FESPACO Awards 2009

2009 Pan-African FESPACO Awards
2009 Pan-African FESPACO Film Festival: Burkina Faso, in March 2009
 

Set during Mengistu Haile Mariam’s 1974-1991 blood-soaked rule in Ethiopia, Haile Gerima’s Teza won the top prize at the 2009 Pan-African FESPACO film festival in Burkina Faso. In the film, a medical research scientist trained in Europe returns full of hope to Ethiopia, but once there his efforts are violently put to rest.
 
Golden Stallion: Teza by Haile Gerima (Ethiopia)
Silver Stallion: Nothing But the Truth by John Kani (South Africa)
Bronze Stallion: Mascarades by Lyes Salem (Algeria)
Oumarou Ganda Prize: Missa Hebie for Le Fauteuil (Burkina Faso)
Best Actress: Sana Mouziane for Les Jardins de Samira (Morocco)
Best Actor: Rapulana Seiphemo for Jerusalema (South Africa)
Best Screenplay: Mama Keita for [...]

by Massimo David | March 10, 2009   
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Dubai Film Festival Awards 2008

2008 Dubai Film Festival Awards
2008 Dubai Film Festival: Dec. 11-18, 2008
 

In Lyes Salem’s Masquerades, an arrogant man (played by Salem) living with his family in an Algerian village has one dream: to be respected by those around him. The problem is that he has a sister whom everyone believes will end up a spinster. To resolve the issue, the man tells everyone that he has found a rich suitor for his sister so that preparations for the marriage can begin. But now there’s another problem: where’s the bridegroom? Masquerades is Algeria’s submission for the 2009 best foreign-language film Oscar.

 
MUHR ARABIC
Muhr Arabic Feature – Best Film
MASQUERADES
Director: Lyes Salem
Country: Algeria – France
Muhr Arabic [...]

by Massimo David | December 20, 2008   
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Youssef Chahine

Youssef Chahine, possibly the world’s most renowned Arab filmmaker and the winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, died today at Al-Maadi Military Hospital in Cairo. About four weeks ago, Chahine fell into a coma after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 82.
Throughout his nearly six-decade career, Chahine tackled various genres and styles, ranging from socially conscious melodramas such as the Grand Hotel-like Cairo Station (1958), which remains his best-known film, to politically charged dramas addressing government repression and the threat of Islamic fundamentalism. Additionally, his (socially conscious) romantic drama The Blazing Sun (1954) launched the career of Omar Sharif.
Born in Alexandria on January 25, 1926, to a Christian family of Greek and Lebanese origin, [...]

by Andre Soares | July 27, 2008   
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CAIRO STATION Clip

Youssef Chahine’s 1958 Egyptian drama Bab el hadid / Cairo Station received international recognition following its screening at the Berlin Film Festival. In addition to directing the social drama, Chahine beautifully plays one of the film’s key characters, a shy cripple in love with a good-looking blonde. The film’s dialogue was provided by Mohamed Abu Youssef and Abdel Hay Adib.
"When Youssef Chahine made Cairo Station in 1958," wrote Gaby Wood in The Observer, "Egyptian audiences were confused and disturbed. They weren’t used to the gritty, neo-realist style Chahine had borrowed from Italy, and they couldn’t follow the numerous intersecting plots. But now that Cairo Station is being re-released as part of a Chahine retrospective (Chahine, who was born in [...]

by Andre Soares | June 3, 2008   
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AFI FEST 2007 – African Showcase

AFI FEST 2007 – African Showcase

CLOUDS OVER CONAKRY (IL VA PLEUVOIR SUR CONAKRY) Cast: Alex Ogou, Moussa Keita, Tella Kpomahou DIR: Cheick Fantamady Camara PROD: Annabel Thomas Majama Camera. Guinea, France
FARO – GODDESS OF THE WATERS (FARO – LA REINE DES EAUX) Cast: Sotigui Kouvate, Fili Traore, Michel Mpambara DIR: Salif Traore PROD: Philippe Quinsac, Daniel Morin, Barbel Mucch, Salif Traore, Ismael Oueadrog Mali, France, Canada, Germany, Burkina Faso
NOSALTRES (Documentary) DIR: Moussa Toure. Senegal

WELCOME TO NOLLYWOOD (Documentary) DIR: Jamie Meltzer PROD: Cayce Lindner, Henry S. Rosenthal. USA, Nigeria
 
AFI FEST 2007 – World Cinema
AFI FEST 2007 – Documentary Showcase
AFI FEST 2007
AFI FEST 2007 – Documentary Competition
AFI FEST 2007 – International Feature Competition
AFI FEST 2007 – Galas and [...]

by Andre Soares | November 2, 2007   
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