
Welcome to the Africa Challenge! One of the annoying things I've noticed when people in the United States speak about Africa is that they refer to it as a single, unified place in a way they never would about Europe or Asia. But Africa, of course, is actually linguistically, geographically, ethnically, and cinematically diverse. It contains 54 sovereign nations as well as various territories and breakaway states. One of the best ways to become familiar with that diversity is by watching movies. And that leads us to our ...
Goal:
Watch as many movies from Africa as you can in February.
Rules:
- Challenge runs February 1, 2020 - February 29, 2020 (Leap Year FTW!).
- A feature film (at least 40 minutes) counts as one point.
- A total of 60 minutes of short films (less than 40 minutes) counts as one point.
- For mini-series, each part (at least 40 minutes) counts as one point. If less than 40 minutes, then the short films rule applies.
- A total of 120 minutes of TV Episodes counts as one point.
- Not a rule but a request: When you post what you have watched, please include your reaction or at least a rating so that other people can learn about movies they might not know about.
- I leave eligibility up to the discretion of participants, but I suggest including movies that were made by Africans rather than merely set or filmed in Africa. In other words, Star Wars and The Lion King are not good choices.
Stats & Formatting:
- Title (Year, Country) is the preferred format. Submissions that do not mention the country will not be counted for the bonus challenges.
- Don't edit posts to include new movies you've watched. Always make new posts.
Official Lists:
Guide to African Cinema
FESPACO
UNESCO's Memory of the World: National Cinematic Heritage (See movies 1-15, 86-100, 160-173, 215-243)
DIFF's The 100 Greatest Arab Films (Please note: Not all movies on this list are eligible)
Unofficial Lists:
ICM Forum's Favorite African Movies
Mubi's Top African Films
African submissions for Best Foreign Language Film
Bonus Challenge #1 - Travel the Continent
Your goal in this bonus challenge is to see something from every country and territory (find the eligibility list below). The maximum possible score is 57. I don't anticipate that anyone will accomplish this, but the person in the lead at the end of the month will win. To participate in this bonus challenge, make sure to indicate which country/territory your entry is from. You may only rely on imdb country listings. If multiple countries are listed on imdb, you choose which one to list in your entry. Once you indicate which country a movie counts for, you can't go back and change it later. For this challenge, any movie, short, TV episode, and miniseries will count for a country. (Random youtube videos, like someone's vacation to Lesotho, will not count.)
Also, if you're going to see a movie from either of the countries with the word Congo in their name, please specify which country. Listing either country as just "Congo" leads to a lot of confusion.
List of eligible countries/territories
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Gabon
The Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Republic of the Congo
Reunion
Rwanda
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Western Sahara
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Bonus Challenge #2 - Individual Country Champions
This is multiple challenges in one: Individual races for the most points for each country/territory, so long as the leader for each country/territory has at least five points. Same rules apply as for Bonus Challenge #1, except that shorts or anything less than 40 minutes will not count for this challenge.
Rank | Participant | Number of Points | Number of Countries/Territories | Individual Country Leader? |
1 | jdidaco | 36 | 24 | Morocco (5) |
2 | Mario Gaborovic | 34 | 24 | South Africa (7) |
3 | blueboybob | 26 | 11 | Egypt (9) |
4 | sol | 22 | 12 | Zimbabwe (5) |
5 | RogerTheMovieManiac88 | 21 | 6 | Nigeria (11) |
6 | Cinepolis | 11 | 9 | --- |
7 | OldAle1 | 10 | 9 | --- |
8 | jeroeno | 9 | 8 | --- |
9 | blocho | 7 | 6 | --- |
10 | maxwelldeux | 6 | 5 | --- |
10 | ororama | 6 | 12 | --- |
12 | morrison-dylan-fan | 4 | 4 | --- |
13 | flavo5000 | 3 | 3 | --- |
13 | cinephage | 3 | 2 | --- |
13 | peeptoad | 3 | 3 | --- |
16 | sebby | 2 | 1 | --- |
17 | 3eyes | 1 | 1 | --- |
17 | hurluberlu | 1 | 1 | --- |
17 | AB537 | 1 | 1 | --- |
17 | allisoncm | 1 | 1 | --- |