Until October 31st, a feature film and eleven animated shorts from francophone filmmakers are available to watch online free of charge and without registration by clicking here. For the 10th consecutive year, the Institut Français and the AFCA (Association française du cinéma d’animation) is offering French speakers and learners the chance to enjoy these movies. But this year, due to social restrictions, the festival is online, so moviegoers worldwide can enjoy these animated treasures, the majority of which come out of African countries with a francophone tradition.
Here’s a selection:
Adama by Simon Rouby, 2015, 85 min
Twelve-year-old Adama lives in a remote village in Western Africa. Beyond the cliffs, the World of Breaths can be found, where the Nassaras reign. One night, Samba, his older brother, disappears. Defying the laws of the elders, Adama decides to set out to find him. With the unwavering determination of a child becoming a man, he launches into a quest that will take him beyond the seas, to the North, to the front lines of World War One. It is 1916.
Tales of Africa– 6 animated short films made in different African countries (Cinémathèque Afrique offer):
- Shamazulu by Jérémie Nsingui, Shamazulu has just married the man of her dreams. Unfortunately, she has a complex: she has a very big nose. The evening of her wedding, a magician appears and proposes to change her nose, against a promise: to never abandon her husband.
Le Chasseur et l’antilope by Narcisse Youmbi, the first pilot episode of the series was elected Best Animated Film at the Night of the Short Film in Cameroon. Through the character of Papa Nzenu, a griot (a West African historian, storyteller, poet, or musician) of the 21st century and the guiding thread of the series, Tales of Africa offers a journey on the African continent through his tales.
Malika et la sorcière by Nabaloum Boureima, Papa Nzeu is convinced that one always needs someone smaller than oneself. To demonstrate this, he embarks on a fantastic tale: in a dark forest, a witch kidnaps a group of women and a little girl, Malika. Will she succeed in getting them out of there?
