If you’re a cinema buff, you probably don’t shy away from films that don’t quite fit the Hollywood model. You probably already know many productions from not only Europe, but also from Australia, Asia and Latin America. You can now add to your collection with cinema from another source. The internet has made it easier than ever to find African movies for sale.
The stereotype that many people have is of Africa as a continent where everyone lives in a mud hut, has to keep the lions at bay at night and is dying of hunger. While for some inhabitants of the continent this is indeed their life, for most it is simply untrue. Lagos, Johannesburg and other big cities are modern, cosmopolitan and bustling, making them perfect as homes to a film industry that is growing at a rapid pace.
Potential commercial success is the main motivating factor for most Hollywood productions. In Africa, however, the motivation is usually to tell a story, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Themes like racism, the exploitation of Africans, poverty, trying to reconcile tradition with the modern world and the African Diaspora are favorite subjects for film-makers from the continent.
One of the first films from Africa to garner international recognition was ‘La Noire de…’ or ‘Black Girl’. This 1966 film by Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene tells a tale that is still a favorite subject for film-makers: that of trying to survive in the African Diaspora. It relates the journey of a Senegalese woman who moves to France in search of a better life, only to find that the urban jungles of the First World are tougher to survive in than a wilderness filled with lions and elephants.
‘Black Girl’ also explores gender issues and the struggle of Africa’s women in particular. This is a common theme for films from the continent. ‘Neria’, a Zimbabwean production from 1993, is the tale of a widow’s struggle for survival in the face of tradition that favors men. The ravages of AIDS and how the disease affects women are explored in the award-winning South African film ‘Yesterday’, the first full-length feature in isiZulu.
In 1994, Moufida Tlatli from Tunisia became the first woman in the Arab world to direct a full feature film. Her ‘The Silences of the Palace’ made it possible for other female directors from Africa to tell their stories too. For example, in 2004 Maria Joao Ganga became the first Angolan woman to direct a feature film, called ‘Hollow City’ or, in Portuguese, ‘Na Cidade Vazia’.
Africa is also home to Nollywood, the biggest film industry in the world after India’s Bollywood. Nollywood is the industry in Nigeria and has an output of roughly 200 movies every month. Many of these are incredibly bad, low-budget productions, but some are great films like ‘The Amazing Grace’, directed by Jeta Amata.
Africa has recently shown that it can produce international box-office hits too. The 2009 sci-fi hit ‘District 9′ is a South African production that took the US and UK box offices by storm. You can find this as well as many other African movies for sale online through several distribution companies.
You can visit the website www.africanmoviesandmusicstore.com for more helpful information about A Guide To African Movies For Sale

