Films to look out for at ‘Lights Camera Africa’ film festival

The Lights Camera Africa Film Festival is set to return this year from September 29 to October 1 at the Federal Palace Hotel and Casino, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The three-day cultural event will celebrate independent African cinema with the theme ‘RESET’.

The seventh edition is set to showcase a reflective presentation of film works and conversations that examine issues in politics, science, arts, culture, and tradition – in order to identify the reflections that are more relevant in Nigeria.

Here are the films to look out for at the festival.

Shadeism: Digging Deeper

Film: Narrative

Year: 2015

Length: 57min

Country: Canada

Shadeism: Digging Deeper explores the issue of shadeism, the discrimination between lighter-skinned and darker-skinned members of the same community.

This issue around skin tone, of certain shades being considered better than others, was never missing from conversation while growing up for Director Nayani Thiyagarajah. She was able to feel its presence in conversations among family and friends, but she did not have the language to name it.

And so, it became easier to ignore its presence, suppress its signs, and normalize its existence. But in 2009, a conversation with her niece Maanu forced Nayani to face the fact that we cannot continue to ignore this issue.

Silence will not save anyone from suffering. Alongside her friends and family, Nayani begins to recover and re-imagine what beauty means for women globally. This film looks at where shadeism comes from, how it directly affects women, and explores how we can move forward together.

Madama Esther

Film: Short

Year: 2013

Length: 15min

Country: Madagascar

Madama Esther, a cleaning lady in her ffties, has just lost her job. As she cannot keep her promise to take her grandson to the sea, she accepts an offer to host illegal cockfghts in her backyard – a world flled with angels and crooks in equal measure.

An Opera To The World

Film: Narrative

Year: 2017

Length: 70min

Country: Mali, Portugal

In 2007, Bintou Were, a Sahel Opera was commissioned by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and premiered in Bamako, Mali. It is an operatic rendition of the story of a young woman named Bintou Were, and depicts “young people in a village with no job prospects, drought, a failing harvest and a human smuggler who offers them the dream of a better life across the barbed wire that marks the border of North Africa and the Spanish enclave of Melilla” (see the Libretto by Koulsy Lamko).

In An Opera of the World, Malian filmmaker Manthia Diawara reflects upon the refugee crisis and the relationship between Europe and Africa. The film revolves around a performance of Bintou Were, a Sahel Opera in Bamako, around which Diawara builds a story about migration, interweaving interviews with documentary and archival footage.

Akatakpo!!! The Legend Of Tony Odilli

Documentary Film

Year: 2017

Length: 30min

Country: Nigeria

Few men in the present time embody the true journey of modern Nigerian Music than the legendary percussionist Chief Tony Odili. In a career spanning 70 years, Odili’s virtuoso skills have seen his work featured in the recordings of some of Nigeria’s greatest Highlife Musicians, such as Bobby Benson (1949-1957), Victor Olaiya (1958-1961) and most famously Cardinal Rex Lawson (1963-1971). Prince David Bull and the Professional Seagulls (1971-1974), to name but a few.

This documentary features a deeply personal conversation with the 89-year-old legend of African music, in which he reminisces on his awe-inspiring journey through Nigerian music history. It also features rare performance footage and a bouquet of the evergreen sounds that formed the soundtrack to his life-story.

A Place For Myself

Film: Short

Year: 2016

Length: 20min

Country: Rwanda

At a casual elementary school comes a fve year old albino girl, Elikia. Due to her skin color her
classmates make her realize that her being ‘different’ is more a problem than a special trait. While the
neighborhood treats her as a stereotype, her mother encourages her. Together, they fght back and raise their voice to find a place for themselves.

A Hotel Called Memory

Film: Narrative

Year: 2017

Length: 49min

Country: Nigeria

A Hotel Called Memory is a tone poem set in Lagos, Zanzibar, and Cape Town. Lola, recently separated from her husband in Lagos, seeks solace in Zanzibar, hoping to forget the past and move on with her life. Easier said than done.

80

Film: Short

Year: 2012

Length: 6min

Country: Libya

80 follows a man on the two most important days of his life: the day he gets caught and imprisoned and the day he escapes.