Before the Night aims to present an exciting, thought-provoking and dream-inducing selection of films related to the main theme of this year’s Night of Ideas, ‘Together’.
East Germany, 1989. Twelve-year-old Fritzi lovingly takes care of her best friend Sophie’s little dog Sputnik, while Sophie’s family is on summer vacation in Hungary. When Sophie doesn’t come back from vacation, Fritzi and Sputnik set out in search of her. Historically accurate, this moving animated film for the whole family retells the story of the peaceful revolution of 1989 from a child’s perspective. An entertaining and exciting tale of the Fall of the Wall, and of the people who were brave enough to ‘speak to each other’ when free speech was not allowed in order to change the world.
£2 | ⏯️ Watch it online on 22 Jan
Watch Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale Q&A by CineMagic
As part of Ciné Kids
Two lovers; a former cattle wrangler, and a disillusioned university student dream of leaving their home city of Dakar and moving to Paris. Their attempt to raise money for their trip, leads them into a Bonnie and Clyde-esque journey across the outskirts of Dakar. Mambéty’s film is an influential work in African cinema as he attempts to create a unique cinematic language that juxtaposes modern and pastoral visual elements through a frenetic editing style. Touki Bouki conveys and grapples with the hybridisation of Senegal through symbolic imagery that blends fantasy and social realism seamlessly.
Free Screening (available 24 hours) introduced by season curator Kinyua Kamau
Programme curated by Kinyua Kamau as part of African Cinema: Fractured Identities.
In partnership with
Heremakono
A student returns from France to his home in Nouadhibou and drifts aimlessly among the locals having lost touch with his roots. The story is told in a succession of scenes from the daily life of the various characters in the town. An electrician with his apprentice, a Chinese immigrant, and the local women. The student finds himself a stranger in his own land and his cold detached presence echoes the film’s visual style as it reflects on the displacement associated with the culture’s nomadic life.
Free Screening (available 24 hours) introduced by season curator Kinyua Kamau
Programme curated by Kinyua Kamau as part of African Cinema: Fractured Identities.
In partnership with
East Germany, 1989. Twelve-year-old Fritzi lovingly takes care of her best friend Sophie’s little dog Sputnik, while Sophie’s family is on summer vacation in Hungary. When Sophie doesn’t come back from vacation, Fritzi and Sputnik set out in search of her. Historically accurate, this moving animated film for the whole family retells the story of the peaceful revolution of 1989 from a child’s perspective. An entertaining and exciting tale of the Fall of the Wall, and of the people who were brave enough to ‘speak to each other’ when free speech was not allowed in order to change the world.
£2 | ⏯️ Watch it online on 23 Jan
Watch Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale Q&A by CineMagic
As part of Ciné Kids
An idealistic postgraduate Ethiopian doctor returns from West Germany to his home country of Ethiopia at the height of the Marxist regime of Mengitsu Haile Mariam. His youthful ideals are immediately put to the test as he is forced to confront the reality of his country descending into war and political turmoil. The journey leads him to reconnect with his forgotten past and his culture’s rich history. A dense, lyrical and sharply political film from Haile Gerima that is both historically expansive and deeply personal. Turning a lens on the oppressive structures in the form of government and traditional patriarchal culture that stifle human expression and the will to transform.
Screening preceded by short animated film My Love, Ethiopia directed by Gabrielle Tesfaye
‘Yene Fikir, Ethiopia’, meaning ‘My Love, Ethiopia’, is a live-action animated film that follows the turbulent and mystical journey of a young girl searching for freedom after being separated from her family during Ethiopia’s political conflict in the 1970s. As she embarks on a painful migration through the scorching desert, magical guardian angels are sent to aid her by a mysterious and ancient Goddess in the skies, holding the secret to heal her homeland. – Gabrielle Tesfaye
Free Screening (available 24 hours) introduced by season curator Kinyua Kamau
Programme curated by Kinyua Kamau as part of African Cinema: Fractured Identities.
In partnership with
East Germany, 1989. Twelve-year-old Fritzi lovingly takes care of her best friend Sophie’s little dog Sputnik, while Sophie’s family is on summer vacation in Hungary. When Sophie doesn’t come back from vacation, Fritzi and Sputnik set out in search of her. Historically accurate, this moving animated film for the whole family retells the story of the peaceful revolution of 1989 from a child’s perspective. An entertaining and exciting tale of the Fall of the Wall, and of the people who were brave enough to ‘speak to each other’ when free speech was not allowed in order to change the world.
£2 | ⏯️ Watch it online on 24 Jan
Watch Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale Q&A by CineMagic
As part of Ciné Kids
In Dolphin Man Lefteris Charitos draws viewers into the world of legendary free-diver Jacques Mayol, capturing his compelling journey and immersing us into the sensory and transformative experience of free-diving. Narrated by Jean-Marc Barr, the actor who famously portrayed Mayol in The Big Blue, the film weaves together rare film archive from the 1950s onwards, with stunning contemporary underwater photography, to discover how the ‘dolphin man’ revolutionised free-diving and brought a new consciousness to our relationship with the sea and our inner-selves.
Preceded by short documentary The Mammalian Reflex (El Reflejo del Mamífero), courtesy of the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, Flavia Martinez’s poetic portrait of British freediver Maria Teresa Solomons, who has dedicated her life to the sea.
In partnership with Arte
£2 | ⏯️ Watch it online on 25 Jan
In June 1960, Joseph Kasa-Vubu is sworn in as the first President of the Congo, alongside Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister. Lumumba’s anti-colonial stance immediately makes him an enemy of both foreign and local powers. The film depicts the final months of Lumumba’s life, another visionary African leader whose life was cut short because of their opposition to foreign influence. Raoul Peck’s powerful political film is a fierce critique on Western influence on African politics and a complex study of an African Nationalist hero.
Free Screening (available 24 hours) introduced by season curator Kinyua Kamau
Programme curated by Kinyua Kamau as part of African Cinema: Fractured Identities.
In partnership with
In Dolphin Man Lefteris Charitos draws viewers into the world of legendary free-diver Jacques Mayol, capturing his compelling journey and immersing us into the sensory and transformative experience of free-diving. Narrated by Jean-Marc Barr, the actor who famously portrayed Mayol in The Big Blue, the film weaves together rare film archive from the 1950s onwards, with stunning contemporary underwater photography, to discover how the ‘dolphin man’ revolutionised free-diving and brought a new consciousness to our relationship with the sea and our inner-selves.
Preceded by short documentary The Mammalian Reflex (El Reflejo del Mamífero), courtesy of the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, Mexico, Flavia Martinez’s poetic portrait of British freediver Maria Teresa Solomons, who has dedicated her life to the sea.
In partnership with Arte
£2 | ⏯️ Watch it online on 26 Jan