Zoo Quest to West Africa

In September 1954, David Attenborough, cameraman Charles Lagus, Jack Lester and Alf Woods, both from the Zoological Society of London, set out for Sierra Leone. They spent three months intently surveying the landscapes of Sierra Leone in search of nature’s rarest animals. Although predominantly searching for Picathartes gymnocephalus (the White-necked Rockfowl) they hoped to take back to London a representative collection of the whole of animal life in this part of Africa.

Djembefola

African drummer leaves village, makes it big in the world. Great drumming!!

On Freedom of Movement (wi de muv)

The film considers what it means to be free to move, not as in leave or flee, but to move. It explores the ability of the environments we live in – especially cities – to create the space people need to move. Shot in Freetown, Sierra Leone, it explores the power of the creative sectors in the city and their immense potential.

The Writer from a Country Without Bookstores

The ruthless dictator Teodoro Obiang has ruled Equatorial Guinea with an iron hand since 1979. Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel is the most translated Equatoguinean writer, but he had to flee the country in 2011, after starting a hunger strike denouncing the crimes of the dictatorship. Since then, he has lived in Spain, feeling that, despite the risks, he must return and fight the monster with words.

Anwar

Alex Txikon, internationally renowned mountaineer, is launching a new winter expedition in 2021 to Manaslu (Nepal). It is the first non-polluting ascent, powered by solar panels. With this sustainable system, which reduces the energy footprint in accordance with the Paris Agreements, the EKI Foundation is beginning its work of solidarity. Alex is going to learn about the work developed by the Foundation in Sierra Leone, where they provide solar energy systems that enable energy autonomy in schools and hospitals. Txikon proposes to replicate this idea in a very special school in the Diamer Valley in Pakistan, the Günter Mountain School, uniting two different but at the same time equal cultures.

Hell

Chennu committed his first crime when he was 15 years old: being a street kid. And he entered hell: Pademba Road. The adult prison in Freetown. In hell, Mr. Sillah is in charge, and there is no hope. Chennu got out after four years. Now he wants to go back.

Blood Diamonds

Blood Diamonds is a made-for-TV documentary series, originally broadcast on the History Channel, that looks into the trade of diamonds which fund rebellions and wars in many African nations. The program focuses primarily on two nations: Sierra Leone and Angola. Diamonds which are traded for this purpose are known as blood diamonds.

Cry Freetown

An account of the victims of the Sierra Leone Civil War and depicts the most brutal period with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels capturing the capital city on January 1999.

African Awakening

Among the many parts of the world in which Unilever companies operate, West Africa has a special place. The Africa of popular imagination is a land of jungles, swamps and mud huts; but side by side with the traditional, a new Africa is growing and the film "African Awakening” is an expression of this, of the attitudes of those African men and women who are today the driving force of West African progress. “African Awakening”, a colour film which runs for 38 minutes, is one of a series of Unilever films dealing with different aspects of African life.

Multiplied

Chris Worthington sets out to document what the future of evangelism looks like. He invites you to get stranded in a West African dust storm, get shot at on the way to a 400,000 person Gospel event, and ultimately discover that it’s no longer about a select few famous evangelists, but about an entire generation of people just like YOU.

Bumpa

This documentary will explore the Afro-Caribbean dance, ‘whining’ alongside the practice of twerking to analyze respectability politics, pressures to accommodate whiteness, and gendered criticism of sexual expression within the Black diaspora. Using archival footage of West African dance, expert opinion from dancing and gender studies professors, and the active participation of partygoers in a dance experiment, Watkins will paint the picture of the defiance, autonomy, and ancestral veneration intrinsic to these traditional movement styles.

Phillips Bicycles - Publicity Films for West Africa

From the West Midlands to West Africa: tour the Phillips bicycle plant in Smethwick and see the products in action overseas.

The Dark Side of Chocolate

A team of journalists investigate how human trafficking and child labor in the Ivory Coast fuels the worldwide chocolate industry. The crew interview both proponents and opponents of these alleged practices, and use hidden camera techniques to delve into the gritty world of cocoa plantations.

Magicians of the Earth: Kings of the Water

Cyprien Tokoudagba is from the city of Abomey in the Benin Republic of West Africa, where he paints the religious houses of the vodun. Haas and his film crew follow Cyprien as he first paints and then takes part in the ceremony to open a new temple. The paintings include three vodun figures and several emblems, including a pipe and a duck. Cyprien explains his work in the context of the religion and takes the crew to film two other local ceremonies, one where the dead are believed to come back to instruct the living through wild dancing and, another, where women warriors perform their war dances.

Mögöbalu, Les Maîtres des Tambours d'Afrique

Space Sitting Prowess of Egungun Ajomogbodo

The name Ajoko-mo-gbe-odo (the one who sits without need for stool) is said to have been given in the ancient time when all Egungun in Ogbomoso openly perform for the king, Soun of Ogbomoso. After their performance, other Egungun would sit on stool but this precise Egungun choose to be different by sitting without a stool. Since then, the onlookers began to call it Ajoko-mo-gbe-odo and was later shortened to Ajomogbodo for easy pronunciation. This is a documentary that tells the story and shows the performance of Ajomogbodo, a mystical Egungun that sits comfortably on space without the use of a chair or stool.

Eerindinlogun: A Leaf from the Olorisa in Oyo

Eerindinlogun is a Yoruba based system of divination. It is a divination system (also called Idaasa or Dilogun in Brazil) widely used by Orisa adherents which includes Obatala, Sango, Oya, Osun, Yemoja, amongst others. This documentary entitled Eerindinlogun: A leaf from the Olorisa in Oyo, produced by Israel Ayanwuyi, explore the origin of Eerindinlogun, the order of its practice and position among the traditional families in Oyo.

Awoko

Shot over one night in the loud, dimly lit printing press, this is the story of the men whose labour lies behind Sierra Leone's oldest daily newspaper.

Love and Sex in West Africa

Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal – when it comes to love and sex, these African countries are caught between tradition and modernity.

Survivors

Survivors presents an intimate portrait of Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak, exposing the complexity of the epidemic and the sociopolitical turmoil that lies in its wake.