ARTE CINEMA TENT

Women are supposed to be at home instead of running after the ball. Women footballers in Senegal are confronted with this prejudice every day. The "Ladies' Turn" club dreams of taking the female athletes from their improvised football fields to the big stadium in Dakar. The film accompanies the club during preparations for the games. The sportswomen are fighting for more equal rights - and in doing so they not only arouse enthusiasm among their families and sports journalists.

Three strong women who have already enthused the audience of the Africa Festival with their music and charisma: Y’akoto, Nneka and Grammy-winner Angélique Kidjo. All three commute between different worlds and find their home in music. The film, which will premiere at the Africa Festival, portrays the artists, enquires about their roots and their self-perception and shows their commitment to tolerance, freedom and human rights

 

© HR

Francophone West Africa is an important centre for music trends. Here, traditional rhythms and urban club music are blending. Dakar, the capital of Senegal, is the centre of the West African hip-hop scene with musicians like Sister Fa and Daara J family but also stars of world music like Youssou N‘Dour. In Benin, the afro pop grandfathers of the legendary orchestra Polyrytmo are having a musical revival. In Burkina Faso artists use music to protest against inequalities and corruption.

In July 2019 Johnny Clegg died. He was one of South Africa's most important musicians and a symbolic figure in the fight against apartheid. He combined western rock with South African Zulu music and brought together musicians of all genres on stage. The film allows Clegg to speak for himself through multiple interview clips and provides a very personal insight into his life. A film about the unifying power of music on South Africa's painful journey to freedom.

 © HR

The people of Cape Verde raved enthusiastically about music, as if it were their greatest treasure. Their national heroine, Cesária Évora, has made the melancholy sounds of the Morna known throughout the world. The music is full of emotion and reflects the long and painful history of slavery in the archipelago. Whether during intimate Impro-sessions in waterfront pubs, at the world-famous Mindelo carnival or during morning singing in kindergarten: music is an indispensable element of Cape Verdean society.

© HR

The effects of climate change are particularly dramatic in the African Sahel region: drought, famine and migration. The people of the region have therefore taken the initiative and are working to implement the ambitious project "The Great Green Wall". An 8,000-kilometre-long green strip of trees is to be created across the continent. The film follows the "Great Green Wall" with the Malian activist and singer Inna Modja. It shows the hopes and fears of the people - and their passion for music.

© GGW Photography

The Jamaican national football team calls itself “The Reggae Boyz“, as the team has a lot of music in its blood. Here, football and music simple belong together and Bob Marley already lauded the spiritual power of the “beautiful game“. The film accompanies the reggae band No-Maddz and the Jamaican national football team with the German trainer Winnie Schäfer during the preparations for the qualification for the world cup in Brazil in 2014. An atmospheric story about the close connection between football, music and national pride of the Caribbean island.