It is just as difficult to define the culture of the continent of Africa, in view of its size and diversity, as it is to define African cinema.

Film production is prevalent throughout Africa, from the Maghreb nations and Egypt in the north, to the Arab east, to Sub-Saharan Africa including South Africa. Apart from this geographic diversity, the continent is also artificially subdivided through its colonial past into a number of independent countries with various official European languages, as well as hundreds of indigenous tribal ones. The diversity is such that it might be more apt to use the term African cinemas or African regional cinemas, rather than attempt to discover unifying elements of an African cinema in this vast, diverse and culturally rich continent. This brief introduction will not seek therefore to present an all-encompassing look at the complexity of African cinema, but will provide an overview of its history and development and highlight some of the work of the major filmmakers, with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan African cinema.

Film screenings were first held in Egypt as early as 1896, less than a year after the invention of the cinematograph by the Lumière brothers in Paris.

Screenings followed in Morocco in 1897, Senegal in 1900 and Nigeria in 1903. These screenings were mainly promoted by Europeans resident in Africa with audiences drawn from the expatriate community and the local westernised elite. One of the first records of film production was in Alexandria, Egypt, where in 1912 a foreign cameraman filmed scenes of the city to add local interest to film screenings. However, film was generally seen as an imported urban entertainment medium with the steady growth of cinemas, especially in the Arab countries, which showed French, Italian and, increasingly, American films.

Soon newsreels, documentaries and dramatic feature films about Africa began to be shot on location in Africa. Until the independence era these films were made almost entirely by European and American production companies, creating representations of Africa that reflected often racist colonial values rather than any genuine expression of African culture. The most extreme example of this racism is the Tarzan films, with the first, Tarzan of the Apes, being made in 1918. In 1998 the 47th Tarzan movie was released and Hollywood continues to produce films about white people in Africa dominating their surroundings.

Egypt was the exception to this mode of production with at least 44 local feature films being made from 1930-1936. The 1940s and 1950s were seen as the golden age of Egyptian cinema, and in 1966 the country's film industry was nationalised. Other early film activity took place in South Africa, where the sound film Sarie Marais—the story of a group of Boer prisoners in a British prisoner of war camp—was produced in 1931. Apart from these examples there was minimal indigenous film production activity elsewhere in Arab or Sub-Saharan Africa until the independence era.

The emergence of African cinema was greatly assisted during the period of independence by the return from Europe of young nationals trained in film production. They came armed with their new skills but also with an admiration of the mother country and its language, and a number of the early films of this period were made in French or English. Filmmakers from the Francophone countries received funding from the French government as well as newly established national film corporations. Those from Anglophone Africa were not so lucky and had to seek sponsorship from the private sector.

Africa sur Seine (1957), a short film directed by Samadou Sarr and Paulin Vieyrais, is acknowledged as being the first film directed by a black African. It was set in Paris as the filmmakers were denied permission to film in their home country Senegal. Novelist and filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, also from Senegal, is credited with directing the first "black" film located in Africa with Barom Saret (1963). This short film followed the driver of a donkey cart around the capital Dakar and the various disasters he experienced. Sembene, who is seen as the father of African cinema, went on to direct the classic feature Black Girl in 1966, the first of his many acclaimed feature films.

By the 1980s there was a substantial body of internationally recognised work produced by African filmmakers, most from Francophone Africa. These included Touki-Bouki (1973) by Djibril Diop-Mambety (Senegal), Xala (1974) by Ousmene Sembene (Senegal), West Indies (1979) by Med Hondo (Mauritania), Wend Kuuni (1982) by Gaston Kabore (Burkino Faso), Yeleen (1987) by Souleymane Cisse (Mali) and Yaaba (1988) by Idrissa Ouedraogo (Burkino Faso).

Anglophone Africa has not had such a rich film heritage although Kwah Ansah (Ghana) made Love Brewed in the African Pot (1981), and the Nigerian Ola Balogun completed ten features between 1972 and 1982. In recent years there has been a dramatic change in the number of films produced in Anglophone Africa, and according to a 2006 UNESCO survey Nigeria (872 films) has replaced the United States (485 films) as the second biggest film producer in the world after India (1091 films). The "Nollywood" phenomenon consists of low-cost dramatic films, focusing on local issues, being shot and edited in the video format. These are extremely popular throughout Nigeria as well as with Africans living in Europe and North America. Kenya has become one of Nigeria's biggest markets and there are television stations in that country that dedicate their entire programme line-up to these films.

The Nigerian film industry is now a US half-billion dollar enterprise and Nollywood has over 300 producers making films that sell on average close to 100,000 DVDs annually. The films, though cheaply made, have increasingly improved technical standards while the themes have moved from poorly told stories of witchcraft using the Yoruba language to modern "lifestyle" films in English focusing on actors driving SUVs.

Other countries are achieving success. South Africa is now a popular location for Hollywood films based not only on its dramatic scenery but also because of its sophisticated production facilities and expertise. In 2005 the urban drama Tsotsi won the Academy Award for best foreign language film. Kenya is also experiencing increased film activity with the production of films in the Kikuyu and Kiswahili languages.

It is also home to some talented young filmmakers such as Wanuri Kahiu, who in 2009 directed her first feature, From a Whisper, a story about the terrorist bombings in Nairobi in 1998. Her latest film, Pumzi, has received acclaim as being one of the first African science fiction films. Elsewhere, the film A Screaming Man by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun of Chad this year became the first African film to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival, the most prestigious in the world. The Trinidad and Tobago film festival is presenting the following for its 2010 focus on African cinema in partnership with the Zanzibar International Film Festival, courtesy the Commonwealth Foundation. Here are some synopses of the films to be presented

Dramatic feature

IZULU LAMI

My Secret Sky

Year of release: 2009

Running time: 90 minutes

Country of origin: South Africa

Language: Zulu and English, with English subtitles

Writer and director:

Madoda Ncayiyana

Contact:

info@vulekaproductions.co.za

Ten-year-old Thembi and her eight-year-old brother, Khwezi, are left alone in their rural homestead when their mother dies. All they have to remember their mother by is a grass mat she wove, which she aimed to enter in a craft competition. Thembi decides to take the mat to the competition herself, and Khwezi reluctantly goes with her.

In the city, the children are taken up by the street-wise Chili-Bite and his gang. A man claiming to be a priest offers to help them, but he turns out to be a pimp who wishes to sell Thembi's virginity as a cure for Aids. When her bond with Khwezi is broken, Thembi succumbs to the grief that has been welling up inside her since her mother's death. Alone, Thembi must discover herself and her dreams, before she can be reconciled with her brother and her newfound friends.

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Awards: Best Feature Film, Pan African Film Festival, Cannes 2009

About the director

Madoda Ncayiyana is a South African writer and director. His first film was the award-winning dramatic short, The Sky in Her Eyes (2008). Izulu Lami is his first feature-length film.

Screenings

Sat 25 Sept 5.30 p.m. MT Chaguanas

Mon 4 Oct 5.30 p.m. MT Tobago

Dramatic feature

THEMBA: A BOY CALLED HOPE

Year of release: 2010

Running time: 108 minutes

Country of origin: South Africa, Germany

Language: Xhosa and English, with English subtitles

Director and writer: Stefanie Sycholt

Contact:

www.themba-movie.com

Like many 11-year-old boys in South Africa, Themba dreams of playing for Bafana Bafana, the national football team. When his mother loses her job, she departs their home in rural Eastern Cape to look for work in Cape Town, leaving Themba and his sister in the care of her lover. After Themba undergoes a traumatic experience, he and his sister decide to go to find their mother, even though his football team is on the verge of winning the local junior championships.

In Cape Town, Themba and his sister find their mother dying of Aids. Though he must work to care for the family, Themba does not give up on his dream. Against the odds, he is selected to play for the national under-20 squad. This gives him the strength to come forward and make a courageous public admission.

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Awards: Golden Dhow – Best Feature Film, Zanzibar International Film Festival 2010

About the director

Stefanie Sycholt was born in Pretoria and studied at the Universities of Natal and Cape Town. In 1986, she was Media Officer of the National Union of South African Students, and later coordinated an anti-apartheid video unit in Durban. In 1990, after filming Nelson Mandela's welcome home rally, she went to Munich to study at the University of Television and Film. Her films include the award-winning feature Malunde (2001), which she both wrote and directed.

Screenings

Fri 1 Oct 6 p.m. Les Coteaux Community Centre

Documentary feature

WOLE SOYINKA: CHILD OF THE FOREST

Year of release: 2009

Running time: 52 minutes

Country of origin: Nigeria/South Africa

Language: English

Director: Akin Omotoso

Contact:

akin@tompictures.co.za

Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka—Wole Soyinka to the world—is one of Nigeria's and Africa's treasures. A novelist, poet and playwright, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first African to be so honoured. Throughout his long, chequered career Soyinka has never backed down from speaking truth to power, and using his writer's gifts to take aim at oppression, corruption and the legacy of colonialism and slavery.

This profile presents the many sides of Soyinka, from writer to activist to revolutionary. A number of interviewees including fellow writers, members of his family as well as Soyinka himself testify to his restless, inquisitive spirit, and his desire for knowledge for the betterment of his country and his continent. Stylised recreations of pivotal moments from his career round out this celebration of a true literary lion.

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

About the director

Akin Omotoso is a Nigerian-born South African actor, writer, producer and filmmaker. After directing a series of short films he made his first feature, God is African, in 2003. The short Rifle Road, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, followed in 2005. Gathering the Scattered Cousins, a documentary tribute to his late mother, debuted in 2006. His acting credits include the films Lord of War (2005) and Blood Diamond (2006).

Screenings

Fri 1 October 10 a.m. UWI

——Dramatic short

PUMZI

Year of release: 2010

Running time: 20 minutes

Country of origin:Kenya

Language: English

Director: Wanuri Kahiu

Contact:

www.pumzithemovie.com

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Nature is extinct. The outside is dead. Asha lives and works in a specially designed indoor community. When she receives a box in the mail containing soil, she plants an old seed in it, and the seed starts to germinate. Asha appeals for permission to investigate the possibility of life on the outside, but is denied. Asha's only hope—and the only hope for humankind—is for her to break out of the community and seek a place where she can plant the precious seedling.