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African Cities Documentary Series

NYU film professors Manthia Diawara and Awam Amkpa have been making a series of documentaries about African cities. Click on the titles to see excerpts of the films Bamako Sigi Kan and Conakry Bas, by Manthia Diawara, in streaming RealVideo.

BAMAKO SIGI-KAN
Manthia Diawara
(76 min./Color/2002)

“This original documentary shot by Arthur Jafa brings a new look to the modern African city and enables a better understanding from the inside of how democracy takes root in Mali. Discover how politics in the city and in everyday life is lived in a changing society still inscribed within tradition as the men and women of Bamako tell their own stories.”
— Third World Newsreel Website

Women’s Group
Length: 2:13
Description: Several middle-class Malian women discuss the world economy, with views ranging from the practical to the theoretical to the immediate.
Click here to view

Sabarni Dancing
Length: 4:10
Description: Malians of all ages and backgrounds express their widely differing opinions of the recently banned Sabarni dancing.
Click here to view



CONAKRY KAS
Manthia Diawara
(82 min./Color/2003)

“In January 2003, Director Manthia Diawara visited Guinea-Conakry to see what was left of the artists (Ballets Africains, Bembeya Jazz National) and intellectuals (D.T. Niane, Telivel Diallo) of the Guinean Cultural revolution; and how the citizens of Conakry were coping with globalization. The film casts a nostalgic look at Pan-Africanism in the 1960s, and asks what is the utopia of the Guinean youth today.”
— Third World Newsreel Website

Conakry Changes
Length: 1:17
Description: Guinean scholar D.T.Niane discusses how migration
from the country to the city changes Conakry, and how immigrants
adapt to the city.
Click here to view

Masks
Length: 3:27
Description: The filmmaker visits a traditional mask maker and looks at how traditional arts can influence modern arts, for good or ill.
Click here to view


African Expressive Culture Projects

West African Highlife Music
Kofi Ghanaba Archive
BAPMAF