10th edition CIFF – 10-14 April 2024

Fonko (2017 Feature Film)

Lars Lovén | Lamin Daniel Jadama | Göran Hugo Olsson | Sweden, Germany | 2016 | Documentary | color | 87 min | English, French, Portuguese, Wolof | e.s.

An exciting exploration of the musical, social and cultural innovation presently spreading across the African continent. Fonko introduces us to a young generation that is rediscovering its own musical and activist heritage in countries like Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa and is producing a wide range of infectious new music styles.

Today’s music revolution is taking place in Africa, where a new generation of enterprising musicians are mixing electronic club music with traditional rhythms and instruments. This energetically edited film is as dynamic and self-assured as the cultural vanguard that visualizes it. A wealth of music styles passes by: Ghanaian azonto, South African House and the latest dance hype from Angola: kuduro.
From Dakar to Johannesburg, up-and-coming local talents everywhere are expressing the sounds of their generation. More than fifty years after the rise of African independence movements, a new self-awareness is emerging and a new pop culture has sprung up in which the Western music industry is no longer dominant. The film also examines the way these creative developments can engender social change. Godfather of modern African pop music and prominent political activist Fela Kuti, whose statements form a leitmotif for the film, knew it more than twenty years ago: “Music is the weapon of the future.”

Place: CINEMA 6

Date: 8 April 2017

Time: 22:00

Duration: 1:07

Place: CINEMA 6

Date: 9 April 2017

Time: 13:15

Duration: 1:02

Year in
Festival

2017

Director

Lars Lovén
Lamin Daniel Jadama
Göran Hugo Olsson

Camera

Lars Lovén
Lamin Daniel Jadama
Göran Hugo Olsson
Ania Winiarska

Country

Sweden
Germany

Editor

Göran Hugo Olsson

Language

English
French
Portuguese
Wolof

Length

87 min

Producer

Tobias Janson

Production Company

Story AB

Sales

First Hand Films

Scenario

Lars Lovén
Lamin Daniel Jadama
Göran Hugo Olsson

Sound Design

Fredrik Stålne
Niklas Antonell

Year of Production

2016

As filmmaker, music journalist – Svenska Dagbladet –and radio producer, Lars LOVÉN focusses on the world music scene. Together with Lamin Daniel Jadama and Göran Hugo Olsson, he directed Fonko, the television series.

 

The Swedish-Gambian Lamin Daniel JADAMA worked as filmmaker, producer and DJ for the Swedish national radio. Together with Lars Lovén and Göran Hugo Olsson, he directed Fonko, the television series. Jadama is boardmember of the largest African film festival in North Europe: CinemAfrica.

 

Since the late eighties, Göran Hugo OLSSON (Sweden, 1965) has traveled the world as filmmaker for television. His documentaries received multiple awards, among others at Sundance. Together with Lamin Daniel Jadama and Lars Lóven, he directed Fonko, the television series.

 

Filmography

Olsson: (selection) Am I Black Enough for You (2009, doc), The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011, doc), Concerning Violence (2014), Fonko (2014, TV doc), Fonko (2016, doc)