UNESCO's "Heritage of the World" African Films
32 of the titles aren't on the IMDb.
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41 titles
- DirectorFrancisco Henriques
- DirectorAntónio Ole
- DirectorAntónio Ole
- DirectorAntónio Ole
- DirectorRuy Duarte de CarvalhoSet during a time of famine, and with only two families surviving, the film charts the struggle of Nelisita, a young man who confronts the spirits with help from animals and his friends. Inspired from two folktales of the Ovanyaneka agropastoralist people in southern Angola.
- DirectorOrlando Fortunato de Oliveira
- DirectorMamadou Djim KolaStarsAminata DiawaraMariam FofanaGeorges OuedraogoA young student from a family which considers itself "progressive" cannot marry the boy she loves as he comes from the caste of the smiths who are viewed as pariahs.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsSerge YanogoRosine YanogoJoseph NikiemaIn pre-colonial times a peddler crossing the savanna discovers a child lying unconscious in the bush. When the boy comes to, he is mute and cannot explain who he is. The peddler leaves him with a family in the nearest village. After a search for his parents, the family adopts him, giving him the name Wend Kuuni (God's Gift) and a loving sister with whom he bonds. Wend Kuuni regains his speech only after witnessing a tragic event that prompts him to reveal his own painful history.
- DirectorKollo SanouStarsIssa AbloBernard CadsondoMarie-Claire CoeffeBila, a young peasant, decides to go to Ivory Coast to work and is asked by his parents to accompany Pogbi who is going to meet her fiancé, through an arranged marriage, for the first time. However, Pogbi is in love with Rasmane, a pariah from the smiths' caste, and runs away.
- DirectorPaul ZoumbaraStarsSotigui KouyatéYacine TallYoung people call into question their village's customs and create an agricultural co-operative.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsMoussa BlogoAoua GuiraudAssita OuedraogoPoverty and misery are rife in Gourga, a village in the Sahel. The inhabitants must choose: stay and await international assistance or leave for more fertile regions in the country.
- DirectorEmmanuel K. SanonStarsSidiki BakabaBalla Moussa KeitaMiriam YagoIt's payday and Adama, a factory worker, counts her meager salary trying to reconcile her needs with those of her family back in the village.
- DirectorSou JacobJacques OppenheimStarsMarguerite SouNouhoum OuttaraJoseph TraoréIn the early post-Independence years, a young village girl, who is in love with a young villager, is forced to marry a rich, old man. She tries to poison him and is sent to jail.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsMathias BayiliColette KaboréJoseph NikiemaIn the Mossi culture, one of the rites attending the birth of a child and its induction as a new member of the community involves the burial of the placenta. The space in which the placenta is buried is called 'Zan Boko' - a phrase which connotes the religious, cultural and affective relations that bind the child to the land and that embraces the notions of 'rootedness' and 'belonging'. Kaboré tells the story of Tinga, who resists the encroaching urbanization of his native territory. The specific rhythms and vision of the rural community, including its values, social relationship, and individual & collective destinies, are altered when a city is planted on the edge of an ancient native village.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsFatimata SangaNoufou OuédraogoRoukietou BarryA small village in Burkina Faso. The story focuses on Bila, a ten year old boy who befriends an old woman, Sana. Everybody calls her 'Witch' but Bila himself calls her 'Yaaba' (grandmother). When Bila's cousin Nopoko gets sick it is Sana's medicine who saves her.
- DirectorS. Pierre YameogoStarsYolande BelemLaure KahoCheick KoneAfter obtaining their Secondary School diplomas, some young people plan to continue their education but are not sure which area to choose.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsRasmané OuédraogoIna CisséRoukietou BarrySet in a pre-colonial African past, Tilai is about an illicit love affair and its consequences. Saga returns to his village after an extended absence to discover that his father has taken Nogma, Saga's promised bride, for himself. Still in love with each other, the two begin an affair, although it would be considered incestuous. When the liaison is discovered, Saga's brother, Koudri, pretends to kill Saga for the honor of the family and village. Saga and Nogma flee to another village, but when Nogma's birth mother dies, he returns home. Having brought ruin on the family, Saga is shot by Koudri, who walks off into exile and probable death.
- DirectorDrissa ToureStarsTidjane HemaAmadou KonéLacina SanouA richly textured film about contemporary African youth torn between traditional village ways and the promise of an urban future.
- DirectorKollo SanouNissi Joanny TraoréStarsKalilou OuattaraRasmané OuédraogoMamadou ZerboThe story of a peaceful, well-to-do village which is suddenly disturbed by a murder and a series of unsettling events.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsYacouba KaboréTinfusi YerbangaColette KaboréA blacksmith falls off his bicycle when he tries to avoid a tortoise which crosses his path. He brings the animal home to his twelve year old son, Rabi, who becomes so fascinated that he forgets his chores at this father's shop. When the angry smith removes the tortoise, Rabi's grandfather, Pusga, helps Rabi find a larger one to consol the boy. Rabi wants to tame the animal and this new obsession leads him to defy parental authority. Pusga gently opens the boy's eyes to the visible and invisible ways of nature. Rabi starts to understand liberty, responsibility and respect for life. In turn he awakens long buried sentiments in the grandfather.
- DirectorTimité BassoriStarsTimité BassoriMary VieyraDanielle AllohA young man returns from Europe obsessed with his sexual inhibition.
- DirectorTimité BassoriStarsElise ToureJulien KeitaBrahima KouyateA man falls in love with an otherworldly woman.
- DirectorRoger Gnoan M'BalaStarsKodjo EboucleVéronique Mahilé
- DirectorRoger Gnoan M'BalaStarsAlbert AyatollahAkissi DeltaPierre GondoA West African pig farmer has a religious vision, wherein he is told that he'll be Magloire the First, a prophet of Christ. He then sets out to rid his local villagers of superstition and instead save them for Jesus.
- DirectorDésiré EcaréStarsHervé DenisClaudia ChazelHenri DuparcA short film which explores the plight of the Africans in France.
- DirectorDésiré EcaréStarsPierre GarnierFrédérique LayneMarie Gabrielle N'GuipieEvoking mixed marriages and their difficulties, the author depicts the wanderings of a young black husband.
- DirectorDésiré EcaréStarsSidiki BakabaKouadou BrouAlbertine N'GuessanAt a festival, a chorus of women sing and dance as two stories unfold. In a village, a young women with a jealous husband gives him something to be jealous about when his younger brother visits from the city.
- DirectorFadika Kramo-LancinéStarsFatou OuataraJoachim OuataraEl Hadj Sindou DembéléKramoko Kouyate, son of a griot, cannot marry Fanta who is of noble blood. In flashback, the film explains the origin of the problem and shows their attempts to get around it.
- DirectorFadika Kramo-LancinéStarsRachel TehiAssiatou TraoreAdama DiarraIn the Ivory Coast, Ali (Toure) is a poor policeman who struggles to make ends meet for his wife, Awa (Kabore) and three children. Ali is excited and giddy When he learns that the lottery ticket that Awa bought him is a 3,000,000 winner. But after an extended, frantic search he cannot find the ticket anywhere and he starts to neglect his work. As his family and neighbors learn of his good fortune, they start to come to him with their hands out, and Ali is seen as a mark by others who learn of his winnings. When Ali at last finds the ticket, he realizes that he cannot meet everyone's wishes, even with ten Jackpots.
- DirectorJean-Louis KoulaStarsDanièle AdjeVictor CouzynAnne Kakou
- DirectorHenri DuparcStarsLéonard GroguhetNatou KolyJean-Baptiste TiéméléAfter 15 years of studies in France, a young man returns home and is named Director of Architecture. Accompanied by his wife, he sets out to pay a visit to his family in his native village where he comes face to face with the harsh realities of daily life.
- DirectorHenri DuparcStarsEugénie GarciaLéonard GroguhetEvelyne ManeThe trials and tribulations of a couple.
- DirectorHenri DuparcStarsFélicité WouassiAlexis BouazoGérard EssombaEmile, his wife Fanta and their four children lead a comfortable existence. Jean, the eldest son, is interested only in music to his father's regret. One day Jean is sent away from home because of it...
- DirectorHenri DuparcStarsBamba BakaryTcheley HannyNaky Sy SavaneThe chief of an African village, who is called 'Demi Dieu' because after God he is the owner of all the things, already has five wives. But as this is not enough he decides to find himself a sixth wife so that he has one for every day of the week except on Sunday when he uses to relax.
- DirectorKamal SelimStarsFatma RouchdiMokhtar OsmanZaki RostomThe story of Mohammed the son of a barber who has recently got his degree, his lover Fatma, his rivel Al-Etr.
- DirectorKamal El-ShaikhStarsYoussef WahbiMadihah YusriImad HamdiA man with cardiac problems, had heart attack and sent his daughter to get the medicine from the drug store, however the pharmacist discovers that he sent the wrong medication, he cooperates with the police to stop a disaster.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsFarid ShawqiHind RustumYoussef ChahineA newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.
- DirectorSalah AbouseifStarsFarid ShawqiOmar SharifAminah RizqAfter the death of the father, the family consisting of a mother and two young men and a girl themselves without a breadwinner finds, to begin each of them in the direction to a different path, to err on the older brother (Hassan) to work drug, and graduated (Hussein) East of the Police College, while working (Nafisa) prostitution without the knowledge family, to hide them from the fate of many surprises.
- DirectorAtef SalemStarsHind RustumOmar SharifRushdi AbazahThe people of Luxor decided to buy Sandal new submarine instead of the old sandal for river transport business, and cost the mayor Mujahid to go to buy, with a computerized data bank son of Rais Gad, known thieves and competitors purchase order, and decide their leader Abu Sufyan get the refund, he sends his men to steal the money.
- DirectorHenry BarakatStarsFaten HamamahZaki RostomAbdallah GheithA poor peasant woman becomes a symbol of worker oppression in this somber social drama directed by Henri Barakat. Azziza (Faten Hamama) is brutally raped by a guard when she goes into the fields to gather potatoes for her husband (Abdallah Gheiss). She does not relate the incident to her husband who is suffering from an undisclosed illness. Azziza hides the pregnancy and strangles the baby after it is born, but she also dies soon thereafter. The migrant workers rally around her memory as she becomes a martyr to the cause of the struggling peasants.