Portal:African cinema/Selected anniversaries/49

Rwandan filmmaker Anisia Uzeyman secured a 2022 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Cinematography for her film Neptune Frost, an Afrofuturist romantic musical taking place in Burundi, and which she co-directed with Saul Williams.

Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’s 2013 South African thriller Of Good Report received its long overdue premiere at the Africa Rising International Film Festival (ARIFF) in Johannesburg on 24 November. It was banned on the day it was to open the 34th Durban International Film Festival in July 2013. The film went on to win Best Film at the 2014 Africa Movie Academy Awards. Now available on Netflix.

Saint Omer, a French legal drama film directed by French-Senegalese Alice Diop premiered in French cinemas on 23 November. Based on the true story of a Senegalese woman accused of murdering her 15-month-old child, the film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury prize at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and is the French entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.

Central African Republic celebrates its Independence Day 1 December. The Silence of the Forest, a 2003 Central African Republic drama directed by Bassek Ba Kobhio and Didier Ouenangare, is the first ever CAR produced feature film. The story centers around 'pygmies' or more properly known as BaAka, and the racism they encountered by other Africans. It received critical acclaim and was screened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, the only African film to do so that year.