Hot and strange: a festival of African culture has opened in Moscow

On October 7, the grand opening of the IV International festival "Africa. Together into the future." Rwandan designer Nyambo Myasamara brought to the capital a colorful collection of his brand Masa Mara, and Senegalese choreographer Ibrahima Niassi presented a gloomy one-man show "The Rights of Nature". Izvestia visited the ceremony and tells us what impresses modern African art and what viewers should pay attention to.

Colors and dissonance

The festival was opened by the famous Rwandan designer Nyambo Masamara. He showed a collection of clothes of his own brand Masa Mara, vividly demonstrating to the Russians the real lifestyle of Africans. To better convey his vision, Nyambo prefers to use bright colors: turquoise, fuchsia, blue, orange and many others. Speaking to reporters, the designer emphasized that he treats paints as a separate way of self-expression. Abstract patterns, which decorate most of the items in the collection, play an important role in his clothes.

Masa Mara's clothes were presented on stage by a ballet troupe of 12 people. First, the semi-naked dancers took to the stage to a monologue in French about the beauty of Africa. The first outfits were rolled out on rectangular hangers: next to them, the artists seemed to have stepped out of the canvases of Alphonse Mucha. The demonstration of each costume was accompanied by a sweeping choreography. For the show, Masa Mara opted for spacious but extravagant models: decorative ribbons fluttered across the stage after the dancers. The designer himself came out to the audience at the end of the show and thanked the audience by kneeling and bowing his head to the floor.

If the Masa Mara collection disarmed the guests of the evening with a riot of colors, the one-man show "The Rights of Nature", on the contrary, returned the audience to the gray reality. The production was presented by Senegalese dancer Ibrahima Niassi, who drew the audience's attention to the complex relationship between man and nature. Even before the first movement, the audience was assaulted by ultrasound and interference, which was later mixed with a cacophony of television reports and political speeches. Then Niassi began to spin, absorbing the noise and gradually reaching exhaustion. The performance ends with a loud, aggressive indictment of humanity, and even the delicate sensuality of the artist does not leave a faint ray of hope.

The striking contrast between the performances of the two talented Africans well emphasized the versatility and depth of the culture of the black continent, which has long gone beyond the traditional.

From African body horror to rap musical

The festival "Africa. Together into the Future" is being held in Russia for the fourth time. This year it is timed to coincide with the third Russia—Africa summit, which will be held at the end of October. The cultural program will affect not only Moscow, but also St. Petersburg.

The main events will be held in the Cinema Hall of the Engineering Building of the Tretyakov Gallery and in the Illusion cinema. The first platform will focus on contemporary African cinema, from social dramas to body horror. The film "Children of God" by Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo, the thriller "Aisha can't Fly Away" by Morad Mostafa, the satirical comedy "Ghimba, tyrant of his era" by Sheik Umar Sisokko and the rap musical "My Semba" by Hugo Salvaterra will be shown here. Some sessions will be accompanied by meetings and autograph sessions.

The program at the Illusion will be dedicated to the films of Ousmane Semben, a Senegalese director who is called the "father of African cinema." The program, prepared jointly with the State Film Fund of Russia, will include his key paintings — "Seddo", "Emitai (God of Thunder)", "Money Transfer" and others. Those who want to understand the director's work in more detail will be able to attend a lecture by his son Alan Semben. He will also present each of his late father's films.

Another key event of the festival will be the exhibition "Art of Africa Today". It will open on October 9 at the State Museum of Oriental Art and will present photographs, bronze sculptures, paintings, installations and even textiles to the public. Guests of the exhibition will see the works of 12 contemporary artists and designers from Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Senegal. The exhibits combine the date of creation — after 2020 — and the desire to honestly show the current Africa without regard to the imposed narrative. The exhibition will continue to operate even after the end of the festival and will close only on November 1.

In St. Petersburg, the screenings will be held at the Lenfilm cinema. The repertoire will partially coincide with the Moscow one: the audience will see "Children of God", "Aisha cannot Fly away" and the black-and-white parable "The Prophet" by Ike Langi. The drama "Xale", which has won a lot of awards from the African Film Academy, will be personally presented by its director Moussa Sene Absa.

The festival "Africa. Together into the Future" will run until October 15th. The full program, as well as information about tickets and meetings with directors, are available on the event's website.