Bye Bye Africa

Infobox Film | name = Bye Bye Africa


image_size = 280px
caption = Screenshot
director = Mahamat Saleh Haroun
writer = Mahamat Saleh Haroun
starring = Mahamat Saleh Haroun
Garba Issa
Aïcha Yelena
Abakar Mahamat-Saleh
sound = Ousmane Bougoudi
music = Al-hadj Ahmat dit Pecos,
Issa Bongo,
Ringo Efoua-Ela
cinematography = Stephane Legoux, Mahamat Saleh Haroun
editing = Sarah Taouss Matton
distributor = California Newsreel (USA)
Les Histoires Weba (France)
Country = France / Chad
released = 20 May 2002 (Cannes Film Festival premiere)
runtime = 86 min.
language = Arabic, French
budget = ~USD100,000 [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/sep2000/tff2-s28.shtml "2000 Toronto International Film Festival—Part 2: Without flinching"] by David Walsh, World Socialist Website, 28 September 2000]
imdb_id = 0825241

"Bye Bye Africa" is a 1999 award winning Chadian film. It was the first by Chadian director Mahamat Saleh Haroun, who also starred. The docu-drama centers on a fictionalized version of Haroun.

Plot

A Chadian film director who lives and works in France (Haroun) returns home upon the death of his mother. He is shocked at the degraded state of the country and the national cinema. Encountering skepticism from his family members about his chosen career, Haroun tries to defend himself by quoting Jean-Luc Godard: "The cinema creates memories." The filmmaker decides to make a film dedicated to his mother entitled "Bye Bye Africa" but immediately encounters major problems. Cinemas have closed and financing is impossible to secure. The director reunites with an old girlfriend (Yelena), who was shunned by Chadians who could not distinguish between film and reality after appearing in one of his previous films as an HIV victim. Haroun learns about the destruction of the African cinema from directors in neighboring countries, but also finds Issa Serge Coelo shooting his first film, "Daressalam". Things go badly and, convinced that it is impossible to make films in Africa, Haroun departs Chad in despair, leaving his film camera to a young boy who had been assisting him.

Awards

The film won the following awards: [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209950/awards Awards] , IMDB]
* 1999 Amiens International Film Festival: Special Mention in the category Best Feature Film
* 2000 Kerala International Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize (tied with Deveeri (1999))
* 1999 Venice Film Festival:'CinemAvvenire' Award in the category Best First Film, Luigi De Laurentiis Award - Special Mention

Notes and references

External links

* [http://newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0123 Description by U.S. distributor]