1 Films on Africa 1. A star (*) next to a film indicates that portions of that film might be shown in class in the course of the semester. 2. All films are in DVD format, unless indicated otherwise. 3. Available: at the Madden and Fresno County Public Libraries, via Netflix, Blackboard or on-line. 4. For the on-line films, you can click on the link and this will lead you directly to the film. 5. Please be advised that a few films have the following notice: Warning: Contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing. You decide whether you want to watch them or not. 6. Some films are available on-line via VOD. 7. Let your instructor know if a link is no longer working. The Africans (9 VHS films – each 60 min or 5 DVDs – each 120 min): Co- production of WETA-TV and BBC-TV. Presented by Ali A. Mazrui. 1986. Available at Madden Media & Fresno Public Libraries Vol. 1 – The Nature of a continent* Summary: Examines Africa as the birthplace of humankind and discusses the impact of geography on African history, including the role of the Nile in the origin of civilization and the introduction of Islam to Africa through its Arabic borders. Vol. 2 – A Legacy of lifestyles* Summary: This program explores how African contemporary lifestyles are influenced by indigenous, Islamic and Western factors. It compares simple African societies with those that are more complex and centralized, and examines the importance of family life. Vol. 3 – New gods Summary: This program examines the factors that influence religion in Africa, paying particular attention to how traditional religions, Islam, and Christianity co-exist and influence each other. Vol. 4 – Tools of exploitation Summary: The impact of the West on Africa and the impact of Africa on the development of the West are contrasted with an emphasis on the manner in which Africa's human and natural resources have been exploited before, during, and after the colonial period. Vol. 5 – New conflicts Summary: Explores the tensions inherent in the juxtaposition of 3 African heritages, looking at the ways in which these conflicts have contributed to the rise of the nationalist movement, the warrior tradition of indigenous Africa, the jihad tradition of Islam, and modern guerilla warfare. Vol. 6 – In search of stability Summary: Gives an overview of the several means of governing in Africa. Examines new social orders to illustrate an Africa in search of a viable form of government in the post-independence period. 1. 2 Vol. 7 – A Garden of Eden in decay? Summary: Identifies the problems of a continent that produces what it does not consume and consumes what it does not produce. Shows Africa's struggle between economic dependence and decay. Vol. 8 – A Clash of cultures* Summary: Discusses the conflicts and compromises which emerge from the coexistence of many African traditions and modern life. Explores the question of whet.

1. 1
Films on Africa
1. A star (*) next to a film indicates that portions of that film
might be shown in class in the course of
the semester.
2. All films are in DVD format, unless indicated otherwise.
3. Available: at the Madden and Fresno County Public
Libraries, via Netflix, Blackboard or on-line.
4. For the on-line films, you can click on the link and this will
lead you directly to the film.
5. Please be advised that a few films have the following notice:
Warning: Contains scenes which some
viewers may find disturbing. You decide whether you want to
watch them or not.
6. Some films are available on-line via VOD.
7. Let your instructor know if a link is no longer working.
The Africans (9 VHS films – each 60 min or 5 DVDs – each 120
min): Co-
production of WETA-TV and BBC-TV. Presented by Ali A.
Mazrui. 1986.
Available at Madden Media & Fresno Public Libraries
Vol. 1 – The Nature of a continent*
Summary: Examines Africa as the birthplace of humankind and

2. discusses
the impact of geography on African history, including the role
of the Nile
in the origin of civilization and the introduction of Islam to
Africa through its Arabic borders.
Vol. 2 – A Legacy of lifestyles*
Summary: This program explores how African contemporary
lifestyles are influenced by
indigenous, Islamic and Western factors. It compares simple
African societies with those that
are more complex and centralized, and examines the importance
of family life.
Vol. 3 – New gods
Summary: This program examines the factors that influence
religion in Africa, paying particular
attention to how traditional religions, Islam, and Christianity
co-exist and influence each other.
Vol. 4 – Tools of exploitation
Summary: The impact of the West on Africa and the impact of
Africa on the development of the
West are contrasted with an emphasis on the manner in which
Africa's human and natural
resources have been exploited before, during, and after the
colonial period.
Vol. 5 – New conflicts
Summary: Explores the tensions inherent in the juxtaposition of
3 African heritages, looking at

3. the ways in which these conflicts have contributed to the rise of
the nationalist movement, the
warrior tradition of indigenous Africa, the jihad tradition of
Islam, and modern guerilla warfare.
Vol. 6 – In search of stability
Summary: Gives an overview of the several means of governing
in Africa. Examines new social
orders to illustrate an Africa in search of a viable form of
government in the post-independence
period.
1.
2
Vol. 7 – A Garden of Eden in decay?
Summary: Identifies the problems of a continent that produces
what it does not consume and
consumes what it does not produce. Shows Africa's struggle
between economic dependence
and decay.
Vol. 8 – A Clash of cultures*
Summary: Discusses the conflicts and compromises which
emerge from the coexistence of
many African traditions and modern life. Explores the question
of whether Africa can synthesize
its own heritage with the legacies of Islam and the West.

4. Vol. 9 – Global Africa
Summary: Discusses African contributions to contemporary
culture, including the significance of
the African Diaspora, particularly in North America. Also
examines the continuing influence of
the superpowers on the affairs of Africa.
Africans in America: America's journey through slavery 2
DVDs (180
min. each): Produced for PBS by WGBH Boston.
Available at Madden Media & Fresno Public Libraries
Disc 1: The Terrible transformation* – Revolution.
Disc 2: Brotherly love – Judgment day.
Summary: Nearly ten years in the making, this landmark six-
hour film
series exposes the truth through surprising revelations, dramatic
recreations, rare archival photography and riveting first-person
accounts. [It] helps define the
reality of slavery's past through the insightful commentary of a
wide range of voices including
General Colin Powell, authors John Edgar Wideman and Barry
Unsworth and leading scholars.
Narrated by Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett it offers
unparalleled understanding -
from slavery's birth in the early 1600s through the violent onset
of civil war in 1860.
Warning: Contains scenes which some viewers may find
disturbing.
A day in the life of a village in Africa (60 min). By
Christopher Roy. *
Available at Madden Media & Fresno Public Libraries
Summary: Shows a typical day in Sayaga, a farming village in

5. Burkina Faso.
Includes scenes of food preparation, house building, children in
school,
traditional work, a funeral, and music.
A day in the life of Africa: (95 min.)
Available at Madden Media Library
Summary: On February 28, 2002, 100 photographers
documented life in
53 African countries. This film follows some of the
photographers as they
carried out their assignments, the results to be published in a
book in the
'Day in the life" series. Also shown is the process of choosing
which
pictures to include, as well as other details of book production.
2.
3.
4.
3
Africa Addio (Farewell Africa) – 140 min)

6. On-line at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/africa-addio/
Summary: Italian documentary made in 1966 about the end of
the colonial
era in Africa. Documents some of the disruptions caused by
decolonization, such as poaching in former animal preserves
and bloody
revolutions, including the Zanzibar revolution which resulted in
the
massacre of approximately 5,000 Arabs in 1964. Shot over a
period of
three years, by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi, two
Italian filmmakers who had gained
fame a few years earlier (with co-director Paolo Cavara) as the
directors of Mondo Cane in
1962. Warning: Contains scenes which some students may find
disturbing!
The empire in Africa – 2006 (88 min)
Available on-line at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqIK0Rufa3Q
By Philippe Diaz. Focused on the bloody civil war in Sierra
Leone, it is the
perfect rejoinder to those who believe that the West has some
kind of
obligation to provide law and order through a “humanitarian”
military
intervention of the sort that NY Timesman Nicholas Kristof
contributor
calls for in Darfur or that Harvard professor Samantha Powers
called for in
Rwanda. Using interviews with the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF), a rebel group widely
portrayed as the Sierra Leone equivalent of the Janjaweed in

7. Darfur, as well as supporters of
military intervention against it, Diaz uncovers a rescue mission
much more about rescuing
diamond mining profits than lives. Warning: Contains scenes
which some students may find
disturbing!
An African Journey – 2010 (3 one-hour episodes)
On-Line at:
http://www.ovguide.com/tv/an_african_journey_with_jonathan_
dimbleb
y.htm
Summary: After four decades of reporting from the continent,
Jonathan
Dimbleby returns to Africa on a 7,000-mile journey to discover
how it is
changing. He starts his African journey in the capital of Mali,
Bamako, the
fastest-growing African city.
1. Following the course of the Niger River, Dimbleby finds not
a continent of beggars but of
industrious people, some of whom go to extraordinary lengths to
make a living, free-diving
20 feet to excavate building sand.
2. On the second leg of his illuminating journey across Africa,
Jonathan Dimbleby travels 2000
miles through East Africa’s Rift Valley.
3. On the final leg of his 7,000 mile odyssey, Jonathan
Dimbleby travels from Congo to Durban
in search of the stories revealing contemporary Africa.

8. At a party celebrating the Year of the Tiger, he learns how
China’s billion dollar deals have
rebooted African economies, once dependent on Western aid
and investment.
5.
6.
7.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/africa-addio/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqIK0Rufa3Q
http://www.ovguide.com/tv/an_african_journey_with_jonathan_
dimbleby.htm
http://www.ovguide.com/tv/an_african_journey_with_jonathan_
dimbleby.htm
4
Have You Heard From Johannesburg – 2010 (7 films, each 52
min long, for
a total of 8 hours)
Available at Madden Library (disc DT1970 .H394 2010 v.1-7)
Summary: A series covering the 45-year struggle against South
Africa's
apartheid system. Produced and directed by Connie Field, it
includes
events such as the Sharpeville massacre, the Soweto uprising,

9. the murder
of Steve Biko, and covers the role of some people less well-
known outside
South Africa than Nelson Mandela, such as African National
Congress leader Oliver Tambo. The
title comes from the lyrics of the Gil Scott-Heron song
“Johannesburg”.
Episode One: The Road to Resistance (1948-64)
As the U.N. adopts the Declaration of Human Rights, South
Africa implements apartheid. A
mass movement is born, then crushed, and Nelson Mandela is
jailed for life.
Episode Two: Hell of a Job (1960-69)
ANC Deputy President Oliver Tambo escapes into exile and
embarks on what will become a 30-
year journey to engage the world in the struggle to bring
democracy to South Africa.
Episode Three: The New Generation (1969-77)
Youth in South Africa and around the world join the growing
movement against apartheid and
the brutal suppression of a youth uprising in Soweto galvanizes
public support for sanctions
against South Africa.
Episode Four: Fair Play (1958-81)
With foreign governments reluctant to take action against
apartheid regime, athletes and
activists around the world hit white South Africa on the playing
field. International boycotts
against its sport teams help bring this human right crisis to the
forefront of global attention.

10. Episode Five: Selma to Soweto (1977-86)
African Americans alter U.S. foreign policy for the first time in
history, successfully pressuring
the U.S. to impose sanctions and politically isolate South
Africa.
Episode Six: The Bottom Line (1965-88)
International grassroots campaigns against major American
firms doing business in South Africa
economically isolate the apartheid regime and become the first
successful efforts to use
economic pressure to help bring down a government.
Episode Seven: Free at Last (1979-90)
An uprising in South Africa becomes the final blow in the
cumulative world effort to topple
apartheid. Nelson Mandela becomes a household name as the
campaign to free him ignites a
worldwide crusade.
8.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpeville_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto_uprising
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_National_Congress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Tambo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Scott-Heron
5

11. Portrait of Africa – 2000 (56 min)
Available at Madden Library
Summary: Few have ever witnessed the untouched splendor of
Africa. But
now you can. Portrait of Africa, set to the music of Vangelis
(Chariots of
Fire), Ladysmith Black Mambazo (of Paul Simon's Graceland)
and
legendary vocalist Miriam Makeba, is the sight-and-sound
odyssey that
takes you there. From Tanzania's sweeping Serengeti to
towering Mt.
Kilimanjaro, from Kenya's historic island of Lamu to the
volcanic shores of Lake Turkana,
Portrait of Africa presents a remarkable array of people, places,
wildlife and timeless ways with
a gorgeous detail and rhapsodic grace.
The Great Africa Scandal – (48 min)
On-line at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRIdMpCXCEw
Summary: Robert Beckford visits Ghana to investigate the
hidden costs of
rice, chocolate and gold and why, 50 years after independence
this
country, so rich in natural resources, is one of the poorest in the
world.
He asks if the activities of multinationals, the World Bank and
IMF have
actually made Ghana’s problems worse.
The Human Family Tree – (46 min)
On-line: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/human-family-tree/

12. Summary: On a single day on a single street, with the DNA of
just a
couple of hundred random people, National Geographic Channel
sets out
to trace the ancestral footsteps of all humanity. Regardless of
race,
nationality or religion, all of us can trace our ancient origin
back to the
cradle of humanity, East Africa. What did our collective journey
look like,
and where did it take your specific ancestors?
Has God Forsaken Africa? – 2008 (52 min)
Available at: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/has-god-forsaken-
africa/
Summary: The story of this documentary unfolds in a working-
class
neighborhood in Dakar, Senegal. The director, Musa Dieng
Kala, returns
there to see what happened in a district he grew up in. Twenty
years
have passed since he and his friends dreamt of rebuilding their
land.
Today the young people there dream of a sole opportunity to
leave and
go far away, elsewhere. Deserting Africa is like claiming that
nothing can be accomplished,
established nor enjoyed there. They leave behind an African
youth feeling lost, frustrated and in
despair, yearning to go to the West to escape a seemingly
pointless future. The land, see and
sky become their refuge. Leaving Africa thus becomes a life-
long task - to live elsewhere,

13. anywhere, but not there.
9.
10.
11.
12.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRIdMpCXCEw
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/human-family-tree/
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/has-god-forsaken-africa/
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/soccers-lost-boys/
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/soccers-lost-boys/
6
Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey – 2003 (120 min)
On-line: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dDXIX-y6aY
Summary: A fantastic documentary tracing the earliest human
migration
on this planet, as shown by our genetic roots. The best parts are
when
the researcher returns with DNA results and we see the diverse
ways in
which people and tribes react to the news of what science says
about

14. their arrival and relations.
Tropic of Capricorn – 2008 (180 min)
Available at: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/tropic-of-
capricorn/
Summary: Simon Reeve presents a travel documentary as he
embarks
on a journey along the Tropic of Capricorn, the line of latitude
which
cuts through Southern Africa, Australia and South America.
The journey
took him to stunning areas of the world, but he also discovers
the
changing global environment, poverty, globalization, AIDS, the
rise of
the Chinese economy and the suffering of Africa.
Africa… States of Independence by Al-Jazeera English– 2010 (1
film of 45 min + 6 of 25 min each)
All episodes available on Bd (“Films for Video Streaming”)
Summary: Seventeen African nations gained their independence
in 1960 but the dreams of the independence era were short-
lived. Africa ... States of Independence tells the story of five of
these countries: stories of mass exploitation, of the ecstasy of
independence, and of how - with liberation - a new, covert
scramble for resources was born.
Africa, I’m Going to Fleece You (Afrique, je te plumerai) –
1992 (88 min)
Available at Madden Music & Media Library
Available on Bd (“Films for Video Streaming”)

15. Summary: This documentary examines how Cameroon's French
colonizers have been replaced by a dictatorial indigenous
regime which
still plunders the land and silences the authentic expression of
its people.
A case study of the devastation of traditional African societies
by imposed
colonial cultures. In French with English subtitles.
And So Angels Die (Ainsi meurent les anges) – 2001 (58 min)
Available on Bd (“Films for Video Streaming”)
Summary: A drama that examines the conflict that often
develops
between personal needs and those of family and culture. Mory
is a
poet from the African nation of Senegal, who lives in France
with his
French wife and their three children. He is contacted by his
step-father
back in Senegal: the old man demands that he take a second
wife, as is
consistent with the polygamist traditions of their culture. In
French with English subtitles.
13.
14.
15.

16. 16.
17.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dDXIX-y6aY
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/tropic-of-capricorn/
7
Women With Open Eyes (Femmes aux yeux ouvertes) – 1994
(52 min)
Available on Bd (“Films for Video Streaming”)
Summary: A Togolese documentary film directed by Anne-
Laure Folly
that covers the lives of contemporary African women in Burkina
Faso,
Mali, Senegal and Benin. The film director simply want to
show African
women's ability to enter the twenty-first century positively, that
is, by
articulating a set of problems, questions, and answers that
contribute
to world development even though some still live in very
traditional societies.
Finally:
1. Be sure to read the instructions as to how to write you film

17. report before starting the assignment.
2. Consult your instructor if you have additional questions.
3. Let your instructor know if one of the links featured in this
document is not working anymore!
4. Your instructor welcomes your suggestions for films to be
added to this list!
18.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Laure_Folly