Out of Africa

No matter how bad you claim they are … you know you can’t resist African films. Just the way Indians (and others around the world) love all the crazy nuances that make Bollywood, Bollywood — we Africans, too, love the often bad acting, soap opera dramas our film industry produces.

Well … for all you proud African-film watchers, and even for you closet ones, here’s a chance for you to contribute. The African Council for Arts and Culture recently announced a Name and Logo Contest for the Nigerian and Ghanaian film industry. All lovers of the new African Cinema and Music are invited to submit proposals for the following categories:

1. GHANAIAN FILM INDUSTRY:The Ghanaian home movie sub sector is informally nicknamed “Gollywood”. The Council feels this name sounds too much like “gullibility”, which they find as ”an insult to the creative talents of Ghana.” So fans … submit a serious name and logo proposal for the Ghanaian Movie Industry. PRIZE: N200,000 Naira (two Hundred Thousand Naira or equivalent in Ghanaian Cedi).

2. NIGERIAN FILM INDUSTRY: The Nigeria home video sub-sector is currently nicknamed “Nollywood.” “Nolly” apparently means “nothing, so …”  again, the Council does not ”feel comfortable promoting ‘nothingwood.’”  Also, why they feel it’s an insult to the pioneers of the industry to simply “jump into the “wood” bandwagon just because the Indians call theirs “Bollywood” and the Americans “Hollywood.”” A Nigerian way is needed … so Nollywood fans here’s your chance to make your mark on the industry. Prize money for the name and logo that will replace the “nothingwood” name is N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira).

3. YORUBA LANGUAGE FILMS: The history of the Nigerian film industry is linked with that of the Yoruba language films. The Candomble and Capoera in Brazil, the Orisah and Santaria in Cuba, Calypso in Trinidad and Tobago all have roots in Yoruba Culture. It’s definitely a Diasporic culture, and therefore the film industry should be of interested to the Yoruba Diaspora. All the Yoruba films I have every watched are about juju … highly amusing, but something the Council is disappointed with. Their biggest problem, voodoo is ”portrayed in the home videos as forces of evil that are negative and inferior to the Abrahamic religions of Islam and Christianity.

We pray the brave Yoruba filmmakers, artistes, designers, politicians, intellectuals and millionaires take the lead in branding and placing the Positive Progressive Virtues of our African Civilizations in their moves, music and lifestyle for posterity.

“Yoruwood” is the current name being “whispered” for Yoruba home movies. So a more serious one, along with a logo, is in search. The prize money for the name and logo of the Yoruba Film Genre is N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira)

4.THE HAUSA LANGUAGE GENRE: This is a newer film sub sector of the Nigerian home video industry, which is emerging. Right now, since the main location of development is in Kano, they current name is … you guessed it … “Kannywood.” A more respectable name is needed. Prize money = N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira)

5. IGBO LANGUAGE MOVIES: Not to be left out, the Igbo language movies is another sub-sector coming largely out of the eastern Nigerian city of Enugu. Big surprise here though. It’s not called “Enuguwood”, or “Igbowood” or “Iggywood” or any wood-ism. The informal name is “Ikenga.” But something more serious is still needed. The prize money is N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira).

Three other categories exist, CROSS OVER MOVIES, ADULT CONTENT AND EROTIC ARTS, and AFROMEDIA NIGERIA FILM & CULTURAL ENTREPRISES DEVELOPMENT FUND (ANFCED). Prizes are awarded for all of them.

For more information, read this release from Nollywoodwatch.com. Deadline is September 30, 2008.

I think the coolest thing about this is that the African Council for Arts and Culture is a Diasporic organization based in Germany. It just shows how active the community in the Diaspora can be, and how they can help to initiate change for the African continent.

Now start working on those names and logos!!!

Credit: RICHARD LEWIS/AP

Today Nelson Mandela turns 90.

Not only does this man represent a sense of pride, progress and change for South Africans, he represents it for Africans as a whole.

He represents the moral integrity Africans need from the leaders to move forward into a better tomorrow.

Even in the Diaspora, he represents an image that is large than life.

He’s won a Nobel Peace Prize. He’s been TIME’s Man of the Year. He was South Africa’s first black president. He’s a man who changed history.

BBC has a collection of his most famous quotes. My favorite:

“The value of our shared reward will and must be measured by the joyful peace which will triumph, because the common humanity that bonds both black and white into one human race, will have said to each one of us that we shall all live like the children of paradise…

“But there are still some within our country who wrongly believe they can make a contribution to the cause of justice and peace by clinging to the shibboleths [dogmas] that have been proved to spell nothing but disaster.

“It remains our hope that these, too, will be blessed with sufficient reason to realise that history will not be denied and that the new society cannot be created by reproducing the repugnant past, however refined or enticingly repackaged.”

Here’s an interview he gave to CNN, looking back on his life. There’s also a series of news coverage on his life and how this landmark birthday is being celebrated. His life already is, and forever will be, memorialized.

Happy 90th Birthday, Mr. Mandela!

Update: If you’re in the Chicago area, on Monday, July 21, the Jazz Philharmonic is hosting a free concert in honor of Mandela’s 90th birthday.

Aid.

It’s the number one way the world’s leading countries seek to help Africa.

Get rid of poverty? Send aid to Africa. Millions dying of AIDS? Send aid to Africa. Bad governments? … send aid to Africa?

Kenyan Njoroge Wachai says trade, not aid, is what Africa needs.

For one thing, most of the aid promised to Africa in the last G8 Summit (in 2005) hasn’t been fulfilled and is unlikely to be fulfilled by the 2010 deadline. Pledge after pledge comes in, but most of them are not being fulfilled. So Wachai has one question: “ Why do African countries keep pushing for aid that rich countries are reluctant and unwilling to give? Isn’t there an alternative?”

He makes some really good points.

• Foreign Aid isn’t free: regardless of what Africans think, another country offering you aid isn’t like a scholarship. You’re going to have to pay it back some way, some how.

rich countries are lethargic about passing their money to Africa, because it doesn’t make economic sense to do so. … African leaders, out of their foolishness, believe wrongly that rich countries are philanthropic entities flush with cash to dole out to poor countries. That’s why they, or their representatives, are always in Western capitals with begging bowls.

•  Even if it were free … foreign aid will not move Africa out of poverty: the more we rely on the help of others, the more dependent we become and get further from our hopes to be independent. The countries that are giving the aid are still thinking of themselves first and foremost. Africa should do the same.

Right now I’m really interested in the history and culture of Liberia, since I’ve worked on some articles and am hoping to do some other work about Rainbow Town and the Shine Foundation in the future. While doing some random reading/research, I fell across this piece published in the New York Times Magazine. It’s an excerpt from journalist Helene Cooper’s book “The House at Sugar Hill,” which comes out in September.

The piece is compelling, and I’m eager to read the book in its entirety when it comes out. While it’s a memoir, it offers historical information about Liberians – both natives and descendants from former American slaves. I learned so much from the little printed in the NYT magazine.

 It also tells a personal story of choosing to return home after being absent for so long. Regardless of where she lived, Africa remained a part of Helene Cooper and “The House at Sugar Hill” recounts how she found it again.