African culture: the appointments in March
“Les Prières de Delphine” (Belgium, Cameroon), by Cameroonian Rosine Mbakam, will be presented at the Cinéma du Réel, between March 12 and 21, 2021. © Rosine Mbakam
Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow
8 mins
In digital or face-to-face form, where will the flagship meetings of African culture take place in March?
Here are fifteen proposals.
And don't hesitate to send us your “must-haves” to rfipageculture@yahoo.fr.
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The Berlinale, an important place for the discovery of new African films, will be a two-part festival this year: a first part takes place from March 1 to 5 in virtual mode and remains reserved for professionals.
The second part will take place in June in the German capital, with the same programming, but welcoming the public.
In 2021, no African film is in the running for the Golden Bear, but the Berlin Film Festival offers several African feature films in parallel sections.
Souad
, by Egyptian director Ayten Amin, and
Garderie nocturne
, by Burkinabè director Moumouni Sanou, were selected for Panorama.
And
Saba 'sanawat hawl delta al-neel
(“Seven Years Around the Nile Delta”), by Egyptian director Sharief Zhairy, has been chosen for Forum Expanded.
Without forgetting the Encounters section where Alice Diop, French born in 1979 into a Senegalese family, presents
Nous,
and Samaher Alqadi, Palestinian based in Egypt,
As I Want
("As I want").
Selma Feriani (London, Tunis) and Cécile Fakhoury (Abidjan, Dakar, Paris) will be the only African galleries among the 212 French and international galleries participating in the first online edition of the International Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC).
The Fiac Online Viewing Rooms will take place from March 4 to 7 to “
create new connections between Fiac audiences, galleries and artists
”.
From March 6 to May 8, the famous Senegalese photographer Omar Victor Diop has carte blanche at the Parisian gallery Magnin-A to exhibit around fifty photos of the photographers who have marked him.
The
Heritage
exhibition
proposes to weave "
the sensitive links between the work of Diop and the artistic heritage
" of a Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé or an Okhai Ojeikere ...
Originally scheduled from March 9 at the National Museum of the History of Immigration in Paris, the exhibition
What is forgotten and what remains
is currently awaiting the reopening of museums in France.
The original idea of the exhibition was born from the collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary African Art Al Maaden (Macaal) of Marrakech.
She wishes to remain "
against the colorful representations of a supposed African artistic production
", therefore "to
twist the clichés of a visual identity associated with the African continent
".
From March 11, Spring, the festival of new forms of circus in Normandy, opens a special 2021 edition visible online.
Among other things, there will be an African stopover as part of the Cirque des 5 continents:
Cross section
, a Franco-Ethiopian collaboration led by Cyrille Musy and Dereje Dange, director of Fekat Circus in Ethiopia.
On March 26, the Cameroonian writer Djaïli Amadou Amal and the historian Pascale Barthélemy engage in an “African conversation” on the theme
Engagement and citizenship
: women in struggle
as part of
the September Summit
program
of the Africa 2020 Season.
Until March 12, Annie Kadji Art Gallery is presenting in Douala the young talent Kingsley, born in 1997, who “
stands out for his hard work that is matched only by his skin-deep sensitivity
”.
Wuna Kam Seeam
is an invitation from the young artist to follow him in his universe, that of the technique of the ballpoint pen and acrylic on canvas to evoke the joys of motherhood, the mother figure or the single-parent family in which the artist grew up.
Located in Cameroon, this contemporary gallery aims to be the main platform for visual arts in the Central Africa sub-region.
“Garderie nocturne”, by Burkinabè director Moumouni Sanou, was selected for the “Panorama” section of the Berlinale 2021, from March 1 to 5 for professionals, and in June for the general public.
© Berlinale 2021
From March 12 to 21, the Cinéma du Réel, the 43rd international documentary film festival, is showing around sixty films on the program for its dematerialized edition, including two African feature films.
Ziyara
(France / Morocco), by Simone Bitton, evokes a popular practice common to Jews and Muslims in Morocco, the visit to saints, called ziyara.
Les Prières de Delphine
(Belgium, Cameroon), by Cameroonian Rosine Mbakam, tells the story of Delphine's dramatic fate after the death of her mother and the resignation of her father.
Together
(“Ensemble”), from March 12 to April 17, the Melbye-Konan Gallery in Hamburg, Germany, presents Jean-Laurent Koné Zié's first solo exhibition in Europe.
Emerging artist on the African scene, the 42-year-old Ivorian artist deals in his colorful and joyful works with different aspects of human life and social life:
Youth in the bar
,
The kiss
,
Liberty
.
The American Academy of Cinema Sciences and Arts will release its latest list (with just 5 films) on March 15 before the Oscars ceremony on April 25.
Among the 15 feature films still in the running for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film are two African films:
The Man Who Sold His Skin
, by Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania and the Ivorian feature film
La nuit des rois
by Philippe Lacôte, not to mention
Da Yie
, directed by Belgian director born in Ghana, Anthony Nti, in the short films category.
Mid-March opens the call for writings for the 2021 RFI Theater Prize. French-speaking writers and writers, get ready.
Who will succeed Julien Mabiala Bissila, Hala Moughanie, Hakim Bah, Edouard Elvis Bvouma, Sedjro Giovanni Houansou, Valérie Cachard and Souleymane Bah?
Postponed by one month, because of the health crisis, the 13th Literary Return of Mali was finally scheduled between March 16 and 23 in Bamako, Sikasso, Djenné and Timbuktu.
The general theme chosen for this 2021 edition is
Shared heritage
.
Each year, the event welcomes 50,000 festival-goers and around a hundred writers from five continents.
Until March 17, you have the opportunity to watch the films of the Mobile Film Festival Africa.
The first Pan-African edition received 497 films from 38 countries to select 51 short films for the 2021 edition. Through its unique format: “1 Mobile - 1 Minute - 1 Film”, the festival wishes to bring out future directors and directors from Africa.
The closing ceremony and the awards ceremony (including the Africa Grand Prix endowed with 10,000 euros) will take place on March 23, 24 and 25, accompanied by a master class and film screenings in Tunis.
Among the members of the jury are, among others, the Rwandan director and Yennenga's Gold Standard Joël Karekezi and the Cameroonian musician Blick Bassy.
From March 20 to 27, the Zébrures de Printemps will meet in Limoges, France.
The Francophone Literary Creation Festival promises readings and presentations, including thirteen texts from the African continent, if the sanitary conditions are met.
Hassane Kassi Kouyaté, the director of the festival, will take stock ten days before the opening date to decide whether or not there will be an audience.
Either way, the festival will take place in front of professionals and in colleges and high schools.
From March 23 to April 11, the Panorama of Maghreb and Middle East Cinemas (PCMMO) is planning a hybrid edition, both in theaters and online.
On the program: a focus on Egyptian cinema and a window on contemporary Morocco.
►
Thank you to all the artists and professionals for their proposals.
You too can send us your “
essentials
” of African culture in 2021 to
rfipageculture@yahoo.fr
.
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