Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story

Disco Afrika : A Malagasy Story is a 2023 Malagasy-language drama film directed by Luck Razanajaona, produced by Jonathan Rubin, co-written with François Hébert, Marcelo Novais Teles, Ludovic Randriamanantsoa and starring Parista Sambo. It World premiered at 2023 Marrakech International Film Festival and European premiered at 74th Berlin International Film Festival where it received an honorable mention from the AG Kino – Gilde e.V. (association of German Art House Cinemas) jury.

Synopsis
Madagascar, nowadays. Twenty-year-old Kwame struggles to make a living in the clandestine sapphire mines and is taken back to his hometown by an unexpected turn of events. As he reunites with his mother and old friends, he finds himself confronted with the rampant corruption plaguing his country. Now, he will have to choose between easy money and loyalty—between individualism and political awakening.

Cast

 * Parista Sambo as Kwame
 * Laurette Ramasinjanahary as Mama
 * Joe Lerova as Idi
 * Drwina Razafimahaleo as Bezara
 * Jérôme Oza as Babaa

Release
The film had its world premiere on 30 November 2023 at the Marrakech International Film Festival and its European premiere on 19 February 2024 at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

Reception
Fabien Lemercier reviewing the film at Berlinale for Cineuropa wrote that "Luck Razanajaona is providing the red island with its first ever selection for a major international festival courtesy of a local filmmaker. The film’s authentic roots, beneath its simple exterior, lend it a pure kind of charm as it paints a sharp portrait of the underbelly of a chaotic political-economic situation which invites all forms of trafficking and whose perilous democratic struggles are anything but recent. Attempting to capture the soul of Madagascar (its ancestral rites) and to make connections between eras so as to honour the island’s enduring spirit of resistance and denounce the collective chaos orchestrated to benefit the few, Luck Razanajaona delivers an engaged and highly enlightening film, making clever use of radio, songs and photos to fuel a very simple story. It’s a small theatre onto this world, in the guise of a coming-of-age tale, channelling universal ideas on oppression, corruption, revolution, and the dangerous choices which must be made to try to change things and find peace."