ individuals in Kenya.

The soundtrack features songs by all-female African musicians—in addition to Blinky Bill—and with all but one track being Kenyan. Kahiu selected the songs featuring a mix of contemporary Kenyan pop, Afrobeat, and traditional sounds from performers that include Muthoni Drummer Queen, Mayonde, Jaaz Odongo, Trina Mungai, Njoki Karu, Chemutai Sage, and Zambian musician Mumbi Kasumba. According to Njoki Karu, Kahiu selected three of her songs after hearing her sing "Nita" at a concert. Kahiu asked Karu if she had more similar songs, and selected two additional songs which are featured on the soundtrack, "Secret Love" and "Stay.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/17

Chike

'Gangs of Lagos' (2023) directed by Jáde Osiberu is a Nigerian action thriller and Prime Video’s first African original movie. The film features an original soundtrack by prolific Nollywood composer Tolu Obanro (King of Boys, Brotherhood, Battle on Buka Street, Jagun Jagun) According to Obanro:

“The choice of music was really Nigerian. It was made from the local. I had to look for suspense from the local that would also be accepted internationally.” "I had very specific theme sounds for people..for example, every time you see the bad guy, you’ll hear the clash of machetes in the theme sound.”

King Sunny Ade

The film also showcases a selection of Nigerian contemporary and classic songs. They include “On Fire" (Pana Time) written and sung by Afrobeat musician Chike who plays the character Ify; Ladipoe’s “Man Already”; King Sunny Ade’s 1982 classic “Ma Jaiye Oni”; Naira Marley’s “Koleyewon”, and “Funky Fuji,” the 2005 hit by K1 De Ultimate.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/21

Mona Zaki

Flight 404 is a 2024 Egyptian thriller directed by Hani Khalifa starring Mona Zaki, with a script by Mohamed Ragaa, and produced by Mohamed Hefzy. The film follows Ghada (Zaki) a woman whose tainted past resurfaces as she is about to embark on a pilgrimage to Mecca. A hit in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the film broke Egyptian box office records for a female-led film.

Leila Mourad

The soundtrack includes 15 original songs by Jordanian-Canadian film composer Suad Bushnaq and was nominated for the Best Soundtrack Septimius Award in 2024. In addition, a new arrangement of 'Ya Rayehin Lil-Nabi', the famous 1953 song from iconic Egyptian singer Layla Murad appears in the closing credits. The song sparked such interest among cinemagoers that the producers of the film released some background notes after the film's release.

'Ya Rayehin Lil-Nabi' is based on one of the most famous Sufi poems by Rabia Basri, an Arab Muslim saint and one of the earliest Sufi mystics. The idea of using the song, originally composed by Riad Al Sunbati and Abo El Seoud El Ebiary for Murad, was conceived by the film's director and writer and to align with the film's key plot events. Music producer Kareem Gaber, also known as “Al Waili” was brought on board to create a fresh and original arrangement while preserving the presence of Murad's voice and integrating the vocals of Nada Abbas.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/23

The Planter's Plantation official poster

The Planter's Plantation is a 2022 Cameroonian musical drama film written and directed by Eystein Young Dingha. The film was Cameroon's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2023 Academy Awards. It won multiple awards including the 2023 FESPACO Ousmane Sembène Prize and the top prize at the Ecrans Noirs Festival.

The soundtrack Symphonies of Isambile was nominated for Best Movie Soundtrack at the 2023 Cameroon International Festival Music Awards.  It features 17 tracks, blending a variety of musical styles and mixing African rhythms, folk melodies and choral arrangements.  According to Dingha:

"The Planter’s Plantation is an allegory of new-colonialism. It is a very bleak story in which we tried to insert things that offer a lighter mood. Then music makes sense, absolutely. Indeed, music will take you on an emotional journey and connect you to Africans. The foundation of our nations was created with music. We have the « Rally song » that we sing to celebrate our nationalism, our countries, our identity. So we used music to represent all this and also to give a brighter side to the movie."

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/25 Living in Bondage: Breaking Free, also known as Living in Bondage II, is a 2019 Nigerian supernatural thriller directed by Ramsey Nouah.  A sequel to the 1992 cult classic Living in Bondage, the film was a blockbuster that broke several box office records upon its release. Today it ranks 22 overall on the list of highest-grossing Nigerian films of all time.

In 2020 it received 30 combined nominations from the Africa Movie Academy Awards, Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA), and Best of Nollywood Awards, and won 13 awards. These included three nominations for Best Soundtrack, taking home the award at the AMVCA.

The soundtrack is a 12-track produced by Larry Gaaga showcasing some of Nigeria’s A-list Afrobeats artists, such as Davido “Work (Living in Bondage)”, Flavour, 2 Face Idibia, Waje, Duncan Mighty, Phyno, Olamide Iyanya, Reekado Banks, Omawunmi, and Patoranking.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/27

Nuba Mountains, Southern Sudan

Beats of the Antonov (2014) is a Sudanese-South African documentary film directed by Sudanese filmmaker Hajooj Kuka. The film documents the Sudan–SRF conflict in the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains regions, focusing in particular on the role of music in helping the affected communities to sustain themselves culturally and spiritually in the face of the ongoing conflict.

The film has been widely praised by critics and viewers alike, and won the People's Choice Award for Best Documentary at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, among other numerous awards.

Alsarah in 2016

Alsarah, a Sudanese-American singer, songwriter (of Alsarah & The Nubatones), and ethnomusicologist, curated and gathered field-recordings from the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains people during the filming as part of the soundtrack.  Additional recordings were provided courtesy of DJ Mosquito of the Community Radio Station in Kauda.  

Hajooj said this on the role of music in his film:

Music was the main character. We use music to show what culture is, to show the war and to explain the war; to explain why people are fighting and to show how really winning is keeping your culture. The best way to know someone’s culture is through dance and music. To me that is a major part of our lives.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/29

Saïd Hamich Benlarbi and Ayoub Gretaa at Across the Sea premiere Cannes 2024

Across the Sea (French: La mer au loin) is a 2024 drama film, directed by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi. The film premiered in the Critics' Week program at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it was a nominee for the Queer Palm. In next screens in competition at the Marrakech International Film Festival in December.

Rai album covers of 1980s

Told as a triptych with each chapter named after one of the three main characters, the film centers on a love triangle that develops between Nour (Ayoub Gretaa), a young man from Morocco who came to Marseille as an illegal immigrant in the 1990s; Serge (Grégoire Colin), a closeted bisexual police officer; and Noémie (Anna Mouglalis), Serge's wife.

Raï, a popular genre of Algerian music, plays throughout the film and is integral to the story according to Hamich:

"Raï music was one of the main driving forces behind this project. Since it experienced its golden age in Marseille in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was important for me to root this music (and the city of Marseille) in the present and in the daily lives of my characters. Raï went into exile in France, and even "reinvented" itself through exile. Many of the songs deal with these themes in a very direct way... when one is in exile, there’s often a very strong, archaic, and powerful relationship with the music of one’s origins. When I was writing the film, raï was both an ally and a compass, helping me find the right balance between the social and the melodramatic."

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