But even as these movies are recognized abroad, recognition in the US has been slower to come. “Lingui, The Sacred Bonds,” for example, was Chad's entry to this year's Academy Awards for best international feature and screened at festivals all over the world, including at France's prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Still, for those in the US, the film was difficult to find until the distribution rights were finally purchased by MUBI, thus making it available to stream.
“Just like (cinema) is a big orchestra…I just want a place for everyone to play their own music in the big orchestra,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, the director of “Lingui,” told CNN. “(African filmmakers) should be in the melody of the world.”
Hollywood puts Africa in a box
The issue, in part, is one of perceptions. Many Hollywood executives thought, and continue to think, that no one is interested in seeing films focused on Black and African people, said Moradewun Adejunmobi, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who studies African literature and pop culture.
“It's that lack of imagination, that lack of understanding, that a film looking at a Black-centered world could do well,” Adejunmobi said.
That same lack of imagination is also at play when it comes to movies from the continent. She pointed to the Academy Awards as an example.
In 2021, 12 countries in Africa submitted movies to the Oscars' best international feature film category — the most African countries to ever submit. Ivory Coast's “Night of the Kings” made the shortlist, while Tunisia's “The Man Who Sold His Skin” received an official nomination, which goes to just five non-US movies per year. This year, 10 countries submitted to the awards. None advanced.
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