🔅 African Folktales, Reimagined Through Netflix
Plus: Germany Strikes Back at Chad, Mozambique’s Queen of Niassa Legacy Lives On, 2 Charged in Connection with the "Facebook Rapist", And much more... ☕
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CULTURE
African Folktales, Reimagined
Netflix and Unesco have partnered up to produce a series of dark fantasy drama films from six African countries that explore some heavy human experiences, like domestic violence and child marriage.
The African Folktales, Reimagined series is made up of 30-minute films all based on traditional folktales, but with darker themes at the forefront. Most of them are female-centred, too.
Case in point:
Anyango and the Ogre, directed by Kenyan filmmaker Voline Ogutu, is based on a story of a troll who marries a woman with three children to fatten them up and eat them.
This version looks at the unfair societal expectations of marriage on women – how it marginalises those who are not married, while pressuring those who are to stay in unhealthy relationships. It's presented in a futuristic society where married women live in “blue zones” and unmarried women in “grey zones”.
What other films are in the series?
South African filmmaker Gcobisa Yako reimagined MaMlambo, the avenging goddess of rivers in Zulu mythology, as a deity that watches over women with troubled lives who have tried to take their own lives in the river. It focuses on the relationship between MaMlambo and another woman, Amandla, and it's in isiXhosa.
The other films tell the story of a young girl in futuristic Nigeria on a journey to reclaim her fate in a society taken over by artificial intelligence; an abandoned woman who seeks revenge on her abuser; a girl on a mission to end drought; and, from Mauritania, an ancient djinn facing an old foe.
What message do these films send?
Maimouna Jallow, a Gambian filmmaker who has performed reimagined stories for modern audiences, said folktales were an “amazing tradition that we have been left with as Africans.” She added, though, that we “have to be very careful that beneath the gloss of beautiful production, we are not still telling a single story about Africa, one that’s incredibly violent and brutalising – and when it’s not that, it’s exoticising.”
The six films were selected from more than 2,000 applicants from Africa who responded to a 2021 call for ideas from Netflix and Unesco, which were offering production grants of £55,000.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇹🇩 Germany Strikes Back at Chad | Berlin is hitting back at Chad after the Central African nation booted Germany’s ambassador last week. In a tweet, the German foreign ministry announced that it had summoned the Chadian ambassador in Berlin and given her 48 hours to get out. The ministry said that the expulsion of its ambassador from Chad was “unfounded” and blamed it on critical comments made about the country’s delayed elections and a court decision that allowed the interim military leader to run for political office.
🇲🇿 The Queen of Niassa: A Monarch's Legacy Lives On | Mozambique is mourning the death of their beloved traditional leader, the Queen of Niassa, Abibi Achivangila. She was the fifth in a dynasty of female monarchs, a rare occurrence in traditional settings anywhere in the world. But the Queen's story is even more remarkable—she and her ancestors fought against slavery and colonial rule through the times. The Queen's wake and burial will take place this Wednesday in Malila village, Majune district, where a neighbourhood is inhabited by descendants of the survivors that were saved. President Filipe Nyusi paid tribute to the 96-year-old monarch on Facebook, expressing his admiration for “A true heroine.”
🇿🇦 2 Charged in Connection with the "Facebook Rapist" | The manhunt is over for the notorious “Facebook Rapist” who faked his own death and escaped from prison last May. South African police have arrested Thabo Bester and his celebrity doctor girlfriend, Nandipha Magudumana, in Tanzania. Now, Bester’s escape has led to charges against two men—Magudumana’s father and a prison warden—for murder, arson, and aiding and abetting. The British security company G4S, which ran the prison, has had to face the music too, firing three employees for their part in the escape. Bester and Magudumana are being held under heavy police guard, awaiting deportation back to South Africa.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“The chicken that can dig for food will not sleep hungry.”
— Congolese Proverb.