Last year we had a docu about the aftermath/current state of the Arab Spring (Jehane Noujaim’s The Square), so keeping with the same subject thematic, we could technically be following this up with An African Spring. Winner of the Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival for her debut film, A Normal Life which she then followed by the popular Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love (2009) and Touba, the SXSW Special Jury Prize for Best Cinematography (2013), Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi mathematically has good chances to squeeze into the comp.
Gist: In the Spring of 2011, Senegal was pitched into crisis when President Abdoulaye Wade decided to change the constitution to allow for a third term. An artist-led youth movement erupted to protect one of Africa’s oldest and most stable democracies. In a country where 70% of the population is under 30 – like much of the global South – the Y...
Gist: In the Spring of 2011, Senegal was pitched into crisis when President Abdoulaye Wade decided to change the constitution to allow for a third term. An artist-led youth movement erupted to protect one of Africa’s oldest and most stable democracies. In a country where 70% of the population is under 30 – like much of the global South – the Y...
- 11/18/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
SXSW is an interesting place to see Touba, which won a jury prize for cinematography at the film festival this week. I almost feel bad for thinking of the event in religious terms recently while spotlighting the Alamo Drafthouse as a place of worship many of us make a “pilgrimage” to at least once a year. Touba is in fact about the annual journey known as the Grand Magaal, which brings millions to the titular sacred city in Senegal for three days of thanksgiving. These legitimate pilgrims are Mourides, followers of an order of Sufism begun in the late 19th century by Amadou Bamba, a leader of Gandhi-like significance for his peaceful resistance against French colonial rule. Bamba also founded Touba as a holy site following a vision experienced there, and it’s grown to become a prominent urban center in Africa and the second largest city in the nation. It...
- 3/17/2013
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
As screenings continue and the music folks roll into town, SXSW last night announced the winners of its 2013 Film Festival. At the Paramount Theater, Destin Cretton’s crowd-pleasing Short Term 12 and Ben Nabors’ African-set, sustainable energy doc William and the Windmill took the top juried prizes. Audience prizes will be announced at the festival’s conclusion. A complete list of winners follows: Feature Film Jury Awards Documentary Feature Competition Grand Jury Winner: William and the Windmill Director: Ben Nabors Special Jury Recognition for Cinematography: Touba Director of Photography: Scott Duncan Special Jury Recognition for Directing: We Always Lie To Strangers …...
- 3/13/2013
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The Jury Awards for the 2013 SXSW Film Festival were announced tonight, with the major awards going to narrative feature “Short Term 12” and documentary “William and the Windmill.” The eligible films were those in the narrative feature and documentary feature competition categories; the Audience Awards, to be announced March 16, are culled from all feature categories save headliners and special events. A complete list of tonight’s winners is below. Feature Film Jury Awards Documentary Feature Competition Grand Jury Winner: “William and the Windmill,” director: Ben Nabors Special Jury Recognition for Cinematography: “Touba,” Director of Photography Scott Duncan Special Jury Recognition for Directing: “We Always Lie To Strangers,” directors: Aj Schnack & David Wilson Narrative Feature COMPETITIONGrand Jury Winner: “Short Term 12,” director: Destin Daniel Cretton Special Jury Recognition for Ensemble Cast: “Burma”Christopher Abbott, Gaby Hoffmann, Christopher McCann, Dan Bittner, Emily Fleischer, Jacinta Puga, Matt McCarthy, Kelly Aucoin Special Jury Recognition for Acting: Tishuan Scott,...
- 3/13/2013
- backstage.com
From director E. Chai Vasarhelyi comes the feature documentary, Touba, which is making its world premiere at the ongoing SXSW Film Festival. Here's how the film is described from the press notes: In Touba, award-winning filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi gains unprecedented access to one of the largest religious pilgrimages on the African continent, revealing a face of Islam the world rarely glimpses. Shot on 16mm film, defying the all-digital trend, its vivid cinematography and soundtrack weave together a humanist film poem. This observational film takes us inside the Mouride Brotherhood: one of Africa's most elusive organizations. It chronicles the Grand Magaal pilgrimage of 1 million...
- 3/11/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s Touba was seven years in the making: five of shooting, two of post-production. It grew out of her second documentary — 2008′s Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love — which followed the legendary Senegalese musician before and after 2004′s Egypt album, whose religious themes raised the ire of the country’s religious argument. Her newest film began life on vibrantly grainy 16mm, following an annual Senegal trek undertaken by hundreds to the city of Touba to visit the home of Sheikh Amadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride Brotherhood. Like her last film, Vasarhelyi’s newest focuses on Islam …...
- 3/8/2013
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
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