Pan African Curation on Film: Challenging Gender, Sexuality and Masculinity

Ayanda: The South African Film Tackling Traditional Gender Roles

 

Society has long defined males and females by their physical attributes. Certain traits, behaviours and even jobs are said to be reserved for men. When women step out of their prescribed gender role, they are challenging the male role of power.

 

 

Directed by filmmaker Sara Blecher, the film Ayanda stars South African actress Fulu Mugovhani as Ayanda, a strong willed young woman in modern-day South Africa who struggles to keep her late father’s garage alive. The film captures Ayanda’s journey as she navigates the world of greasy overalls, gender stereotypes and abandoned vintage cars.

 

 

This film held its world premiere screening at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival winning the Special Jury Prize in the World Fiction Competition.Ayanda was selected as the opening film of the 36th Durban International Film Festival, and is now available on Netflix.

 

 

 

Not A Woman, Not Yet A Man

 

Isaac Kariuki is a Kenyan born, London-based visual artist. He is interested in the nuances of masculinity, hypermasculinity, and the question of what makes a man. Just recently he finished a video essay entitled ‘Not a Woman, Not Yet a Man: Pop Music and Masculinity’, which explores gender performance, hypermasculinity and cultural anxiety in relation to pop music. This essay is a collection of 3 subjects: male performers in pop music and how they navigate the genre, how men (and people that subscribe to masculinity) react to and explore pop music when confronted with it, and race and masculinity in the genre, explored by writer, Giselle Defares.

 

 

Grammo Suspect Defends LGBT Communities In “Our Love Is Valid”

 

Grammo Suspect aka Mtetezi wa Raia is a Kenyan female artist who specializes in rap and spoken word.

 

 

She is currently working on her album “Embrace Diversity” and has just released the first single titled “Our Love Is Valid” is a spoken word piece that talks of diversity of the LGBT amongst communities. The piece examines the history of LGBT communities in Africa and why people should accept that they have been around since long ago and shall continue to exist no matter what.

 

 

 

Broke Niggaz, The South African Web Series For The Young Black Male

 

 

Broke Niggaz is a show about friends in their early twenties living in Johannesburg. It is a true representation of the young, black male trying to find his way through varsity, girls and the social life of the typical ‘cool kid’. These friends come from different social and educational backgrounds; they consist of students, musicians, poets, graphic designers, fashion designers and bloggers. Broke Niggaz documents the thought-provoking discussions that the lads have, as they unapologetically tackle topics like love, relationships, navigating adulthood and numerous other conversations that African millennials can relate to.