NFB Collection
Has God Forsaken Africa?
200852 minFilm: Documentary
Direction: Musa Dieng Kala
Production: Yves BisaillonColette LoumèdeChristian Medawar
Script: Musa Dieng Kala
Brussels, August 1999. Two teenagers from Guinea are found dead in the undercarriage of a plane from Conakry. Each year, thousands of young Africans like them risk their lives to flee a continent scourged by war and endemic poverty. Shocked by this growing phenomenon, the Senegal-born director Musa Dieng Kala returns to Dakar, where he grew up, and asks the painful question: Has God Forsaken Africa? The answer is bitter. As he films five young adults seeking to immigrate to the West at any cost, the filmmaker unearths the impotence of individuals faced with international indifference and the unconcern of the leaders of a society emptied of its resources and incapable of meeting its needs. A moving film that makes the case for a global ecology in which no nation or people is abandoned.
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Subject categories
- Developing Countries > AfricaSocial Problems
- Social Issues > Foreign SocietiesYoung Adults
- Social Studies > Development/Global Issues
- History and Citizenship Education > Economy and Development (1500-present)Issues in Society TodayPopulation and Settlement (1608-present)
Credits
- participant
- Jeff Kader
- Ibrahima
- Ahmadou
- Omar
- Djiby
- Mor Sene
- Abib Ndao
- Madior Ndiaye
- Papa Barry
- Aïcha Diouf
- Modou N'Diaye
- Nogaye Mboup
- Adja Barry
- Diallo Thierno
- research
- Musa Dieng Kala
- script
- Musa Dieng Kala
- direction
- Musa Dieng Kala
- script consultant
- Raymonde Provencher
- camera
- Alex Margineanu
- location sound
- Louis Léger
- production manager
- Raymonde Provencher
- production assistant
- Pierre Lecomte
- picture editing
- Marie Hamelin
- sound editing
- Catherine Van Der Donckt
- Bruno Pucella
- associate producer - development
- Mahalia Verna
- stills photographer
- Alex Margineanu
- digital editing technician
- Danielle Raymond
- Isabelle Painchaud
- titles
- Gaspard Gaudreau
- online editing
- Denis Pilon
- narration
- Musa Dieng Kala
- Famara Kujabi
- narration recording
- Luc Léger
- voice director
- Production René Gagnon inc.
- adaptation
- Robert Paquin
- subtitling
- Robert Paquin
- Leah Kosatsky
- translation
- Leah Kosatsky
- foley
- Lise Wedlock
- foley recording
- Technicolor, Services créatifs, Montréal
- re-recording
- Luc Léger
- original music
- Musa Dieng Kala
- vocals
- Musa Dieng Kala
- keyboard
- Robert Lafond
- programming
- Robert Lafond
- visual archives research
- Michèle Houle
- clearances
- Michèle Houle
- marketing manager
- François Jacques
- marketing manager - assistance
- Solen Labrie Trépanier
- administrator
- Manon Provencher
- production coordinator
- Nathalie Cloutier
- administrative assistant
- Dominique Brunet
- technical coordinator
- Richard Cliche
- associate producer
- Maryse Chapdelaine
- Christiane Germain
- executive producer
- Yves Bisaillon
- Colette Loumède
- producer
- Colette Loumède
- Christian Medawar
Awards
- AQCC Award for the Best Short or Medium Length DocumentaryRendez-vous Québec Cinéma
- Bank of Africa Special Prize- with a cash prize of 2 000 000 F CFA ($5000 CDN)Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision / FESPACO
- SCIC Global Issues AwardYorkton Film Festival