Quartiers Lointains : Season 2
FAMILY
In the French imagination, Africa is generally Black and francophone. The Maghreb is attached to the Middle East, Portuguese comes as a surprise, and anglophone Africa is often left aside for lack of subtitles. The works nevertheless meet despite their linguistic and geographic specificities. Through childhood and family, we discover how directors from South Africa, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Tunisia stage these subjects.
Our patron: Alain GOMIS
Travelling short-film programme from North to South of the hemisphere, with patron Alain GOMIS, Franco-Senegalese director (L’Afrance, Andalucia, Tey).
“I am very proud to be the patron of the association Siniman Films, which fights stereotypes, because this work seems extremely necessary to me. France still struggles to live with its minorities, and it is important to bring a diversified image of Africa to the widest possible audience.”
The films
To the one I love by Zolani Ndevu
Documentary - 2012 - South Africa - 23 min - Big Fish School/Digital Filmmaking
Synopsis
My father left home when I was a month old. On my 27th birthday, I decided to go looking for him. I thought my mother would help me find him, but she felt betrayed. Since then I have acquired the status of an adult man, and yet I still bear my mother’s clan name. This story is about me and my search to find my father and discover why he abandoned us.
Biography
Zolani Ndevu began as a local journalist in the Cape Town region. Trained for two years at the Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking in Johannesburg, he won Best Film and Best Director in 2012 for To The One I Love. Selected for the Durban Talent Campus 2014 (South Africa), Zolani Ndevu has worked at the production company Ripple Effect Media Production Western Cape and is preparing his next film.
Film career
Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking - South Africa 2012 - Best Film and Best Director; Festival Cinésud - France 2014 - Prix du Jury
Offrande by Walid Mattar
Fiction - 2011 - Tunisia - 16 min - Propaganda Production
Synopsis
Maher, a seven-year-old boy, walks around his neighbourhood and watches the other children playing with their sheep. He is the only one without one, and his friend teases him... He takes refuge in his mother’s arms; she too, frustrated in front of her neighbours, complains to her husband. But how do you find a sheep when you cannot afford one?
Biography
It was within the Fédération Tunisienne des cinéastes amateurs that Walid Mattar turned to cinema. His shorts Le cuirassé Abdelkrim, Fils de Tortue, Bonjour, Da Gorgio, and above all Condamnations (Audience Award at CineMed in Montpellier, broadcast on ARTE) and Offrande, have circulated at numerous festivals. In 2011, his short Baba Noël was broadcast on ARTE. Walid Mattar is currently writing his first fiction feature, set between France and Tunisia. [RETROSPECTIVE NOTE: In 2017, his first feature Vent du Nord won Best Screenplay, Best First Film and the TV5 Monde Prize at the Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage.]
Film career
Festival des Cinémas d’Afrique du pays d’Apt - France 2012; Cinémed - France 2012; Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso 2013; Festival Cinémas d’Afrique d’Angers - France 2013; Festival CinéSud - France 2013; Geneva International Oriental Film Festival - Switzerland 2014
Dina by Mickey Fonseca
Fiction - 2010 - Mozambique - 23 min - Mahla Films
Synopsis
When Dina, 14, becomes pregnant, her mother Fauzia begins to understand that her husband Remane’s violent behaviour has reached extreme limits. After a major fight that sends Fauzia to hospital, Dina tries to persuade her mother to take her father to court. In the courtroom, Fauzia confronts Remane for the last time.
Biography
Director and producer Mickey Fonseca first cut his teeth in South Africa as an assistant director (notably on Blood Diamond by Edward Zick) before founding his own production company, Mahla Films, in Maputo (Mozambique). After directing numerous institutional films and music videos, Mickey Fonseca produced six short films and directed three of them: Mahla, Traidos Pela Traicao and Dina. He is currently fighting to produce his first fiction feature, which he will likely self-produce in 2015. [RETROSPECTIVE NOTE: Resgate, his first feature released in 2019, was the biggest box-office hit in Mozambique and is now available on Netflix.]
Film career
Festival du cinéma du Burundi - Burundi 2011 - Best Short Film; Ecrans Noirs - Cameroon 2011 - Best Short Film; International Images Film Festival For Women - Zimbabwe 2011 - Best Short Film; African Academy Movie Awards - France 2011 - Best Short Film; Festival Lusophone et Francophone de Montpellier - France 2011 - Best Short Film
Twaaga by Cédric Ido
Fiction - 2013 - Burkina Faso - 33 min - Bizibi
Synopsis
Burkina Faso, 1985. Manu, an eight-year-old boy, has no friends. He constantly tags along after his big brother Albert and Albert’s two friends, Kaboré and Ibou. When Albert has a spell cast by a marabout to become invincible, Manu realises that in real life there are powers that can rival those of the superheroes whose adventures he reads in comics every week
Biography
Actor, director, singer, draughtsman, Cédric Ido has acted in films such as Miracle at St. Anna by Spike Lee as well as Les Meutes by Manuel Schapira, nominated for the Césars 2013. After directing several documentaries for television, he made his first short in 2011, Hasaki Ya Suda, which circulated internationally, then was a laureate of the Africa First programme backed by the American company Focus Features, which supported the production of Twaaga in Burkina Faso. He is currently writing his first fiction feature about touts for African hair salons in Paris. [RETROSPECTIVE NOTE: In 2017 La vie de château was released, his first feature co-directed with Modi Barry. In 2022, he co-wrote the Disney+ TV series Oussekine, directed by Antoine Chevrollier. Also in 2022, his second feature La Gravité premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.]
Film career
Festival international du Film Francophone de Namur – Belgium 2014 – Bayard d’Or for Best Short Film; Festival Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – France 2014 – Best Short Film; Festival du Film d’Afrique et des îles – Réunion 2014 – Prix Jeunesse; Festival Afrykamera – Poland 2014 – Audience Award; Seattle International Film Festival – USA 2014 – Best Fiction Short; Festival CinéAfriqua 86 – France 2014; Dubai International Film Festival – United Arab Emirates 2013 – Special Jury Mention; London Film Festival – United Kingdom 2013 – Broadcast on ARTE
Audience feedback
Screening at Chilly-Mazarin 27/5/16
Screening at Chicago 13/05/16
Screening at Detroit 11/05/16
Screening at Minneapolis 09/05/16
Screening at New York 07/05/16
Screening, Bobigny 19/04/2016
Screening, Poitiers 19/03/16
Screening, Montmorillon 19/03/2016
Ciné104, Pantin