Portal:African cinema/Selected anniversaries/21
The 81st Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7) has several African films in selection:
- Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo a comedy drama by Khaled Mansour and the first Egyptian film selected to be on the festival’s lineup since 2012.
- Aicha by Tunisian Mehdi M. Barsaoui, of the award-winning A Son, and inspired by the real life story of a young woman who faked her death following a bus crash
- Carissa, a South African drama co-directed and co-written by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar, and starring Gretchen Ramsden.
The 49th Toronto International Film Festival taking place September 5-12th features a number of African films in the line up:
- Front Row, by Algerian director Merzak Allouache, is a family dramedy about feuding matriarchs starring Fatiha Ouared, Nabil Asli and Bouchra Roy.
- Freedom Way by director Afolabi Olalekan about six Nigerians whose lives are disrupted by corrupt officers. Starring Debo Adebayo, Jable Ogranya, Jesse Suntele, Mike Afolarin, Femi Jacobs, and Bimbo Akintola.
- Don’t Let the Dog’s Go Tonight, the South African feature debut by Embeth Davidtz based on the best-selling eponymous novel by British-Zimbabwean author Alexandra Fuller.
- Perfumed with Mint by Egyptian cinematographer-turned-director Muhammed Hamdy (of the critically-acclaimed 2013 documentary The Square) in his feature debut.
- On Becoming a Guinea Fowl a Zambian co-production directed by Rungano Nyoni and her second feature following the award-winning I am Not a Witch.
- The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos, the feature debut of the Nigerian filmmaking group the Agbajowo Collective, is based on real-life events that took place in 2016 and 2017 surrounding forced evictions from Lagos’ Otodo Gbame fishing community in 2016-2017. The film’s cast includes Temi-Ami Williams (of This is My Desire) and Nollywood veteran actor Debo Adebayo.