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La Fabrique Cinéma is a committed programme that has been supporting promising directors, particularly rising stars of African cinema, for over 13 years.

This year, among the 10 winning projects selected, 3 African projects will be supported by the Fabrique Cinéma:

Aisha Can't Fly Away Anymore ©Bonanza Films
Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore © Bonanza Films

Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore (Egypt)

Director: Morad Mostafa

Production: Sawdan Yusuf – Bonanza Films

Genre: Fiction

Aisha, a Somali carer for elderly patients lives in an Egyptian neighbourhood witnessing the underworld of African society where there is tension between the groups. Stuck in a loveless relationship, routine and pressure of dreary work lead her into an impasse.

Morad Mostafa is an Egyptian Filmmaker, born in Cairo. He has worked in several independent films and collaborated as Executive director in the feature film Souad by Ayten Amin, – official selection in Cannes Film Festival 2020 and Berlinale, Panorama section. He wrote and directed three short films, all of them selected in Clermont-Ferrand in three consecutive years and won more than 35 international awards.

Bonanza Films, a Cairo-based production company established in 2019, is aiming to help in developing film industry by co-producing or producing shorts and feature films for directors in their 1st or 2nd project that can be presented internationally, its productions created in collaboration with international production and distribution companies that share enthusiasm for cinema. It has produced two shorts Henet Ward and Khadiga which were both selected in Clermont Ferrand international competition and won more than 35 international awards. Aisha Can’t Fly away Anymore was selected at Rotterdam Lab IFFR and received the awards support for the development from El Gouna Film Festival and Cinemed.

BENIMANA © Ejo Cine
BENIMANA © Ejo Cine

BENIMANA (Rwanda)

Director: Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo

Co-delegateprodcucer: Samantha Biffot (On est ensemble Produciton – Ivory Coast)

Co-producer: Yoro Mbaye (Yennenga Production – Senegal)

Genre: Fiction

BENIMANA is a story of the friction between collective and individual existence. Veneranda, a survivor of the Tutsi genocide who is working for reconciliation, thinks her past is behind her when her old demons resurface as she learns of her daughter’s pregnancy, under the silent eye of the grandmother, who feels the family balance wavering.

Marie-Clementine is a Rwandan director and producer. Her short films have been presented and awarded at several festivals, including the Carthage film festival where she won the Tanit de Bronze in 2012 and 2018. She is working on her 1st feature film BENIMANA, for which she participated in the following workshops and residencies: Sud Ecriture, Ouaga Film Lab, Le Groupe Ouest/LIM 2020 and Medienboard/Berlin Artist-In-Residency.

Djeliya, memory of Manding © Pilumpiku Production
Djeliya, memory of Manding © Pilumpiku Production

Djeliya, memory of Manding (Burkina Faso)

Director: Boubacar Sangaré

Producer: Mamounata Nikiema – Pilumpiku Production

Genre: Documentary

Sékou, a young griot, guardian of memory, embarks on an initiatory road movie on the roads of the legendary Mandingo empire, in a West Africa shaken by modernity, in search of its common memory.

Une révolution africaine, les dix jours qui ont fait chuter Blaise Compaoré, the first documentary co-directed by Boubacar Sangaré, sold more than 10,000 tickets in Burkina Faso and was selected in more than forty festivals around the world. Or de vie, the first feature film he will direct alone, has just been awarded the ‘Aide aux cinémas du monde’ and will soon be in post-production. Djéliya, memory of Manding follows the same cinematographic approach, with a poetic narrative that celebrates Africa and its youth.

Pilumpiku Production covers the fields of documentary and fiction film production, the organisation of writing and production training courses. Pilumpiku Production was created to support the film and audiovisual projects of Burkinabe and African screenwriters-directors. It has produced several documentary films, documentary series and fictions, most of them co-produced with foreign production companies.

Since 2009, the Fabrique Cinéma programme has identifies, supported and promoted emerging young filmmakers from southern and emerging countries. The programme has helped a total 18 African Films:

  • AND THERE IN THE DUST, by L.F. Newton & G. Marx (South Africa) 2009
  • YEMA, by Djamila Sahraoui (Algeria) 2009
  • MORBAYASSA, by Cheick Fantamady Camara (Guinea) 2009 
  • IMAGINATIONS, by Tunda Wa Munga (Congo) 2010
  • FATARIA, ARAB SUMMIT, by Walid Tayaa (Tunisia) 2011
  • DAKAR TROTTOIRS, by Hubert Laba Ndao (Senegal) 2011
  • VILLA 69, by Ayten Amin (Egypt) 2011
  • PLEASE YOURSELF WITH THE WORST, by Majdi Lakhdar (Tunisia) 2012 
  • THE MISERICORDE OF THE JUNGLE, by Joël Karekezi (Rwanda) 2013
  • RAFIKI, by Wanuri Kahiu (Kenya/South Africa) 2013
  • THE SIREN OF FASO FANI, by Michel K.Zongo (Burkina Faso) 2013
  • THE INITIES, by John Trengove (South Africa) 2014
  • FLOWER OF CACTUS, by Hala Elkoussy (Egypt) 2015
  • LA BELLE ET LA MEUTE, by Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia) 2015
  • AMAL, by Mohamed Siam (Egypt) 2016
  • THE MIRACLE OF THE UNKNOWN SAINT, by Alaa Eddine Aljem (Morocco) 2016
  • LA NUIT DES ROIS, by Philippe Lacôte (Ivory Coast) 2018
  • ZINDER, by Aicha Macky (Niger) 2018

These achievements have been the subject of multiple selections at prestigious film festivals. This is the case of RAFIKI by Wanuri Kahiu and LA BELLE ET LA MEUTE by Kaouther Ben Hania, respectively nominated in the Un Certain Regard section in 2018 and 2017. These films have also received support from film exhibitors throughout France. John Trengove’s LES INITIÉS, for example, took advantage of this with very nice combinations of releases throughout France.

Among these works, many projects were able to see the light of day thanks to the multiplicity of co-productions. For example, Kaouther Ben Hania’s LA BELLE ET LA MEUTE was co-produced by no less than 7 co-producers of different nationalities. Not to mention the notable success met by these films which not only attract a large number of people in theaters but also rave reviews. THE MIRACLE OF THE UNKNOWN HOLY by Alaa Eddine Aljem, whose release was truncated by the closure of theaters, brought together nearly 44,000 spectators.

For more information please visit La Fabrique Cinéma.

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