Cannes Film Festival 2023: African Cinema Presence Limited, but Promising

The 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has confirmed the presence of African cinema, but its visibility remains limited and primarily concentrated in the "Un Certain Regard" section. No film from the continent is competing for the Palme d'Or, which restricts its visibility to other sections of the official selection.

African Cinema in "Un Certain Regard"

Three feature-length films represent the African presence in this section. "Ben'Imana" by Rwandan director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo is a coproduction involving several African countries, including Rwanda, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Norway, and France, which explores the issues of memory and reconstruction in Rwanda. "Congo Boy" by Central African director Rafiki Fariala follows the journey of a young man struggling with precariousness and his artistic aspirations. "Strawberries (La Más Dulce)" by Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi is an intimate and social film.

These three films concentrate the essence of African presence in the official selection, all of which are part of the "Un Certain Regard" section, a recognized space for discovery and recognition of emerging or singular cinematographies.

Additional Sections Offer Complementary Visibility

In parallel, other festival sections offer additional visibility. At the Quinzaine des cinéastes, "Clarissa" by Nigerian twin directors Arie and Chuko Esiri revisits Virginia Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway" in contemporary Lagos, starring Sophie Okonedo and David Oyelowo.

At the intersection of social drama and fable, "Man'mi" weaves a link between the legend of Baoulé queen Abla Pokou and the intimate and painful memories of director Aude N'Guessan Forget. The festival also pays tribute to African cinema.

Homage to Idrissa Ouédraogo

In the Cannes Classics section, a tribute is paid to Burkinabé director Idrissa Ouédraogo with the restored 4K version of "Tilaï", Grand Prix du jury in 1990. This restored version, presented with the presence of his daughter Nora Ouédraogo and producer Silvia Voser, includes a previously unseen 12-minute sequence.

Challenges and Opportunities

Despite this diversity of presence, African cinema continues to exist in a half-light at Cannes, primarily through parallel and discovery sections. This situation is explained by the structural difficulties of financing and production, which still limit access to major competitions.

However, the growth of more solid coproductions, such as "Ben'Imana", which is partially funded from the continent, suggests an important dynamic and opens the way to more autonomous production. It remains to be seen whether this evolution will allow African cinema to establish itself durably in the official competition over the years.