Chasing the Sound(2020)

White Man with Black Bread(de)

Christof Wackernagel, best known in Germany as an actor and former member of the Red Army Faction ("RAF") lives in Mali. In his compelling portrait, Jonas Grosch shows a man who simply cannot stand still if he senses injustice. The courage to stand up for one’s beliefs coupled with vanity? However one chooses to look at it, it is easy to imagine what made him connect with the "RAF". With his irrepressible will for freedom, Christof Wackernagel gets entangled in the horrors of day-to-day life in Africa.

Africa Rising(de)

How African artists have spread African culture all over the world, especially music, since the harsh years of decolonization, trying to offer a nicer portrait of this amazing continent, historically known for tragic subjects, such as slavery, famine, war and political chaos.

Crack Climbs and Land Mines, Alex Honnold in Angola(en)

Alex Honnold is the most accomplished free climber in the world. Angola is a southwest African country that recently emerged from 27 years of bloody civil war. What brings together these strange bedfellows you ask? Some of the most epic unclimbed rocks in the world, and a community needing help to diffuse the hidden land mines leftover from the conflict. (Plus a shadowy local hotel magnate, but we'll get into that later). This is Alex Honnold in Angola, for one of the most unique adventures of his storied climbing career this far.

Daniel Timsit, l’Algérien(fr)

Baobab Play(en)

Children and teenagers throw sticks, berries, and leaves at each other from perches in a large baobab tree.

The Endless Summer(en)

Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.

Finding Fela(en)

Fela Anikulapo Kuti created the musical movement Afrobeat and used it as a political forum to oppose the Nigerian dictatorship and advocate for the rights of oppressed people. This is the story of his life, music, and political importance.

Karmen Gei(fr)

Bizet's Carmen gets a modern adaptation. Seducting, provocating, sensual. All the ingredients for a perfect drama. With her charm, Karmen gets out of many situations.

Song from the Forest(en)

25 years ago, Louis Sarno, an American, heard a song on the radio and followed its melody into the Central Africa Jungle and stayed. He than recorded over 1000 hours of original BaAka music. Now he is part of the BaAka community and raises his pygmy son, Samedi. Fulfilling an old promise, Louis takes Samedi to America. On this journey Louis realizes he is not part of this globalized world anymore but globalization has also arrived in the rainforest. The BaAka depend on Louis for their survival. Father and son return to the melodies of the jungle but the question remains: How much longer will the songs of the forest be heard?

René Vautier, le maquisard à la caméra(fr)

Le point de vue du lion(fr)

Coach Zoran and His African Tigers(en)

Documentary following Serbian football coach Zoran Đorđević as he helps form South Sudan's first national football team.

Brief Tender Light(en)

At America's elite MIT, a Ghanaian alum follows four African students as they strive to graduate and become agents of change for their home countries Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Over an intimate, nearly decade-long journey, all must decide how much of America to absorb, how much of Africa to hold on to, and how to reconcile teenage ideals with the truths they discover about the world and themselves.

Faaji Agba(en)

An intimate portrait of the history, culture and music scene of Lagos, Nigeria from 1940 to present day through the lives of a group of 68-85 year-old master musicians brought back from obscurity by Kunle Tejuoso, owner of Jazzhole Records. The documentary follows their lives and for some, their death. Filmmaker Remi Vaughan-Richards a 'student' of the era has been documenting Kunle and the Faaji Agba musicians since 2009 to keep their musical legacy alive and relevant.

The last Balafon Master(de)

La Trace de Kandia(fr)

Kandia "the gold voice of Manding", is the nickname given to Ibrahima Sory Kouyaté (1933 - 1977), which was the emblematic singer of independent Africa.

British Settler Life in Kenya(en)

This 1944 black and white silent film provides brief glimpses of the lifestyle among Kenya's white/European settlers during the Second World War.

Adwa(am)

In 1896, Ethiopia, an African nation, largely armed with spears and knives, defeats a well-equipped and organized Italian military bent on colonization.

N/um Tchai: The Ceremonial Dance of the !Kung Bushmen(en)

Tchai is the word used by Ju/'hoansi to describe getting together to dance and sing; n/um can be translated as medicine, or supernatural potency. In the 1950's, when this film was shot, Ju/'hoansi gathered for "medicine dances" often, usually at night, and sometimes such dances lasted until dawn.

N!owa T'ama: The Melon Tossing Game(en)

Women from three separate Ju/'hoan bands have gathered at a mangetti grove at !O to play an intense game in which under-tones of social and personal tensions become apparent.