Cinema: the Berlin festival reserves a strong place for African films, with three nominations
After its strong presence last year at the Cannes film festival, African cinema occupies a notable place at the Berlinale in 2024. The 74th edition of the Berlin International Festival has programmed three African films in its official competition and another film produced partly by Namibia, a first for a cinema that is undergoing rapid change but which is still little represented in international festivals.
Mariette Rissenbeek, Executive Director of the Berlin International Film Festival, and Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of the Berlin International Film Festival, announce the lineup for the 74th Berlinale during a press conference, in Berlin, Germany, on 22 January 2024. © Liesa Johannssen / Reuters
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In total, there are three films by African directors competing for the Golden Bear, between February 15 and 25, in Berlin.
Out of a total of 20 works from all over the world, this means that Africa occupies an important place in the official Berlinale competition this year.
There we find
Perfumed Hill
, by Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, back after several years of absence.
This film tells a love story which takes place
between a young Ivorian and the owner of a tea export shop
, in the African community of Canton, China.
As for the Franco-Senegalese Mati Diop, who won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 for
Atlantique
, she will be at the Berlinale
with her new film
Return
, a documentary on a current subject:
restitution by France treasures from the kingdom of Dahomey
, Benin, taken from
the town of Abomey during the colonization of the country
.
Another African director is present thanks to her first film: with
Me el Ain (Where we come from)
,
Meryam Joobeur represents Tunisia
, a country whose cinema has become the leader of Arab production and African for ten years.
Namibia is also participating in the Berlinale competition, but in co-production of the film
Pépé
by Dominican director Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias.
His film tells the story
of a hippopotamus brought back from Africa to settle in a zoo in Colombia.
And finally, with great pleasure, we proudly present the 2024 Berlinale Competition line-up!
20 films will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears, 19 of which will be world premieres.
Check out the Competition line-up here: https://t.co/vvDaLZUguG pic.twitter.com/8BrVI1QRBc
— Berlinale (@berlinale) January 22, 2024
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