Movies | HAFF 2012

NEITHER ALLAH NOR MASTER Tunisia / France 2011

In August 2010, Tunisia, under Ben Ali’s regime, is in the middle of Ramadan. Despite the constraints of censorship, Nadia El Fani films a country, which seems open to the principle of freedom of conscience and is liberal in its relationship to Islam.

BEYOND THE OCEAN Ivory Coast / France 2006

Shad and Otho arrive to Spain as illegal immigrants from Ivory Coast. They dream of returning home with their pockets full, but end up working odd jobs and dealing cannabis just to scrape together a bit of money to send back home.

SCHEHERAZADE, TELL ME A STORY Egypt 2009

Hebba, a TV personality, presents a successful political talk show on a privately owned network. Karim, her husband, is the deputy editor in chief of a government-owned newspaper. His ambition is to become the editor in chief.

SLEEPWALKING LAND Mozambique / Portugal 2007

It took seven long years for the director Teresa Prata to work on Sleepwalking Land. The film, based on a novel by Mia Couto, takes place in Mozambique during the civil war. Orphan Muidinga, wanders the countryside in search of his mother...

THE WEDDING SONG Tunisia 2008

The Wedding Song is a bold, frank and gorgeously crafted take on friendship and sexuality set during a time of political upheaval.

HARRAGAS Algeria / France 2009

In Mostaganem, an Algerian harbor some 200 km from Algiers, Hassan the smuggler is organizing a secret a journey for ten people, whose eyes are set for the Spanish coast. Harragas is an austere portrait of the longing for Europe experienced by many Algerian youngsters.

SEX, OKRA & SALTED BUTTER Chad 2008

Mahamat Saleh Haroun reveals an incredible sense of humor in this comedy that takes a serious shot at African life in Paris from several angles.

SINKING SANDS Ghana 2011

Jimah and Pabi are a match made in heaven until a domestic accident turns their loving marriage into one of violence and abuse.

LITTLE SENEGAL Algeria / France / Germany 2001

A man goes on a pilgrimage in search of his heritage only this time it's an African coming to America in this offbeat drama. Alloune is an elderly man who works at a museum in his native Senegal that is devoted to documenting the history of the slave trade in Africa.

FROM NAMIBIA WITH LOVE Namibia / Finland 2011

Anita, a young woman from Finland, is sent to Africa as a missionary in the 1950s. In Tanzania she falls in love with Namibian theologian Salatiel. They support the Namibian liberation movement in the 1970s but have to make some difficult choices that change their lives forever.

WAITED FOR South Africa 2010

Waited for is a feature-length documentary that interweaves three stories of South African lesbians who adopt across racial lines.

PLAYING WARRIORS Zimbabwe 2011

When Nyarai finds out that her best friend is getting married, she and her traditionally challenged friend, Maxi, are set into a frenzy at the thought that their time to find "Mr Right" may be running out! It's time to act!

STORY OF A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY South Africa 2004

A well-balanced road movie that is sometimes intimate, sometimes seemingly trivial, as conversations between the director and the passers-by expose the ambivalent attitude many South Africans have towards their country.

VIVA ALGERIA Algeria 2004

Three women, a modern young woman, her mother and a local prostitute live in a hotel in the heart of Algiers amid creeping fundamentalism.

PRICE OF FORGIVENESS Senegal / France 2001

A fishing village on the south coast of Senegal lives in fear because of a strange cloud of mist hanging above the village. As a result, the fishing boats, which are the village’s lifeline, cannot set sail. When the young Mbanick makes the fog disappear he becomes a village hero and wins the heart of beautiful Maxoye.

BAMAKO Mauritania 2006

Bamako is one of the landmark films in African cinema. The film centres on an unusual trial set up in the courtyard of a poor neighbourhood in Bamako, where ordinary people, lawyers and intellectuals testify against the World Bank and the IMF for the devastating impact of their policies.

MASQUERADES Algeria / France 2008

Free screening for students. Mounir is a small-time gardener who is fed up of being the laughing stock of his village because his narcoleptic sister Rym keeps falling asleep in public. He decides to take action.

LOOK AGAIN (SHORT FILM) United States / Kenya 2011

Sometimes things aren’t as they appear. Fiona wakes up in hospital, unaware of what has happened to her. Why is everyone close to her behaving strangely? Look Again was a nominee as the best short film in African Movie Academy Awards.