June Givanni

Comments

Touki Bouki

Original and genre-defying challenge to the world's understanding of African cinema:

timeless; ageless in its unique rebelliousness imitated by artists, filmmakers and 'rebels' the world over.

Mandabi

Unique first African film of international circulation to be made in an African language. Visually stunning and a challenge to film storytelling and audience expectations of cinema on many continents…

Black Girl

Exquisite visual storytelling of a critical lack of humanity in a story - captured and laid bare. Visual motifs and representations used to great effect in the cinematic narrative.

Sambizanga

A classic of African cinema and the first feature by an African-Caribbean woman made in Africa. Use of cinematic devices to capture the significant meaning of 'colonial struggle' at human an personal levels. A rare and enduring film of that era told by and about women.

I Am Not Your Negro

Peck's classic film using archive to present, in his most strident cinematic voice, the strident storytelling and literary legacy of a literary giant writer whose timeless work is brought to bear witness in the present in the powerful way on the big screen. Cinema was invented for this.

MIRT SOST SHI AMIT

A cinematic epic in scale and content of a historical moment of which so little is known or seen in the world and certainly not sufficiently by cinema audiences. Visually engaging and unique in its historical significance, yet to be fully acknowledged by the world or cinema or been sufficiently offered to unsuspecting audiences yet to discover this great film.

KAAGAZ KE PHOOL

A cinematic classic of Indian Cinema that is taught in film schools around the world. This visually stunning romantic story. This first Indian film made in Cinemascope. Tender and self-reflexive, it is regarded as one of the best films ever made in this genre in India and is a personal favourite.

Daughters of the Dust

A beautifully crafted visual treat of a time and a story rarely told in such depth and emotion with its historical and cultural dimensions transformed into cinematic motifs and language that audiences around the world could experience, of a time and place so little known. A valuable cinematic legacy for generations of cinema lovers to come. Thank you Julie.

La Rue Cases-Nègres

Popular with audiences all over the world this first feature by a Martiniquan woman took the Venice Silver Lion in 1983 and went on to take international audiences by storm. Impressed by Euzhan's film and her work, Robert Redford invited her to the Sundance Film Institute and the 1985 Directors Lab. Her film is renowned for bringing to the screen one of the classics of Caribbean literature, and featuring two of the established actors of the African stage and screen: Doutta Seck, and renowned Martiniquan-French stage actress Darling Legitimus. The film still wows audiences internationally today and children love it.

Handsworth Songs

A film which marked a moment both in essay cinema tradition and in Black British cinema, combining in its unique eloquence the significance of both in bringing the stories of 1980s Black struggles in the UK to international screens as the legacy of the colonial era. Unparalleled in telling the factual stories of that time and creating a cinematic gift to Black British history appreciated the world over. A classic in Black British Cinema, and popular with those studying this genre of cinema on many continents.

Further remarks

Others would include:

Muna Muto (Jean-Pierre Dikongue Pipa, 1975 Cameroun)

Bamako (2002), Heremakono (2006), and Timbuktu (2014) (all Abderrahman Sissako, Mauritania/Mali)