Focus Africa
This year, our festival will be a forum for African poetry film. We present countries, positions, and centers of African video poetry. Interested in how poetry film in Africa can be taken further, we are presenting various film projects. The countries Mozambique and South Africa will be focal points.

Sea of Dunes
Director: Nissmah Roshdy
Author: Mario Osterland
Egypt/Germany 2019, 4:20 min
A traveler experiences multiple dimensions of history and culture in the desert dunes of Siwa, as he questions whether his journey was predesignated.

Faces Burn
Director: Ahmed Hamed
Author: Özlem Özgül Dündar
Egypt/Germany 2019, 5:00 min
Our place is on fire and we are on fire with it. If that, what we are, is not any longer and an eternal search begins – for who we are, where we stand and where we should go.

Shreds
Animation: Menna El-Atroush
Author: Dennis Trendelberend
Egypt/Germany 2019, 3:40 min
An old man with dementia is trying to realize a trauma from his childhood. How far does his memory reach? Who is he actually – still?

Homeless
Director: Josta Hopps
Sierra Leone 2020, 4:30 min
17 street youth from Sierra Leone each wrote five lines of poetry about homelessness, which were brought together to make one long poem called ‘Homeless.’ All those taking part are practicing poetry have been published in ‘Written Off,’ and ‘Street Rhymes,’ compilations of poems by street youth and have been published online and performed live. Josta liked the finished poem and wanted to make a film of it- which is what you see. He filmed with the poets showing where they sleep and how they make shelters or collect cardboard to sleep on. Shot on a Canon 70D and edited on FCP.

City Odes: Lagos, Nigeria - "Eko ile"
Director: Sheldon Chau
Author: Ntongha Ekot
Nigeria 2020, 3:46
A man straddles a love-hate relationship with Lagos in which he attempts to not only grasp both the intensity and comfort that the city has to offer, but also to embrace it as his home.

Idle Worship
Director: Ariel Casimiro
Author: Jaliya The Bird
Angola 2019, 4:09 min
Dieser Film nimmt Sie mit auf die Reise des Erwachens einer Frau. Es ist eine visuelle Darstellung, die darauf abzielt, Frauen zu zeigen und zu symbolisieren, die in eine Weiblichkeit eintreten, die nicht auf der Grundlage von Missbrauch (physisch, sexuell, emotional) aufgebaut ist. Am Ende sehen wir eine stehende Frau, die sich im Licht wärmt, frei von der Last in einer bedrückenden Weiblichkeit zu existieren.

Prisioneiro Novo
Director: Ariadine Zampaulo
Author: Ussene Adamo
Mozambique 2017, 3:49 min
The film was made in the spring of 2017 as part of the “POESIA NO CINEMA” workshop in Maputo, which was funded and supported by the German Embassy Maputo and the CCMA (Goethe Institute Maputo). The film was presented for the first time in Maputo during the European Film Weeks. The film student David-Simon Groß initiated the whole project. In 2017, he completed a Weltwärts year at the Goethe-Institut.

Prisão
Director: Maria Clotide O. Guirrugo
Based on a poem by Ussene Adamo
Mozambique 2017, 4:04 min
The film was made in the spring of 2017 as part of the “POESIA NO CINEMA” workshop in Maputo, which was funded and supported by the German Embassy Maputo and the CCMA (Goethe Institute Maputo). The film was presented for the first time in Maputo during the European Film Weeks. The film student David-Simon Groß initiated the whole project. In 2017, he completed a Weltwärts year at the Goethe-Institut.

Maputo, Livre e encarceirada
Director: Paulo Guambe
Author: Ariadine
Mozambique 2017, 3:16 min
The film was made in the spring of 2017 as part of the “POESIA NO CINEMA” workshop in Maputo, which was funded and supported by the German Embassy Maputo and the CCMA (Goethe Institute Maputo). The film was presented for the first time in Maputo during the European Film Weeks. The film student David-Simon Groß initiated the whole project. In 2017, he completed a Weltwärts year at the Goethe-Institut.

Nasceu Um Novo Homem
Director: Bhaka Yafole
Mozambique 2017
The film was made in the spring of 2017 as part of the “POESIA NO CINEMA” workshop in Maputo, which was funded and supported by the German Embassy Maputo and the CCMA (Goethe Institute Maputo). The film was presented for the first time in Maputo during the European Film Weeks. The film student David-Simon Groß initiated the whole project. In 2017, he completed a Weltwärts year at the Goethe-Institut.

My mamma is bossies (My Mum’s Bonkers)
Animation: Naomi van Niekerk
Author: Jeanne Goosen
South Africa 2017, 3 min
A melancholic poetry film in black and white with sand and silhouettes. About the loss of a mother and a flawed relationship between daughter and child. Inspired by Jeanne Goosen’s eponymous poem, recited by the well-known South-African actress Elize Cawood, to the aria O mia babbino caro from Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicci, in a legendary performance by Maria Callas (1955).

Groet (Greeting)
Animation: Charles Badenhorst
Author: Marlise Joubert
South Africa, 2016
A poetry film about departing. The poem was written by Joubert as she was waiting for her husband to collect her at the hospital after an operation. Badenhorst made the film in response to his mother’s death from cancer. A poignant film on how the meaning of words is influenced by the point of view of the reader.
“Groet” was made as part of Filmverse 2, a South African animation project to develop Afrikaans poetry film.

vir die voels (For the birds)
Animation: Diek Grobler
South Africa 2016
For the birds is a poem by Ronelda S Kamfer about being dishonest for the sake of keeping the peace, of ‘being strong’ and the repercussions which that has for the individual. The poet’s words, as often happens in the choosing of a poem to make a film of, expressed the filmmakers own emotions and experiences succinctly even though their lives and life experience are vastly different.
For the birds was made as part of Filmverse 2, a South African animation project to develop Afrikaans poetry film.

Stad in di Mis
Animation: Jac & Wessel Hamman
Author: D. J. Opperman
South Africa 2016, 2:33 min
A man with a rural background experiences the city as a hostile animal. Part of Filmverse 2, a South African Animation project which has been set up in order to develop and support poetry films in Afrikaans.