Heartbreaking and nerve wrecking, even eye-jarring, Rough Aunties is an inconvenient documentary set in post-apartheid South Africa. It is a movie that explores the type of subject matter which has, somehow, fallen through the cracks of development-related discourse. Rough Aunties tells the story of a group of women (Jackie, Mildred, Eureka, Sdudla, and Thuli) [...]

While it is true that everywhere from Hollywood to Nollywood producers have their say in what goes into a film, nowhere are they as arrogant and paternalistic as in African cinema funded by France

In my country is the type of movie one might see no reason in reviewing. The seriousness of the topic combined with the predictability and banality of some of the characters, the sloppy writing and the cheesy nature of some of the scenes makes me just want to get through my review as soon as [...]

“Don’t chase me away”: The crisis of social belonging in tumultuous times A desperate mother makes a painful sacrifice: she sends her son away to an uncertain future in order to spare him from an almost certain death.  The last thing she tells him is “Go, live and become” and these words will resonate heavily [...]

The idea that you can make a musical about apartheid gives me chills. To see it on my laptop screen seems even more inappropriate. In recent times, some wise directors tried to give a new perspective on the Holocaust by using movie genres other than dramas, and they succeeded. I cannot say the same about [...]

After I reviewed Clint Eastwood’s latest movie, Invictus, an anthropologist I care deeply for sent me an email with her insights on the movie. She had this to say at the time: “I have complex feelings about Eastwood and his libertarian politics: for me, he has never understood social processes, and works with lone, heroic [...]

Somewhere in West Africa, Karaba is a mean sorceress who has killed almost an entire generation of warriors. She is so loathed and feared that she lives away from the village, on top of a hill, where her only friends are dreadful walking trees and little robot-like spies that keep her informed at all times. [...]

A French team of journalists traveled to Congo, Brussels and Paris in order to reveal to the general public some of the reasons why the Democratic Republic of Congo is still a war torn zone. Instead of providing the audience with a larger picture, something I would have done instead, they focused on one commodity [...]

The State of Denial is a heartbreaking documentary that explores the difficulties HIV-infected South Africans face on a daily basis. And their inspiring struggles. It provides an insider’s view, South African born director Elaine Epstein, into the complicated factors that allow HIV/AIDS to spread at such an alarming speed. The documentary focuses on what used [...]

Blood Monkey is a movie set in Africa which is not even worth the envelope Netflix used in order to ship the DVD to me. It is so bad that I find it is my civic duty to write this movie review and convince you never to borrow or buy the movie. Blood Monkey features [...]