"I Am Not a Witch" French release trailer allocine.fr/video/player_g… 
Meet the filmmaker, who I'm excited about, given her past work. I'm sure American audiences will be hearing much more about her in 2018, once the film is picked up for USA distribution: Rungano Nyoni | "I Am Not a Witch" | Directors' Fortnight Q&A
Rungano's short film, the enchanting, whimsical "Mwansa The Great," was a @FocusFeatures Africa First short project 6 years ago. It's a touching tribute to childhood innocence, with a nod to familiar struggles between local tradition and modernity.
The full film isn't online unfortunately. It was part of a package of "Africa First" shorts partly financed and produced by Focus Features (before Focus merged with Universal Pictures International in 2016). The "Africa First" program is now defunct, unfortunately.
Some very good short films by talented and relatively unknown young, African filmmakers emerged from the initiative which was spearheaded by Kisha Imani Cameron.
The program earmarked funds exclusively for emerging filmmakers of African descent, each receiving $10K in financing for pre-production, production, and/or post-production on narrative short films made across continental Africa.
One of the first shorts to be produced under the Africa First banner was Wanuri Kahiu's "Pumzi" (2009), which may be the initiative's most well-known film, given how much I've seen it shared over the years, finding new audiences. It's online in full:
A number of filmmakers who wrote and directed short films under the program went on to feature filmmaking. One of them is making his Hollywood studio directorial debut - Julius Onah, who is directing the next movie in the "Cloverfield" film franchise, starring David Oyelowo.
Others from the program who graduated to feature filmmaking (films that have traveled) include: repping Senegal, Dyana Gaye ("Under the Starry Sky"
2013) and repping Burkina Faso, Cedric Ido ("Chateau" 2017). Others, like Akosua Adoma Owusu are developing their feature debuts.
2013) and repping Burkina Faso, Cedric Ido ("Chateau" 2017). Others, like Akosua Adoma Owusu are developing their feature debuts.
The aforementioned Wanuri Kahiu is working with award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor on an animated feature film titled "The Camel Racer," which was one of just 8 projects selected for Disney’s Triggerfish Story Lab development program fostering African writers & directors.
All that said, it's unfortunate that the Africa First program no longer exists. Some really good work, and some really good filmmakers emerged from the program and have thankfully gone on to bigger things. Focus Features should consider bringing it back.
Company founder and CEO James Schamus, left in 2013, as parent company Universal announced a move that was to see Focus Features broaden its portfolio beyond the production and distribution of so-called “specialty product."
It was under Schamus’ watch that the Focus Features Africa First program was launched. So once he left, it seemed unlikely that the program would continue much longer. It was also under Schamus’ reign that Andrew Dosunmu was hired to direct the long-in-development Fela Kuti film.
In fact, Schamus was instrumental in giving the Fela project a home at Focus, suggesting in a 2010 @nytimes profile that it was something of a passion project for him, so much that he even co-wrote the screenplay with Nigerian author Chris Abani.
Link to the NY Times 2010 profile of Schamus I referenced: nytimes.com/2010/11/28/mag…
By the way, this was also the Fela Kuti project that Steve McQueen was once attached to direct, with Chiwetel Ejiofor to star. But the project appears to be dead. It's been years since the original announcement, which was before McQueen directed "12 years a Slave."
After "Mother of George," Dosunmu went on to instead direct "Where Is Kyra?" with Michelle Pfeiffer. He's a filmmaker with quite an eye, who I hope continues to be given the right kind of opportunities.
I'd love to see another Andrew Dosunmu/Bradford Young film (Young shot all of Dosunmu's sumptuous features - "Restless City" and "Mother of George"). So I hope the pair work together again soon.
By the way, Ava DuVernay's Array Now distribution collective helped bring "Restless City" to theaters. The film may have been entirely forgotten if that didn't happen.
More of what I'd call a mood piece, "Restless City" was Dosunmu's stylized feature-film debut, made hypnotic thanks to Bradford Young's cinematography.
The Nigerian-born, London-raised, New York/Lagos-based Dosunmu’s fashion photographer roots certainly show. It's not a conventional film by any means. Its style defines it, and I appreciated what I felt were attempts to disrupt the expected order of things.
The film stomps on the Horatio Alger myth, telling the story of a young, nomadic Senegalese immigrant, Djbirl (played by Sy Alassane), an aspiring musician, struggling to survive on the fringes of New York City. Certainly not Woody Allen’s New York.
You'll find references to some of African cinema's grandfathers, if you will, including Djibril Diop Mambetty's “Touki Bouki.” But check out "Restless City" which is available on various home video formats. Or check with @ARRAYNow.
Trailer:
Ok, I'm starting to wander. I wasn't planning on a long thread here, but things just start coming to you as one types. It's all connected, however. But I'll end it here for now. I'll get a lot more in-depth some other time.
