observations from the african film festival/new york

random observations on moolaade and the hero that were part of the african film festival|new york that goes on this week.

– women as beasts of burden: repeating images of women carrying water, women carrying food, women carrying firewood, babies, etc.
– media, specifically the radio as central tool of information dissemination, education, entertainment and ultimately agent of social change; not the evil manipulator of culture as in the developed world.
– the multinational nature of the films both in production and in their casts. moolade was a french/senegalese/moroccan production shot in burkina faso with cast members drawn from a number of countries including senegal and burkina faso. the hero’s cast was angolan, portuguese, brazilian and senegalese with production being a portuguese/angolan partnership.