Portal:African cinema/Selected film score

Selected score list

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/3

File:Eiman Yousif at Cannes.jpg

Eiman Yousif, Sudanese singer and actress

Goodbye Julia (Arabic: وداعا جوليا, romanized: Wadāʻan Jūlyā) is a 2023 Sudanese drama directed by Mohamed Kordofani set in Khartoum against the backdrop of events that led to the South Sudanese 2011 referendum for independence from the North. It is the first movie from Sudan ever to be presented in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Freedom Prize and the country's submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards, Sudan's second ever to the award.

The film stars Sudanese singer Eiman Yousif and Siran Riak, a first-time actress and former Miss South Sudan, in the title roles of Mona and Julia. Goodbye Julia tells the story of two women who represent the complicated relationship and differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities. Mona, an upper-middle class Arab Muslim singer from the North, seeks to attenuate her feelings of guilt for causing the death of a southern man (Ger Duany) by employing his unsuspecting widow Julia, a Christian of Central African origin, as her maid.

The musical score was composed by Sudanese producer and musician Mazin Hamid known mostly for his popular music videos and was recorded under tight deadline in Khartoum when war broke out in Sudan in April 2023. Kordofani said that the film’s soundtrack, which includes numerous songs from both South and North Sudan was intended to reflect Sudan’s shared culture and ties. "Clearly, through the film’s score...Mazin Hamid makes us see that instead of spending our lives separated, this is what we could have celebrated. [...] Mona sings a song by a late popular Sudanese singer, Sayed Khalifa in a church, with a composition including African accents. There are numerous songs from North and South Sudan, representing different cultures, and an original song closing the film".

The director also has stated that he integrated music in Goodbye Julia to make it more accessible to cinephiles.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/5

Timbuktu (2014) is a Mauritanian-French drama directed by Abderrahmane Sissako. Inspired by real events which first unfolded in June of 2012, the film depicts how a peaceful way of life is brutally upended by the Jihadist group Ansar Dine’s occupation of Timbuktu in Mali.

The musical score composed by Tunisian, Amine Bouhafa was described as haunting and evocative and perfectly complemented the themes of cultural suppression and human resilience, earning widespread acclaim for its emotional depth and cultural authenticity as the film score incorporated traditional Malian instruments and melodies.

Timbuktu went on to win seven awards at the 40th César Awards, including Best Film Score, making Bouhafa one of the Cesar’s youngest winners. His work on Timbuktu also won him the FESPACO prize and the France Musique-Sacem prize for film music. Among Timbuktu’s numerous other nominations and awards include Best Film at the 11th Africa Movie Academy Awards where it distinguished itself with the most wins.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/7

Vusi Mahlasela

Tsotsi, a 2005 crime drama film written and directed by Gavin Hood. It is based on a novel of the same name by Athol Fugard. The film follows the story of a young Johannesburg street boy whose life takes an unexpected turn after he steals a car and discovers a baby in the backseat. The film was praised for its “powerful storytelling and emotional depth”. The film’s soundtrack showcases Kwaito music performance by South African artist Zola and the afropop groupMafikizolo.

Kwaito music is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1980s. Despite its similarities to hip hop music, kwaito has a distinctive manner in which the lyrics are sung, rapped and shouted.​​ The musical score composed by Mark Kilian and Paul Hepker incorporates the vocals of renowned South African singer and poet, Vusi Mahlasela.

It received a score of 82% on Rotten tomatoes and a score of 70 out of 100 on Metacritic. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards, becoming the first African film in a language other than French to achieve this feat.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/9

Khayelitsha

U-Carmen eKayelitsha is a 2005 South African operatic film directed and produced by Mark Dornford-May. The musical score blends Bizet’s original opera with traditional African music, directed and conducted by British Conductor Charles Hazlewood. The film was shot entirely in Xhosa and combines the musical elements to tell a story set in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha. The cast did not have prior film experience and only rehearsed for four weeks before recording the live musical numbers on a set without additional editing. The story follows Carmen and her troubled relationship with Jongikhaya against the backdrop of a South African township. The film received critical acclaim and won the Golden Bear Award at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/11

Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu, the lead actress of Félicité at 2017 Berlinale

Félicité (2017) is a Senegalese drama film by Alain Gomis. The film was entered as the Senegalese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards and was shortlisted. It tells the story of how a single mother who works as a bar entertainer struggles to get funds after her child is hospitalized. The film featured Kasai Allstars, a Congolese "tradi-modern" musical collective of 25 musicians based in Kinshasa. They wrote and recorded most of the film's music. The soundtrack album was entitled Around Félicité.

It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. At Berlin, the film won the Jury Grand Prix award. At the 2017 Africa Movie Academy Awards, it won six awards which is the highest for a film in the history of the award ceremony winning the award for Best Soundtrack amongst other awards. The film currently has 98% rating based on 46 critics’ reviews on the review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_score/13

Saul Williams

Neptune Frost (2021) is a US-Rwandan science fiction musical co-directed by the husband-wife team of Saul Williams and Rwandan Anisia Uzeyman. It stars Cheryl Isheja, Elvis Ngabo, Eliane Umuhire and Kaya Free.

The film features an original score and album titled "Unanimous Goldmine", also by Saul Williams. Filmed in Rwanda and set in Burundi, the story follows a cosmic romance between an intersex hacker and a coltan miner. It unfolds in the past, present, and future and the aftermath of the nation's civil war. The musical addresses themes of gender identity, colonialism, authoritarianism, and the connective thread of technology. According to Williams:

“This project was conceived as a musical. And for me, the first step in trying to envision this world was to envision the sounds that belonged to it. That was the first step, then writing to and around those sounds. So the story, the characters, much of it really was pulled from the music. I’ve been going to the music thinking of the story. One of the earliest songs for the project was a song called “Burundi,” which was my first take in trying to map out the synopsis, and it happened in a song. From there, we were able to pull ideas, and then other songs would be written and we would say, “What character does this belong to? Whose voice is this? Who’s singing?”

The film debuted at the 2020 Cannes and was well-received by critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 86 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.70/10.

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