Ola Balogun
1945 (80 лет)Cry Freedom
Ola Balogun
Albert Hall, Prunella Gee
Balogun's most political film is a confrontation with the African wars of liberation. Based on Carcase for Hounds, Meja Mwangi's novel about the Mau-Mau uprising, it is set in an unnamed country and thus offers the vision of a pan-African struggle for freedom and against colonial oppression. The central figures in the straightforwardly and powerfully told story are the guerrilla leader Haraka and his adversary, the English colonial official Kingsley. In the end, the film becomes a homage to the freedom fighters from all over Africa: the final images show Patrice Lumumba, Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela and Amílcar Cabral, among others.
Cry Freedom
A Deusa Negra
Ola Balogun
Zózimo Bulbul, Antônio Pitanga
A Deusa Negra is a love story that spans two centuries. In 18th century Yorubaland, Prince Oluyole is taken prisoner in the course of internecine warfare fanned by overseas slave traders. He is sold into slavery in Brazil. In present day Nigeria, at his father's deathbed, the young Babatunde promises to go to Brazil and search for traces of their once-enslaved ancestors. Beginning with a Candomblé ritual, his journey takes him ever deeper into this culture and, in a dream-like sequence, affords him a deeper understanding of his ancestors' suffering and powers of resistance. Balogun effortlessly links present with past, real with magical worlds and discourse with trance. The hypnotic atmosphere is also heightened by the music of the Nigerian drummer Remi Kabaka, which plays with repetitive patterns and distortions.
Black Goddess
River Niger, Black Mother
Ola Balogun
Lamine Konte, Daniel Kamwa
River Niger, Black Mother follows the 4184-kilometer-long River Niger from its source in Guinea through Mali, Niger and Benin to Nigeria. A passionate ode to the river, the cultures that have arisen on its shores and its role in African history, accompanied by a lyrical commentary.
River Niger, Black Mother
Alpha
Ola Balogun
James Campbell, Emilia X.
Ola Balogun's first feature film was made in France and focuses on a group of young Black intellectuals and artists. At the centre is Alpha, whose scepticism about fixed appellations is also expressed in his own chosen name. In his Parisian garret, the characters debate politics, art and philosophy and negotiate Black identity and cultural heritage. The action continues on its improvised way in the cafés, parks and nightclubs of Paris until Alpha finds himself between the fireworks and the celebrating masses on Bastille Day – in the middle and yet on the margins.
Alpha
