Jul 17
The Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) returns for its 11th edition under the theme “Film & Global Culture: The New Wave of Afri
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The Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) returns for its 11th edition under the theme “Film & Global Culture: The New Wave of Afri
The Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) 2026 is set to celebrate outstanding filmmaking and storytelling with a distinguished jur
When culture meets innovation, storytelling evolves, and African cinema rises with a voice the world can no longer ignore. — XyloseXpress Af
The Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) has officially announced the appointment of celebrated Ghanaian filmmaker and producer Ko
Big news for Ghana’s film industry!
Celebrated filmmaker and producer Kofi Asamoah has been named Ghana Ambassador for the Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) ahead of its 11th edition in Kumasi.
What impact do you think Kofi Asamoah’s appointment will have on Ghanaian cinema?
Read the full story on XyloseXpress
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Beasts Of No Nation
Beasts Of No Nation - Cary Joji Fukunaga
Beasts of No Nation has some major structural flaws, but it is still a fantastic film. We follow Agu, Abraham Attah (Spider-Man: Homecoming & Tasmanian Devil), as he is forced from a contented childhood into the life of a child-soldier.
Once he becomes a soldier, his story is intertwined with that of his Commandant, Idris Elba (The Wire & Luther). These dual storylines are what cause the biggest problem for the film.
Agu is our hero, but there is no crisis for his storyline.
While his fate is tied to the Commandant's, the crisis faced by their leader is not faced by Agu. Agu has no agency at this part of the film. The downbeat in the film is entirely the Commandant's.
The setup at the start of the film gives you no idea of what is coming. We get to meet all his family and learn a little about their trials and goals.
While all of the opening scenes feel like separate glimpses of life, we learn that they are all interconnected.
The film captures these kids' childhoods so well at the start. We get to see this again after the first combat action is over. Agu has just been forced to commit atrocities.
But life resumes, they are kids, and they return to playing. They have to hunt for their food.
This juxtaposition of utter mundanity and brutal atrocity is something else to watch.
There is a terrible section where we begin to suspect, but are not sure, that the Commandant is molesting one of the children. Then Agu is selected.
It is a great choice by the filmmakers not to show this scene. We get to see the impact that it has on Agu, which is heartbreaking.
We are also left guessing, but not really - something happened in there that seriously messed him up, and what else could it be after all that he has seen.
Agu has an internal monologue throughout the film, and it is excellent. We gain insight into what he is thinking as terror surrounds him.
One of the most powerful of these is after they take a town and his comrades are raping a lady, he thinks: God, do you see what we are doing?
A close second is after they have surrendered to the UN, and a councillor is trying to get him to talk. The whole internal speech here is on another level - it is one of the best things ever put to film.
At the end of it, he stares blankly into the lady's face and thinks: I have been to war, and she doesn't know what war is.
The speed at which the opening develops is great. Agu's friendship with one of the other kids is touching.
There are some crazy hallucinations where they get him high as they go into battle. The pathetic downfall of Commandant at the end is a stark contrast to the power he had at the beginning. Overall, it's a great film.
Some movies stay with you...
La Noire de…(Black girl) feels important not only because of its story, but because of what it represented historically. Directed by Ousmane Sembène, the film was one of the first feature length films made in Africa by an African director. Instead of Africa being represented through colonial or European perspectives, Sembène “turns the camera” toward African experiences and allows Black characters to exist as emotionally complex individuals rather than stereotypes. The film immediately challenges the ways Africa and Black women were historically portrayed in Western media.
The film strongly connects to our class discussions about Black Independent Cinema and representation. In “Black and White in Black and White,” Rachael Langford explains that African filmmakers began using cinema to represent themselves rather than being defined through colonial imagery. Sembène critiques colonial representations by centering Diouana’s emotions, interiority, and perspective instead of reducing her to a simplistic stereotype. This directly reflects our class conversations about the importance of self-representation in Black cinema.
Reading Referenced: Rachael Langford, Black and White in Black and White