AFRICA

A Displaced Child Prodigy’s Imagination Offers Ideas For Our Collective Future—‘Anbessa’, dir. Mo Scarpelli, 2019

November 15th, 2020|Country: Ethiopia, Italy, USA|

Urban development in Addis-Ababa and humanity’s race for progress are explored through the eyes of a curious, talented ten-year-old boy living in a hut in the shadow of shiny new condominiums

The Voices of Women Reclaim Algerian History Through Colonization, Wars, and Personal Infractions—Assia Djebar, ’Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade,’ 1985, trans. Dorothy S. Blair

September 2nd, 2020|Country: Algeria|

A linguistically ornate exercise exploring postcolonial history and identity, Assia Djebar’s account of her homeland is a monument to the country’s women and their heroic lives

In Postwar Chad, Vengeance Is Served With Freshly Baked Bread, by a Boy With a Gun—‘Dry Season’, Dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2006

August 6th, 2020|Country: Austria, Belgium, Chad, France|

In the aftermath of the Chadian war, a young man looks to avenge his father's death but instead finds a father figure in this stunning parable about the humanity hiding beneath the scar tissue

A Senegalese Village, Swiss Drama and a Masterful Critique of Globalization From Senegal’s Finest Filmmaker—’Hyenas’, dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1992

July 21st, 2020|Country: France, Italy, Netherlands, Senegal, Switzerland, United Kingdom|

An anti-neocolonialist gem from legendary Mambéty: human nature and capitalist indoctrination are under scrutiny when a billionaire agrees to give money to her struggling hometown—on her terms

Fighting for Change, Against the Odds and with Each Other, a Look Into the DRC Protest Movement—‘Kinshasa Makambo’, dir. Dieudo Hamadi, 2018

July 9th, 2020|Country: DR Congo, France, Germany, Norway, Qatar, Switzerland|

An incendiary documentary about three brave men at the forefront of the uprising against Joseph Kabila’s rule shows just how much the protest movements across the world have in common

Great Art Stays With You Even After You Die—The Fantasy Coffins of Ghanaian Legend Paa Joe

July 7th, 2020|Country: Ga-Adangbe People, Ghana|

Rooted in the tradition of his Ga people, Paa Joe’s coffins are whimsical, yet concise impressions of their owners—and a staggering reimagining of what art and death really mean to us

Blackness, Queerness and Yoruba Tricksters in the Works of Nigerian-British Photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode

June 25th, 2020|Country: Nigeria, United Kingdom|

It has been three decades since the art world lost Rotimi Fani-Kayode to an AIDS-related illness, but his works on race, sexuality, religion, and difference, remain as fresh and urgent as ever

Social Realism Meets Coptic Motifs in Eritrean Artist’s Michael Adonai’s Visions of His Evasive Homeland

June 1st, 2020|Country: Australia, Eritrea|

He became an artist while struggling for his country’s self-determination as a young man on the frontline of the liberation movement. Then he lost Eritrea again but recreates it in imposing paintings

Fantastic Beasts and How to Make Them—The Curious Creations of Zimbabwean Sculptor Tawanda Takura

May 19th, 2020|Country: Zimbabwe|

The rising star of the Zimbabwean art scene and a cobbler by trade creates macabre but delightful sculptures out of discarded shoes and other found objects: an eco-conscious post-apocalyptic menagerie

A Father’s Secrets, War Crimes, and a Daughter’s Return to Liberia—‘Daddy and the Warlord’, dir. Shamira Raphaëla, 2019

May 14th, 2020|Country: Aruba, Liberia, Netherlands, USA|

A striking documentary follows journalist Clarice Gargard to her homeland, as she investigates the connection between her beloved father and Charles Taylor, one of Africa’s most prominent warlords

Powerhouse Rapper From Chad Who Rallies the Country’s Best Musical Talent Around Him—Anonyme, ‘Mukchacha,’ ‘Farafina Victory’ and ‘Comme un Seul Homme,’ 2019

April 12th, 2020|Country: Chad|

A musical triptych that invites to reclaim black heritage and collaborate creatively from a visionary hip-hop artist with a vision for African hegemony and an exemplary taste

The Fantastic Story of South Sudan’s First Olympic Athlete—‘Runner’, dir. Bill Gallagher, 2019

March 9th, 2020|Country: South Sudan, USA|

A nuanced portrait of Guor Mading Maker, also known as Guor Marial, who survived the civil war and child slavery to become the first man from his country to participate in the Olympic Games

Love in the Time of Capitalism and Migration—‘Atlantics’, dir. Mati Diop, 2019

March 2nd, 2020|Country: Belgium, France, Senegal|

The scion of Senegal's leading family of creators and her dark fairytale about love and justice for the working class that just might kick off a new Renaissance in the country's filmmaking industry

The Upset Stomachs and Egos of Colonialism—Tierno Monénembo, ‘King of Kahel’, 2008, trans. Nicholas Elliott

February 25th, 2020|Country: France, Guinea|

Guinean author subverts the traditional colonizer narrative by crafting a tragicomedy about a Frenchman who wanted to be an African king; offers an unflinching look into the mechanics of occupation

Moral Lines Blur in Illegal Kenyan Elephant Poaching—‘When Lambs Become Lions,’ dir. Jon Kasbe, 2018

February 18th, 2020|Country: Kenya, USA|

Director Jon Kasbe spent four years in Kenya befriending both elephant poachers and the rangers fighting to stop them. Together, they created a human and honest narrative of morality’s murkier areas

An Anthology of the Best New Music from Burundi, Part III: East African Express

February 3rd, 2020|Country: Burundi, Rwanda|

Our last dispatch from the musical scene of Burundi, where genocide survivors, Christian youth ministers, and rural dwellers make fantastic music you know you want to dance to

DR Congo’s Urban Art Scene Is Pulsating with Politics and Perils—‘System K’, dir. Renaud Barret, 2019

January 22nd, 2020|Country: DR Congo, France|

The best art grows out of trash and danger: incendiary documentary profiles the courageous young artists making fierce political statements in the streets of Kinshasa

An Anthology of the Best New Music from Burundi, Part II: Keeping Up With Kirundi

January 21st, 2020|Country: Burundi, USA|

Burundi has it all: afrobeat, gangsta rap, golden-voiced goddesses, bongo flava and boy bands. Come for them, stay for the zip bag suits and Cassava-themed trap anthems

An Anthology of the Best New Music from Burundi, Part I: Behold the Buja Beats

January 8th, 2020|Country: Burundi, Sweden|

Crooners, rappers and comeback kids, a diva and a soccer hymn: our first dispatch of freshest tunes from Burundi will satisfy your Afrobeat, R&B and hip-hop cravings and lift you up

Namibian Artist Tuli Mekondjo Creates a Space Where Her Fractured Identity Can Be Whole Again

December 17th, 2019|Country: Namibia|

Born in exile during the country's war for independence, the interdisciplinary artist seeks to find ways to belong and to explore trauma through works of striking beauty and proximity to the earth

Film: The Last Male on Earth, dir. Floor van der Meulen, 2019

November 25th, 2019|Country: Belgium, Germany, Kenya, Netherlands|

As the last male northern white rhino in existence nears the end of his life, humans hurry to revive the extinct species in a tragicomic farce of conservation efforts in this observant documentary

Food: New York African Restaurant Week Festival

October 15th, 2019|Country: DR Congo, Ghana, Jamaica, Senegal, South Africa, USA, Zimbabwe|

A delectable journey across the continent in 6 exciting dishes from 5 imaginative chefs in the center of Harlem: and a true testament to the power of plantains

Music: Laetitia Zonzambe, Sanza Soul, 2017

October 10th, 2019|Country: Canada, Central African Republic|

A singer's resilient voice serves as a reminder that the Central African Republic isn't just about war and poverty, but has quite a cultural heritage that is reimagined for the contemporary audience

Food: Plates at La Goulette, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

September 20th, 2019|Country: Tunisia|

Colorful, delicious plates at a small restaurant with some of the best Middle Eastern comfort food in the five boroughs: merguez sausages and falafel that are worth slowing and sitting down for

Film: Sound of Masks, dir. Sara CF de Gouveia, 2018

August 16th, 2019|Country: Mozambique, Portugal, South Africa|

The story of Mozambican independence and the country's postcolonial identity as reflected through the performances of Atanásio Nyusi, a traditional Mapiko dancer

Art: Franck Lundangi, The Bird, 2013

July 29th, 2019|Country: Angola, France|

Fantastic beasts, third eyes and unity with the cosmos in the works of a mystic painter who used to be a soccer player: the kind of spiritual imagery we need in the anthropocene

Film: Everything Must Fall, dir. Rashid Desai, 2019

July 24th, 2019|Country: South Africa|

A comprehensive chronicle of the #FeesMustFall movement in South Africa that is sympathetic to the cause yet maintains enough distance to remain objective

Film: Mama Bobo, dir. Ibrahima Seydi and Robin Andelfinger, 2017

July 21st, 2019|Country: Belgium, France, Senegal|

A short but powerful film about an elderly widow in Dakar whose everyday routine of looking back at her life from a decrepit bus stop is interrupted by the city's rapid gentrification

Film: Supa Modo, dir. Likarion Wainaina, 2018

July 19th, 2019|Country: Germany, Kenya|

Kenya's 2019 Oscar entry about a terminally ill 9-year-old girl who pretends to be a superhero and turns out to be one in real life: a brilliant, brave film on a highly exploited topic

Art: Romuald Hazoumè, Liberté, 2009

July 17th, 2019|Country: Benin|

One of West Africa’s biggest artists and his Yoruba masks made out of petrol cans: a sharp, tongue-in-cheek reflection on the state of art restitution and material culture in the post-colonial world

Film: Ouaga Girls, dir. Theresa Traore Dahlberg, 2017

July 16th, 2019|Country: Burkina Faso|

Young women attend vocational school to become automechanics in Burkina Faso: an exploration of the country after the fall of its longtime dictator through a microcosm of feminist labor

Algeria	Comoros	Guinea	Namibia	South Sudan
Angola	Congo-Brazzaville	Kenya	Niger	Sudan
Benin	Côte d’Ivoire	Libya	Nigeria	Tanzania
Botswana	DR Congo	Madagascar	Reunion	Togo
Burkina Faso	Egypt	Malawi	Rwanda	Tunisia
Burundi	Eswatini	Mali	Sao Tome and Principe	Uganda
Cabo Verde	Ethiopia	Mauritania	Senegal	Zambia
Cameroon	Gabon	Mauritius	Sierra Leone	Zimbabwe
Central African Republic	Gambia	Morocco	Somalia
Chad	Ghana	Mozambique	South Africa

Abkhazia	Congo-Brazzaville	Indonesia	New Zealand	Spain
Afghanistan	Costa Rica	Iran	Nicaragua	Sri Lanka
Albania	Côte d’Ivoire	Iraq	Niger	Sudan
Algeria	Croatia	Ireland	Nigeria	Suriname
Andorra	Cuba	Israel	Niue	Sweden
Angola	Cyprus	Italy	North Korea	Switzerland
Antigua-and-Barbuda	Czech Republic	Iwaidja People	North Ossetia	Syria
Argentina	Dagestan	Jamaica	Norway	Taiwan
Armenia	Denmark	Japan	Oman	Tajikistan
Arrernte	Dominica	Jordan	Pakistan	Tamil Nadu
Aruba	Dominican Republic	Kanak People	Palestine	Tanzania
Australia	DR Congo	Karelia	Panama	Tatarstan
Austria	Dunghutti People	Kashmir	Papua New Guinea	Thailand
Azerbaijan	Ecuador	Kazakhstan	Paraguay	Tibet
Bahamas	Eelam Tamil	Kenya	Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians	Timor-Leste
Bahrain	Egypt	Kosovo	Peru	Tiwi Islands
Balochistan	El Salvador	Kurdistan	Philippines	Togo
Bangladesh	Estonia	Kyrgyzstan	Poland	Tonga
Barbados	Eswatini	Laos	Portugal	Torres Strait Islands
Bashkortostan	Ethiopia	Latvia	Puerto Rico	Transnistria
Belarus	Faroe Islands	Lebanon	Qatar	Trinidad and Tobago
Belgium	Fiji	Liberia	Rapa Nui	Tunisia
Belize	Finland	Libya	Reunion	Turkey
Benin	France	Lithuania	Roma	Turkmenistan
Bermuda	French Guiana	Luxembourg	Romania	Tuvalu
Bhutan	Gabon	Macedonia	Russia	Uganda
Biripi People	Gambia	Madagascar	Rwanda	Ukraine
Bolivia	Garifuna Nation	Malak Malak People	Saint Kitts and Nevis	United Kingdom
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Garrwa People	Malawi	Saint Lucia	Uruguay
Botswana	Georgia	Malaysia	Saint Vincent and The Grenadines	USA
Brazil	Germany	Mali	Samoa	Uyghur Nation
Brunei	Ghana	Malta	San Marino	Uzbekistan
Bulgaria	Golan Heights	Māori	Sao Tome and Principe	Vanuatu
Burkina Faso	Greece	Martinique	Saudi Arabia	Venezuela
Burundi	Greenland	Mauritania	Scotland	Vietnam
Buryatia	Grenada	Mauritius	Senegal	Wales
Cabo Verde	Guatemala	Mexico	Serbia	Wallis and Futuna
Cambodia	Guinea	Moldova	Sierra Leone	Water
Cameroon	Guyana	Monaco	Singapore	Yemen
Canada	Haida Gwaii	Morocco	Slovakia	Yöruk People
Central African Republic	Haiti	Mozambique	Slovenia	Zambia
Chad	Ho-Chunk Nation	Myanmar	Solomon Islands	Zimbabwe
Chile	Honduras	Namibia	Somalia
China	Hong Kong	Native American Tribes	South Africa
Chinook Nation	Hungary	Nepal	South Korea
Colombia	Iceland	Netherlands	South Ossetia
Comoros	India	New Caledonia	South Sudan

AFRICA

ISSUES