The Mubi Africa Film Poll 2011-2012

By: kuxa kanema

A few months ago I ran a poll asking MUBI users to name their favourite African films and here are the results. African cinema is often overlooked in more general polls and this one gives a chance for users to explore new names that they may have never come across. African film is a very loose term and covers many genres, countries, cultures and languages. Films from over twenty six countries were nomiated for this poll ranging from the deserts of Egypt and Morocco to Senegal in the west, Rwanda in the east and South Africa. This list isn’t really about the winners but about highlighting an overlooked and misunderstood area of cinema.

RANK	FILM	DIRECTOR	COUNTRY	YEAR	NO.VOTES
1	Yeelen	Souleymane Cisse	Mali	1987	17
=2	Xala	Ousmane Sembene	Senegal	1975	14
=2	Harvest 3,000 Years	Haile Gerima	Ethiopia	1976	14
=4	Touki Bouki	Djibril Mambety	Senegal	1973	13
=4	The Black Girl	Ousmane Sembene	Senegal	1966	13
=6	Cairo Station	Youssef Chahine	Egypt	1958	11
=6	Waiting For Happiness	Abderrahmane Sissako	Mauritania	2002	11
=8	Night of Counting Years	Chadi Abdel Salam	Egypt	1969	10
=8	Hyenas	Djibril Mambety	Senegal	1992	10
=10	Finye	Souleymane Cisse	Mali	1982	8
=10	Nightingale’s Prayer	Henry Barakat	Egypt	1959	8
=12	Yaaba	Idrissa Ouedraogo	Burkina Faso	1989	7
=12	Battle of Algiers	Gillo Pontecorvo	Algeria	1966	7
=12	Alexandria Why?	Youssef Chahine	Egypt	1979	7
=12	Moolade	Ousmane Sembene	Senegal	2004	7
=12	Little Girl Who Sold the Sun	Djibril Mambety	Senegal	1999	7
=12	Silences of the Palace	Moufida Tlatli	Tunisia	1994	7
=18	Oh Soleil	Med Hondo	Mauritania	1967	6
=18	Kuxa Kanema: Birth of Cinema	Margarida Cardoso	Mozambqiue	2003	6
=20	Wanderers of the Desert	Nacer Khemir	Tunisia	1986	5
=20	Farewell Johnny	Jans Rautenbach	South Africa	1970	5

The films with the most votes are placed in order

4 Votes
Abouna, Africa I Will Fleece You, Man of Ashes, Mapantsula

3 Votes
Bab’Aziz: The Prince That Contemplated His Soul, Child of Another, Gate of the Sun, Munyurangbo, Closed Doors, Chronicles of the Years of Fire, Bamako, City of Contrasts, Kaddu Beykat, Mandabi, Faraw: Mother of the Dunes, Wend Kuuni

2 Votes
Budd Yamm, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Chased By the Dogs, Bled Number One, Halfouine, Dilemma, A Screaming Man, The Land, Baara, A Summer In Goulette, Land of Fear, I Love Cinema, The Street Player, Dry Season, Kitkat, Date Wine, Collar and the Bracelet,Omar Gatlato, Tilai, Guimba the Tyrant, Animals Are Beautiful People

1 Vote
The Leech, Shey Min Kouf, Jom, Mueda Memoria and Massacre, Night of Truth, Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets, Dust Devil, Teranga Blues, Madame Brouette, Rocking Poponguine, Angel of Mercy, Yacoubian Building, La Grande Voyage, Siener in die Suburbs, Dirkie, Breekpunt, Sarah, Lollipop, Net Nou Hoor die Kinders, Naked Prey, Windprints, Clouds Over Conkary, Mossane, Bye Bye Africa, Quartier Mozart, Die Kandidaat, Katrina, The Guest, Ceddo, Wazzou Polygame, A Citizen A Doctor and A Thief, In Search of Said Marzouq, Den Muso, When the Stars Meet the Sea, Fools, Mafrouza Oh Night, Love Brewed In An African Pot, Teza, Tableau Ferraille, Samba Traore, The Open Door, Rome Rather Than You, Great White of Lambourine, 9’11’01 (Burkina Faso section), Marigolds In August, Fourth Reich, Fiela Se Kind, Come Back Africa, Saturday Night At the Palace, Me and My White Man, Baro le Luc Sacre, Sacred Places, Denko, Beyond Belief, Rose of the Desert, Rostov-Luanda, Adrift on the Nile, I A Negro, Jaguar, A Kalahari Family, Lumumba, Borom Sarrat, District 9, No Tomorrow, The Sun Will Never Set, A Thousand Months, Struggle on the Nile, Sambizanga, Saladin, The Woman’s Game, A Dinner Date, Clay Dolls, Scheherazade Tell Me a Story, Cairo 1930, The Beginning and the End, Ice Cream Fi Gleam, One-Zero, Petit a Petit, Destiny, Picc Mi, Divine Carcasse, 6th Day, In the Heliopolis Flat, Missing Person, The Best of Times, The Innocent, Fallen Angel’s Paradise, Asphalt Kings, Dreams of Hind and Camilla, Lieah ya banafsieg, The Magician, Testament, Faat Kine

RANK	DIRECTOR	NATIONALITY	FILMS IN POLL	VOTES
1	Ousmane Sembene	Senegal	Moolade, Faat Kine, Ceddo, Xala, Mandabi, Borom Sarrat, Black Girl	40
2	Djibril Mambety	Senegal	The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun, Hyenas, Touki Bouki, City of Contrasts	33
3	Souleymane Cisse	Mali	Yeelen, Finye, Baara, Den Muso	28
4	Youssef Chahine	Egypt	Destiny, 6th Day, Alexandria Why?, The Land, Saladin, Cairo Station	22
5	Abderrahmane Sissako	Mauritania	Bamako, Waiting For Happiness, Rostov-Luanda	15
6	Haile Gerima	Ethiopia	Harvest 3,000 Years, Teza	15
7	Idrissa Ouedroaogo	Burkina Faso	11’09’01, Samba Traore, Tilai, Yaaba	11
8	Abdel Chadi Salam	Egypt	Night of Counting Years	10
9	Mahamat-Saleh Haroun	Chad	A Screaming Man, Dry Season, Abouna, Bye Bye Africa	9
=10	Nacer Khemir	Tunisia	Bab’Aziz: The Prince That Contemplated His Soul, Wanderers of the Desert	9
=10	Henry Barakat	Egypt	Nightingale’s Prayer, The Open Door	9
12	Jans Rautenbach	South Africa	Die Kandidaat, Katrina, Farewell Johnny	7
=13	Moufida Tlatli	Tunisia	Silences of the Palace	7
=13	Gillo Pontecorvo	Italy	Battle of Algiers	7
15	Mohamed Khan	Egypt	In the Heliopolis Flat, Dreams of Hind and Camilla, Missing Person, The Street Player, A Dinner Date	6
16	Daoud Abdel Sayed	Egypt	A Citizen & a Detective & a Thief, Land of Fear, Kitkat	6
=17	Med Hondo	Mauritania	Oh Soleil	6
=17	Margarida Cardoso	Portugal	Kuxa Kanema: Birth of Cinema	6
19	Salah Abouseif	Egypt	The Sun Will Never Set, No Tomorrow, The Leech, Cairo 1930, The Beginning and the End	5
20	Jamie Uys	South Africa	Animals Are Beautiful People, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Dirkie	5

The director with the most votes are placed in order. If both directors are tied on points the outcome is decided on who has more films included in the poll.

OTHER DIRECTORS FEATURED IN THE POLL
+5 Nouri Bouzid, Gaston Kabore, Jean Marie Teno
+4 Moussa Sene Absa, Radwan El Kashef, Safi Faye, Ferid Boughedir, Oliver Schmitz,Yousry Nasrallah, Ousmanna Fawzy
+3 Isaac Chung, Jean Dikongue Pipa, Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina, Khairy Beshara, Jean Rouch, Abdolaye Ascofare, Atef Hetata
+2 Cheick Oumar Sissoko, Hussein Kamal, Merzak Allouache, Kamal El Sheikh, Rabah Zaimeche, Henning Carlsen, Ross Devonish
+1 Ismael Ferroukhi, Dan Retief, Gordon Voster, Andre Pieterse, Franz Mark, Cornel Wilde, David Wint, Cheick Fantamady Camara, Jean Pierre Bekolo, Tariq Teguia, Bassek Ba Kobhio, Manie Ven Rensberg, Katinka Heyns, Lionel Rogosin, Robert Davies, Pierre s Yameogo, Cheik Doukoure, Mohamed Camara, Kalu Anya, Rachid Benhadj, Oumaru Ganda, John Marshall, Raymond Rajoanrivelo, Ramedan Suleman, Emanuelle Demorriss, Kwaw Ansah, Raoul Peck, Neill Blomkamp, Marwen Hamed, Atef Al Tayeb, Hala Khalil, Youssef Wahby, John Akomfrah, Abdoucar Samb-Makharam, Ruy Guerra, Fanta Regina Nacro, Nabil Ayouch, Richard Stanley, Faouizi Bensaidi, Atef Salem, Sarah Maldoror, Waheddin Sameh, Kamla Abu Zekry, M’mbugu Schelling, Mansour Sora Wade, Dominique Lareau

RANK	COUNTRY	HIGHEST PLACED FILM	VOTES
1	Egypt	Cairo Station	84
2	Senegal	Xala	81
3	Mali	Yeelen	35
4	South Africa	Farewell Johnny	30
5	Tunisia	Silences of the Palace	25
6	Algeria	Battle of Algiers	18
7	Burkina Faso	Yaaba	17
8	Mauritania	Waiting For Happiness	17
9	Ethiopia	Harvest 3,000 Years	15
10	Cameroon	Africa I Will Fleece You	10

Countries are placed in order by number of votes. In a tie the country with more films included in the poll is placed first.

OTHER COUNTRIES FEATURED IN THE POLL
Chad 9, Mozambique 7, Morocco 3, Rwanda 3, France 3, Guinea 3, Angola 2, Ghana 2, Botswana, 2, Tanzania 2, Benin 1, Nigeria 1, Ivory Coast 1, Madagascar 1, Namibia 1, Niger 1

Lastly a big big thanks to all the users on here who voted!!
Kuxa Kanema, Misha, Myra, Angel, Moamen, Ahmed Nabil, Commie Bee, Yuki, Max Painter, Mayyezayed, Hani, Ali, Scorpiorising, Jorge Didaco, Scampi, Dennis Brian, Mais 1, Shaun Alleman, Kolar, Chai Walla, Martin Botha, Clockworkdaisyblues, Walberto, R., Greg X, Kenji, Matt Parks, Ari, Mohamad Saby, Kai White, Rohit Apte, Apursanasr, Ermias Woldiemak, Shaka, Arsaib, Blue K, and Cat