Co-presented by the Film & Media Arts Department at Temple University
Curator June Givanni in person for a post screening discussion on African documentary filmmaking
The two films selected are the tip of the iceberg of a wide range of documentary films from accomplished directors from the African continent. In addition to their skill and filmmaking styles, the value of the films lay in the filmmakers own expression of their cultures and stories as compared to the anthropological ?discoveries? of those cultures by others.
The films are particularly topical because they both relate to the recurrent commentaries and expressions of identity that take place across the continent and in the African diaspora. As black people, as Africans, our cultural and social reality sometimes involve distinctive issues (eg? shadism) which require careful, yet skillful handling to bring them to the screen as multi-dimensional social phenomena with the attendant humor and pathos of life. Tonight?s two films, very different in style ? Angele Diabang?s short Mon Beau Sourire and Andrew Dosunmu?s documentary Hot Irons -remind us of the rich and diverse repository of work that redefine beauty.
Mon Beau Sourire (My Beautiful Smile)
dir. Angele Diabang, Senegal, 2005, 5 mins, video, Wolof w/ English subtitles
The tattooing of gums is a widespread custom in West Africa, and this example is in Senegal. Women would have to suppress any expression of pain during this coming of age moment, this rite of passage to womanhood, so as not to dishonor their families. Also seen as a ritual of seduction, the practice continues today, but with less ceremony ? song and dance ? that were historically part of the event.
This Senegalese director says of the signature documentary style she tried to develop in her work:
?I chose to use minimal words of explanation; tight editing; punctuated with sound which for me said more than words?. Mon Beau Sourire is Angele Diabang?s first film.
Hot Irons
dir. Andrew Dosunmu, US, 1999, 50 mins, video, color
Hot Irons paints a picture of a conceptual art form that is rarely appreciated as such ? African American hairstyling. For some professional exponents, Detroit is the ?Hair capital of the world?: it has been associated with the most outrageous of styles and with the ?Hair Wars? show, a major event of in the hair and beauty calendar featuring exhibitions, demonstrations and competitors from all over the US.
The film focuses on this show and reveals the extent to which, for many people, hair and style is an important aspect of culture and self-perception. It also reveals the complex nature of this competitive industry, where being a good and skillful stylist is not enough ? you have to be an artist. Concepts, themes and even performances are part of the currency in this high-profile industry. Hair celebrities, ?stylin? and ?profilin? provide the humor and entertainment in this engaging expose.
Andrew Dosunmu grew up in Lagos Nigeria, lives in New York, and works internationally. His creative career has covered fashion design at Yves St Laurent in Paris; Editorial design for design magazines; and music video directing. Hot Irons, his first documentary film, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1999. His first fiction feature, Restless City, premiered in January 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival.
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