Beat the Drum
Kirikou
Black Gold
Yesterday
Bamako
Formula X
Beat the Drum
Young Musa is orphaned after a mysterious illness strikes his village. In search of his uncle and the truth about what is killing his people, Musa sets out for the big city. He sneaks aboard a truck driven by Nobe, a father of four girls but no boys, who tries to help Musa find work in Johannesburg. However the streets are already teeming with other orphaned ‘street kids.’ Urged by his determination to survive and his growing social awareness, Musa finds a way to make an honest living and returns to his village with a truth and understanding his elders have failed to grasp. An all South African cast and crew shine in this emotional and timely drama reminding us how one small voice can be the brave start of colossal change – uniting a village, a township, and even a nation.

Director: David Hickson
From: South Africa
Language: English/Swahili/Gikuyu
Genre: Drama
Time: 114min
Year: 2002

Kirikou
A tiny voice is heard from inside the womb of a pregnant woman : "Mother, give birth to me !" "A child who can speak from his mother's womb can give birth to himself", replies the mother. And so a little boy is born, cuts his own umbilical cord and declares : "My name is Kirikou" The tiny Kirikou is born into an African village upon which a sorceress called Karaba has cast a terrible spell: the spring has dried up, the villagers are being blackmailed, the men of the village have either been kidnapped or have mysteriously disappeared. "She eats them !", the superstitious villagers declare…. Karaba is a stunning and cruel woman, surrounded by fearless and servile fetishes. But no sooner has Kirikou delivered himself from his mother's womb than he wants to rid the village of Karaba's curse and understand the cause of her wickedness. His adventure-filled voyage leads Kirikou to the Forbidden Mountain, where the Wise Man of the Mountain, who knows of Karaba and her secrets, awaits him.

Director: Michael Ocelot
Country: France, Belgium, Luxemborg
Language: English
Genre: Animated African Folk Tale
Time: 74min
Year: 1998

Black Gold
Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields. Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price. Against the backdrop of Tadesse’s journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world’s coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.

Director: Marc Francis & Nick Francis
Country: Ethiopia
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Time: 78min
Year: 2005

Yesterday
A woman's journey. In a Zulu village, Yesterday is a cheerful mother with an inquisitive five-year-old child, Beauty. Yesterday has a persistent cough, and after several attempts to see the doctor at a regional clinic, she gets a diagnosis. She goes immediately to Jo'burg, where her husband is a miner. Then she must deal with consequences. Her singular motivation is to see that Beauty enrolls in school the next fall. The film begins and ends with Yesterday walking on a road.

Director: Darrell Roodt
Country: English
Language: English/Luganda
Genre: Drama
Time: 96min
Year: 2004

Formula X
Formula X is a story that revolves around the twist that befalls a young, brilliant scientist one fateful Friday in Nairobi, Kenya. Frank (Peter King), the main character drives home with Lisa (Nice Githinji), his secretary. As he shows her around his fabulous new house, he meets Juma (Melvin Alusa) a paid criminal that was sent to his house by a long time business rival to steal what could become the most valuable vaccine in medical history. The plot thickens when Franks’ wife, Cindy (Gabriella Mutia), returns home after her business flight is cancelled and finds the trio in her living room. The confrontation and unfolding drama of betrayal and deceit is told in a fast paced narrative style that reveals the inner chaos of characters seeking love, money, fulfillment and vengeance in a modern, African capital city.

Director: Steve ominde
Country: Kenya
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Time: 110min
Year: 2009

Bamako
Abderrahmane Sissako wrote and directed this offbeat, satiric comedy which imagines how the powers that be in the West might be forced to answer for the damage they've done in the Third World. Mele (Aissa Maiga) is an attractive Malian lounge singer married to Chaka (Tiecoura Traore), though their relationship is on the verge of collapse. In their eyes, the African continent isn't in much better shape than their marriage, and one day a makeshift courtroom appears in the courtyard near their shabby home. In the courtyard, a handful of powerful international organizations, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are put on trial for their crippling effect on the African economy; as the evidence is presented which explains how these "friends" of Africa have saddled the nations with debts they can never repay, witnesses explain how these actions impact the daily lives of ordinary citizens, who pass through the trial as they go on with their days.

Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
From: Mali
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Time: 117min
Year: 2006