Review by David Anthony
Events of recent weeks and months in Paris have shone a bright light on emigrants from foreign lands in metropolitan Europe. Not always equally apparent is the duration and depth of the interpenetration of African migrants in Europe’s towns, cities and even smaller enclaves like the suburbs or outskirts of Paris called banlieue, many (though not all) of which are actually slums, thus the antithesis of what we consider suburbs in North America.
The lives of African-born or African-descended emigrants in various European lands have increasingly come under attention from filmmakers. A new set of films addressing such populations and their circumstances has been offered by ArtMattan Productions. ArtMattan, whose works I’ve mentioned before distributes DVDs on Afro-European relations in France, Italy, Germany, the UK and the BeNeLux lands. Playing Away is a highly regarded Afro-British film about a black cricket team from South London invited to a Third World Week match by a small village. The Glass Ceiling by Yamina Benguigui shows black people in France. Otomo, is the true life tale of Frederick Otomo in Germany, a black refugee from Cameroon, West Africa seeking work and asylum in Stuttgart, only to find racism, police trouble and death.
ArtMattan also showcases Fevers or Fievres, a 2014 French/Moroccan co-production by Hicham Ayouch, winner of the 2015 FESPACO grand prize, the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, the greatest award from Africa’s largest film festival. You can find more about these at www.AfricanFilm.com
Closer to home we in or near Santa Cruz will soon have the benefit of seeing works exploring related themes when celebrated Nigerian filmmaker Branwen Okpako visits UCSC and Santa Cruz early in February to show her riveting documentary The Education of Auma Obama. Auma Obama, half sister of US President Barack Obama, guides viewers to the Kenyan family whose patriarch is treated in the famed memoir Dreams of My Father.
The Education of Auma Obama is in no way a footnote to the story of the history of an American President of Kenyan ancestry. It is tremendously important in its own right. I will have more to say about Branwen Okpako and her work after the New Year. Meanwhile, take advantage of these exciting opportunities to learn more of Africa’s diasporic populations in Europe. The experience can be truly eye-opening.
This is David H. Anthony.