AFROFUTURISTIK

 

With the advent of Black Panther, spectators all over the world discovered the concept of Afrofuturism. Can Africaproject itself into the future? Can it tell its own stories in more experimental, offbeat ways than humanitarian imagery and/or cinema’s images of hardship and suffering have so long done?


The 6th season of Quartiers Lointains seeks to question this perception that Africa has of itself in a compendium of diverse, vibrant short films made by filmmakers to look out for, from North to East of the continent.

 

Our Patron : Selly Raby Kane

 

 

Selly Raby Kane is a Senegalese fashion designer who launched her eponymous brand in 2012. SRK has deep fantastic and cinematographic influences; she develops over the years an edgy and avant-garde line and builds a reputation through its Fashion Performances. Gradually, Selly Raby Kane lends her style to numerous icons such as: Beyoncé, Nai Palm (Hiatus Kaiyote), Daara-J Family, Tiwa Savage, Solange Knowles...

Her first VR Film, The Other Dakar, premiered at international festivals such as: The Berlinale, Tribeca Film Festival, The Virtual Encounters, etc. Today Kane is working on several projects bridging the gap between fashion, immaterial heritage, and technology such as Tang Jër, an experimental short winner of Dakar Court Grand Prix and distributed by Sudu Connexion..

 

 

CINÉASTES / FILMMAKERS

 

 

left to right - Sofia Alaoui / Jim CHUCHU / Kantarama Gahigiri / CJ OBASI / Baloji
Selly Raby Kane

So What if the Goats Die, Sofia Alaoui, 23 min, fiction

 

Synopsis

High in the Atlas Mountains, the young shepherd Abdellah and his father are hemmed in by snow in their goat pen. Their animals are wasting away so Abdellah must travel for more than  a day to go find supplies at a market village. When he arrives with his mule, he finds the village abandoned due to a strange event that has wreaked havoc on the lives of all believers.

 

Awards

César for best short film

Grand Jury Prize at Sundance
Criticism Prize at the Champs Elysées Film Festival
Jury's favorite prize at Cinéma en liberté

 

Biography

Franco-Moroccan Sofia Alaoui grew up moving around Asia. After her studies and an early career as a screenplay reader and consultant in Paris, she shot several short fiction (Kenza des choux) and documentary works (Les Enfants de Naplouze). Today, she has moved back to Morocco where she is
currently developing her cinematographic universe in the desire to contribute to the revival of Maghrebi cinema. Her latest short film, So What if the Goats Die, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival 2020. She is currently preparing to shoot a fantasy short film for 20th Century Fox, and for her first feature film, Among Us is in production.

This One Went To The Market, Jim Chuchu, 4 min, fiction

 

Synopsis

A young Kenyan visual artist comes up with a sly plan to take over the art world abroad. Will it work? This One Went to Market is a short film that forms part of the ongoing We Need Prayers series by The Nest Arts Collective.

 

Awards

Rotterdam International Film Festival's Opening Short Film

 

Biography

Kenyan Jim Chuchu (1982) is a photographer, filmmaker, musician and videographer. He is the co-founder and creative director of The NEST, a multidisciplinary artistic space in Nairobi. His first short film Homecoming was released in 2013. In 2014, his first feature film, Stories ofOur Lives, had its world premiere in Toronto. An anthology of five short films portraying true LGBT stories in Kenya, the film was banned there for supposedly «promoting homosexuality». The film won several awards, including
the Berlinale Teddy Award and the Chéries-Chéris Festival Jury Award. Chuchu also exhibits internationally and created the virtual reality work, Let This Be a Warning, in 2018. His latest short film Tapi! (2020) premiered in Rotterdam.

 


 


 


 

 

 


 

Ethereality, Kantarama Gahigiri, 14 min, documentary

 

Synopsis

 After being stranded in space for thirty years, an astronaut returns to earth.
How does it feel to finally come home? A reflection on migration and the
sense of belonging.

 

Awards

Golden Foal Documentary - FESPACO, 2021

Best Short Film Award - Rastro Film Festival, 2020

Best Film Award - Arica Nativa, 2020

The Q12 residency award - The Human World Film Festival, 2020

Best Documentary Short Film, Best Editing - Festival Rencontres Courtes (Greece, 2021)

 

Biography

Kantarama Gahigiri is a Swiss-Rwandan filmmaker. Her first co-directed film Tapis Rouge (2015) won awards worldwide, and notably the TV5Monde Best Francophone Feature Film Award. The film then went on theatrical release in Switzerland and France. In 2019, Gahigiri wrote and directed Ethereality, which won an award at the Rastro Festival (Brazil). She is currently developing the feature film Tanzanite, a futurist, feminist, eco-conscious odyssey set in Kenya in 2045. Gahigiri has been awarded residencies at the Realness Institute (South Africa, 2018), La Fabrique

 

Hello Rain, C.J. Obasi, 30 min, fiction

 

Synopsis

Through an alchemical combination of juju and technology, a scientist-witch  creates wigs which grants her friends supernatural powers. But when their powers grow uncontrollable, she must stop them by any means. Based on the short story “Hello, Moto“, by the World Fantasy, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author, Nnedi Okorafor.
 

Award

Jury Prize at the Fantasia International Film Festival in the international short film category

 

Biography

C.J. Obasi, aka “Fiery” or “The Fiery One”, is a Nigerian filmmaker. He wrote and directed the films Ojuju and O-Town, which were selected in numerous festivals and lauded by media such as Screen Anarchy, IndieWire, and The Hollywood Reporter. He has won numerous awards, including Best Nigerian Movie at the African Movie Academy Awards (Ojuju) and the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Trailblazer Award (AMVCA).His short film Hello Rain, an adaptation of the short story‘Hello Moto’’ by hit Nigerian author Nnedi Okorafor, premiered internationally at the Oberhausen International Film Festival and was selected in some thirty festivals. Winner of the Ouaga Film Lab 2018, C.J. Obasi took part in the Groupe Ouest – Less Is More writing residency with his feature film project, Mami Wata. Along with directors Abba Makama and Michael Omonua, he has just completed the collective feature Juju Stories.

 


 

Zombies, Baloji, 14 min, experimental

 

Synopsis

A journey between hope and dystopia in a hallucinatory Kinhsasa, Zombie goes from hair salon culture to futuristic clubbing, from an urban parade in honor of a campaigning dictator to a modern western. It questions the almost carnal relationship we have with our phones, outgrowths of our hands that
endow us with digital ubiquity...

 

Awards

Special Mention by the Musical Jury - Soria International Film Festival, 2020
Screendance Competition Winner - Leeds Festival, 2020

Best Experimental Short - Guanajuato International Film Festival, 2020

Bronze Horseshoe - AsterFest International Film Festival de la Macédoine, 2020

Prix Festival Connexion - Festival Internattional du court-métrage de Clermont-Ferrand, 2020
Streaming Film Of The Year, Mubi Audience Award, 2020

Principal Prize, Oberhausen, 2019

Best International Short, Tourne-Film Festival Lausanne, Suisse, 2019

Best cinematography, Ostend Film Festival, Belgique, 2019

Best Experimental Short, Nova Frontier Film Festival, USA, 2019

Best Music Award, Bucharest International Dance Film festival, Romania, 2019

Grand Prix du Jury et Prix du Public, 25 FPS Festival, Croatie, 2019

Best Film - catégorie EMERGING - LA Fashion Film Festival, USA, 2019

Best Styling in Video in association with i-D, UK Music Awards, UK, 2019

Award Of Merit, Global Short USA, 2019

Honourable Mention: Experimental Film, Florence Film Awards, Italy, 2019

Marcin Prize From Young Jury People, International Young Audience Film Festival Ale Kino, Poland, 2019

 

Biography

Born in Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo) and based in Belgium, Baloji is an artist, musician, and multi-award-winning filmmaker. Baloji means “man of science“ in Swahili, but during the colonial period, and with evangelization, its meaning was altered, becoming “man of occult sciences and witchcraft“. Placing resilience at the centre of his work, Baloji proposes an unbridled art
of collision and crossings, freed of the markers of genre. As
a musician, he has brought out two EPs and three albums acclaimed by the critics, the latest of which was “137 Avenue Kaniama“ on the prestigious independent label Bella Union(Father John Mistry, Fleet Foxes). As a filmmaker, Baloji has directed six short films, such as Kaniama Show (2018), Peau de Chagrin/ Bleu De Nuit (2018), the international award-
winning Zombies, and Never Look at the Sun (2020). He is
currently developing his first fiction feature, Augure.

 



 

Quartiers * Lointains

France / Quartiers Lointains  - ­  Siniman Films ­  2014-2023 / Sudu  Connexion  2018-2022