Nancy Asaah co-curated our focusprogram Actual Africa, which consists of a selection of films from Sub Saharan Africa. Especially for WCA, she visited the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, which resulted in a beautiful selection of gripping films that will be up for views during this year's WCA, from August 19 to 28.
How did you roll into the film industry?
It all started in 2015, when me and my sister realised that something was missing within the film industry. We have a lot of family in South East Amsterdam, and each time we passed the cinema next to the Bijlmer ArenA train station, we thought: how is it possible that there are no African films op for views here? If there's a place in the Netherlands where the target audience of those films live, it's at Bijlmer, so we knew there was a demand for it. Eventually, we took the plunge and rented a screening room to screen Love or Something like that from Ghanese director Shirley Frimpong-Manso. We bought in the film, flew in a couple of celebrities, and the rest is history.
Why is it so important for African cinema to have a widespread podium?
So many beautiful stories are being told, and so many beautiful many films are being made in Africa. But it seems like those stories linger on the continent, with no where else to go. There's a growing demand within a new generation from the African diaspora that wants to tap into these stories. But it's difficult to tap into it if the films stay in Africa. Qualitativly, the films may not be as strong as we're used to, due to the often harsh circumstances in which those films are made. But that doesn't have to be a criterion for not letting the films go overseas, to show them to a larger audience. Africa too has great talent. Africa too has beautiful stories. Let's break the barriers and spread those films, to make them accessible for a larger audience.
Often times, the African stories that we are told, are being told from the perspective of Europeans or Americans. But those who can tell those stories better, are the Africans themselves. There is so much beauty in Africa, which remains underexposed because it is often overshadowed by stories that focus on all the things that go wrong on the continent. I want to show another side of Africa, in which glamour and beauty also exist.
How did COVID-19 effect the selection of films?
During COVID-19, there were little items covered in the news about COVID-19 in Africa. Sometimes they mentioned that the 'Africans suffered greatly', but other than that, the media remained silent. To raise awareness about the situation there, I searched for films that were made during COVID-19. It were tough times for filmmakers. Films couldn't be produced, and cinemas were closed. Everything was on hold. But that didn't stop filmmakers. Us in Between, for example. It is a film which accurately demonstrates how Ghana picked up on COVID-19. The shorts-series Women in Times of COVID, zooms in on COVID-19 and shows how women have dealt with it, and what social, economic and personal impact it had on them. I think it is very important that this topicality is highlighted in the program, to make sure that Africa is also included in stories about COVID-19.
What are recurring themes for Actual Africa?
One recurring theme is going back to your roots. I noticed a growing awareness around finding your identity within a new African generation. 2019 was the year of return in Ghana, in which African diaspora returned to their roots to see where their ancestors came from. This is a leading theme in many of the Actual Africa films. In Burkinabè, for example, a young woman returns to the country of birth of her father. In the documentary Ghana for You, by director Adams Mensah who was born in Ghana and raised in Brussels, returns to Ghana to investigate why there are so many Ghanaians that long for a better life in countries such as Belgium or the Netherlands. Why do people think life is so much better there? I'm very interested in the role the media plays in creating that image.
World Cinema Amsterdam 2021 will take place from 19 to 28 August in Rialto de Pijp, De Balie and Rialto VU.
