Africa has a very rich culture and has tried to portray this in most African songs and films. But when the story isn’t about the culture, there are many other things that can be presented through the media. Africa is a continent that has come a long way. Africa is largely shaped and influenced by wars, civil unrest, famine, health challenges and political instability. Through African films, Africa has a lot to offer in the media. Nollywood is home to the third largest film industry in the world, Ghollywood (Ghana Movie Industry), South African and Kenyan cinema and it can’t help but produce some interesting and classic films that have resonated through the ages. Answers Africa brings you the top 10classic African films .
10. Guelwaar
Written and directed by Ousmane Sembene one of Guelwaar is Africa’s finest filmmaker and one of Africa’s finest films. The film’s setting was in Senegal and the story was that a murder mystery began to expose the death of a district leader whose family had gathered at the funeral.
9. Sarafina!
Sarafina! is a 1992 South African film starring Leleti Khumalo, Whoopi Goldberg, Miriam Makeba, John Kani and Tertius Meintjies. The film was shot on location in Soweto and Johannesburg, South Africa and directed by Darrell Roodt.
Summary: The film is about students involved in the Soweto riots. The riots are intended to highlight opposition to the introduction of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. Ashamed that her mother (Miriam Makeba) accepts her role as a domestic worker in a white household during apartheid South Africa, the character Sarafina (Leleti Khumalo) encourages her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher Mary Masombuka (Whoopi Goldberg) is imprisoned.
8. Viva Riva!
Viva Riva! is a Congolese crime thriller film directed by Djo Tunda Wa Munga and starring Patsha Bay, Manie Malone, Hoji Fortuna, Marlene Longage, Alex Herabo and Diplôme Amekindra. The film received 12 nominations and won 6 awards at the 7th African Movie Academy Awards in 2011 including Best Picture , Best Director , Best Cinematography & Best Production Design awards .Viva Riva! also won the Best African Film award at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards.
Synopsis: Riva is a small-time temp worker who has just returned to his hometown of Kinshasa, Congo, after spending ten years with one important result: a fortune in hijacked gasoline. With a bunch of money he’s out for a good time, then Riva soon becomes enchanted by a very pretty nightclub, Nora, who happens to be the guarded wife of a local gangster. An Angolan criminal enters the scene, tirelessly searching for the return of his stolen shipment of gasoline.
7. The gods must be crazy
The Gods Must Be Crazy is an old film that was released in the age of VHS and maximum video playback time of 180 minutes. During this period, after watching your film, you have no choice but to insert the cassette into another device similar to a videocassette player and called a winder. The Gods must be crazy was a very popular and funny South African film written and directed by Jamie Uys and set in Botswana. It tells the story of Xi, a Sho of the Kalahari Desert, whose band knows nothing about the world until A bottle of Coca-Cola fell from the sky and the whole story changed.
6. Tsotsi
Tsotsi is a South African film directed by Gavin Hoodin that reveals the dark underground life of the golden city of Johannesburg through the life of a teenage community of Tsotsi (thugs) in Soweto. Within 6 days all hell broke loose with cases of robbery, violence, auto theft and murder. A woman had no choice but to give birth in the back of a car, and Tsotsi takes the baby to his slum, where it evokes deep emotions meant to lead to redemption… but it’s a little too late for this sacrifice of his own Birth. Tsotsi won the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
5. Sitanda
Sitanda is one of the best African films. It is a Nigerian Nollywood adventure/drama film written by Fidel Akpom and directed by African Movie Academy Award winner Izu Ojukwu. Sitanda received 9 nominations and won 5 awards at the 2007 African Movie Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Nigerian Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
4. From a whisper
From a whisperr is an African film of Kenyan origin and directed by Wanuri Kahiu. “From a Whisper” is based on the events surrounding the US Embassy bombings in Nairobi on August 7, 1998. In the film, Abu is an intelligence officer who loves to be low key but is on a quest to find Tamani, a he decides to help her mother’s young, rebellious artist. The discovery of her death brings back memories of Fareed, Abu’s best friend, who also lost her life in the attack. The discovery and memories teach them to forgive, believe in themselves and face what they fear most – the truth.
After 12 nominations, the film received 5 awards at the 2009 African Movie Academy Awards including Best Original Soundtrack , Best Director , Best Picture , Best Original Screenplay and AMAA Achievement in Editing . In 2012, the film also won the Best Feature Narrative award at the Pan African Film & Arts Festival and was awarded the BAFTA/LA 2010 Festival Choice Award. The film is not exclusively about terrorist bombing despite commemorating the 10th anniversary of the August 7, 1998 terrorist attack in Kenya. Rather, it paints a clear picture of the bombings and describes the lives of the victims and their families who had to collect the bits of their lives ripped apart by the blast.
3. The last king of Scotland
The Last King of Scotland is a film about a young doctor working on a Ugandan medical mission whose brazen attitude earns him a place close to the self-appointed leader as personal doctor and close confidante at a moment of crisis. He becomes irrevocably engaged to one of the most brutal dictators in the world: Idi Amin. The film won Forest Whitaker, who declared Idi Amin the best acting Oscar for his incredible performance. The last king of Scotland was also settled in Uganda.
2. The figure
The synopsis of Figurine (Aramire) shows that it is a story of two buddies and a girl. All their luck changed their lives when one of them discovered ‘Aramire’, a mystical sculpture in an abandoned shrine in the woods while serving in a camp of the National Youth Service Corps which, according to legend, brings seven years of happiness. But nobody told them about the next seven years. In 2010, the character received 10 nominations and won 5 awards at the African Movie Academy Awards.
1. How to steal 2 million
“How To Steal 2 Million” is one of the bestAfrican movies that has played. Produced in 2011 and directed by Charlie Vundla. Main character Jack after serving five years for a robbery. Twala was never caught and Jack never spoke. Jack wants to go legit and forget his old lifestyle, but after he’s turned down a loan. Twala hands him a R2 million job in partnership with the sexy but tough Olive. The complication at work is that Twala’s father is the sign and little does he know that she will prove to be more devious than his old friend. The South African film had 11 nominations and won 4 awards at the 2012 African Movie Academy Awards.
