In Search of… African Sci-Fi Film

So the search turned up a few ‘classic’ African novels but not much else. GhanaGeek wrote on the very subject a few years ago, wondering aloud why it’s the case that Africa isn’t representing itself in the genre of Science Fiction. In “Whither African Science Fiction” another bloggers highlights the award winning work of Henrietta Rose-Innes arguing that it’s a contemporary example of breakout African sci-fi, unfortunately Henrietta herself disagrees.

I extended my search to sci-fi film and recent movies with an African setting. On the IMDB post, someone kindly pointed out the following…

Not much sci-fi, but there are a couple horror movies from SA. A recommended watch is Dust Devil by legendary goth director Richard Stanley. It is an exquisite piece of cinema… probably the most intelligent horror movie ever made. Like something Quentin Tarantino could have made, but with heart that Tarantino movies lack. The movie was never properly finished, as the budget broke down and postproduction was never properly made (hence several weird scenes with very bad FX which conflicts with how staggerlingly beautiful the rest of the movie is).

An interesting movie is Pure Blood (a film where it turns out that the leaders of apartheid were actually vampires). To some extent the movie has striking similarities with Distict 9, but it is a much poorer made movie.

The most known sci-fi from continental Africa would have to be Les Saignantes, but I am wary of recommending this movie to anyone. Made by a cult director Jean Pierre-Bekolo, who is best known for artsy overintellectualized movies. Very weird movie and not sure why it was made… the movie is… interesting (for lack of a better word).

Another sci-fi movie is Africa Paradis set in 2040 and dealing with illegal immigration… from Europe to Africa… I didn’t like it, but well…

A lot of these I’d never heard of so it took some digging to find the trailers or official websites. Nonetheless let’s look at some of these distinctly African sci-fi and horror films…

Les Saignantes (2007)

Utterly singular, Les Saignantes is a futuristic, sci-fi, erotic, political thriller that traverses all of these genres while bringing a strong political sensibility to proceedings. Two sexy young women win the favors of the corrupt political elite, but when one of these leaders dies in the middle of a sexual act, the friends are left with a corpse to get rid of. Bekolo eviscerates the ruling elite but with the canny use of inter-titles also leaves the audience with something to ponder. The film won the Silver Stallion (second best African film) at Fespaco 2007 and the Best actress awards with the special mention of the jury.

Pure Blood (2000)

Pure Blood is the first South African-financed feature film to come out of the government’s Department of Arts and Culture and the National Film and Video Foundation. It has been screened at film festival around the world and was awarded the Lucio Fulci Award at the Fantafest Rome Festival in 2001. This controversial dark comedy stars legendard South African actor Marius Weyers (The Gods Must Be Crazy, The Power of One) and Amanda Lane (Mandela and Deklerk).

The film follows a young white police rookie, Fanus, living in a strangely unreal industrial town. His late father was a sinister general in the Apartheid regime and his long-lost older brother has just returned home to resume an incestuous relationship with his mother. Little does Fanus know his “racially pure” blood is the key to resurrecting his dead father and the sinister order he embodied!

Dust Devil (1992)

A shape shifter (Burke) comes from the desert in search of victims, a spirit the locals call “The Dust Devil”. He prays on the lonely and the unloved, those that have already lost everything but life itself. Wendy (Field) has broken up with her husband and wanders aimlessly in her car. She picks up a stranger and begins having misgivings about picking him up when strange things begin to occur. Meanwhile a local police officer (Mokae) tracks the killer. Aided by a shaman’s admonishments about witchcraft he sets off to try and stop the beast before it can complete its grisly task.

It’s actually horror, but most scifi fans let a good horror movie slide.

Tempbot (2007)

Another visionary short by the Director of District 9, Niell Blompkamp. A common thread in Neill’s work is the robotic workforce (see Yellow and Tetra Vaal). io9 seems to think there’s a chance of this one in particular getting optioned for movie rights.

Son of Man (2008)

The story of Jesus as an African fable. Very interesting concept, not exactly scifi but it qualifies in my book.

I know I’ve probably missed a few, so if there’s anything you want to add, drop it in the comments below.