3 to see at LFF: Sub-Saharan African films

Just as she’s about to head off to college, Rwandese schoolgirl Eva is kidnapped to be a stranger’s bride. The marriage is sanctioned through a cultural practice known as ‘guterura’, and so Eva’s hopes for a scholastic future seem to be shattered. 

Congolese-born Rwandan director Myriam Uwiragiye Birara has a short but impressive portfolio. Before The Bride, which received a special mention for best first feature at the Berlinale, Birara wrote and directed a short film, Home (Imuhira), which screened at LFF in 2021.

Nuance and perspective is the name of the game when it comes to portraying traditional African practices on screen. The film is set only three years after the tragic Rwandan genocide, and the narrative maintains a balanced approach to all its characters, considering them as traumatised individuals dealing with an inexplicable loss. What truly carries the story, however, is the homoerotic relationship that develops between Eva and her captor’s cousin, which provides an escape for her and provides a different – queer – dimension to traditional Rwandese culture.

Sometimes in April (2005), The Mercy of the Jungle (2018)

Against the political backdrop of the second Sudanese civil war and the Sudan split, Julia, a South Sudanese Christian, and Mona, a North Sudanese Muslim, form an unlikely friendship after a tragic event binds their two families together for life.

Before Goodbye Julia, self-taught Sudanese filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani directed the short films Gone for Gold (2015) and Nyerkuk (2016). An undeniable talent, his first feature was Sudan’s first film to screen in the Cannes official selection, where it won the Un Certain Regard section’s Prix de Liberté (Freedom Prize).

Goodbye Julia acts as a sort of time capsule of early 2000s Sudan. It skilfully portrays the wider societal politics in the complex relationship between these two varying Sudanese families. Tensions in the country are at an all-time high as the South Sudanese rebel against racial abuse from the northerners, and campaign to secede and form their own country. With its gripping storyline elevated by outstanding performances – specifically by Siran Riak, first-time actor and former Miss South Sudan – it’s easy to understand why this film has taken the festival circuit by storm.

Beats of the Antonov (2014), Timbuktu (2014)

Shot from the perspective of three young children, Falta, Mohamed and Ibrahim, who all live on the border of Cameroon and Nigeria, this documentary captures war through young eyes. Their peaceful lives in the idyllic Kolofata commune are constantly interrupted by the looming threat of violence from the terrorist organisation Boko Haram.

With The Spectre of Boko Haram, documentary filmmaker Cyrielle Raingou clinched the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. But her journey to success has not been easy. In fact, she scrapped the first iteration of her feature because it did not feel right. Luckily, she made the right call, and the success of the finished film has bolstered the development of her upcoming fiction, I’m Coming for You.

In a world where African children are viewed as objects to be marvelled at, The Spectre of Boko Haram humanises them and truly considers their perspective. This quiet documentary is tinged with the confusion of young minds trying to make sense of the chaos that surrounds their daily lives. The story also honours a resilient community who refuses to be pushed out of their homeland, focusing on the happy moments they have with each other. A rare, non-sensationalised snapshot of what life on an African war front looks like.

Beasts of No Nation (2015), For Sama (2019)