#Africanfilms #NewGen#rafiki
Color can affect us psycologically, often without us being aware of it, it can bring out emotionsor even memories. Thus, in the hands of a filmmaker, color becomes a tool that can transform a film, set the tone or mood of a scene or convey important meanings and themes. This article examines the use of color by African filmmakers in the post colonial era and what are the main themes conveyed through color.
Touki Bouki(1973) Senegal
From the opening scene, the film is trying to set the tone. The film opens with a young shirtless cattle herder riding a Zebu. The long, postcard-worthy shot cuts to a graphic scene of the cattle being slaughtered at a meat plant. The first picture with the bright lights and the white color prevailing shows the innocence of youth while the second picture with more dark shades and red being the main color conveys the rage and violence that grows along with people.
Throughout the film, bright colors such as red, blue and purple show the desire for an escape, a dream-like life away from Dakar. The use of these bright colors also gives a taste of the modernism that has invaded Dakar.
Towards the end of the film there are long shots of the sea, the color blue filling the screen, a sense of peace and calmness along with a confidence for a fresh start but also sorrow and sadness for the unfulfilled, and maybe even false, desire
Yeleen(1987) Mali
In Yeleen's world where rituals have life or death results, a father tracks his son across the landscape of yellow dust and parched ground
Yeleen means ''brightness'' and along with the use of yellow they set the film's mood of spirituality, knowledge, idealism and light. The images of the vast desert and the greens of nature create the need for a new start, a different set of mind. The film tries to repaint Mali and African people in search of a new identity away from the colonial touch.
The shots of nature in the film are full of the color green, a color that evokes feelings of soul-healing along with the use of yellow, white and bright lights that are used to show a new day and a new beginning.
Viva Riva!(2010) Congo
An exciting crime thriller filmed in the streets of kinshasa.Dark colors complete the film noir aesthetic
while the colour red conveys the violence and rage of underground gangster world along with the desire of the protagonist for revenge and passion.
A new wave of African films exposing a part of Africa we haven't seen before
Rafiki(2018) Kenya
A masterclass in the use of color, Rafiki is a story that relies heavily on pink. Romance, playfulness, love and femininity are some of the main themes of ''Rafiki''.
The tender love story is accompanied by different shades of pink like the bright pink colors of the dance club, the cotton candy-colored locs of Ziki, or the clothes of kena
But there are also darker shades that convey the close-minded attitute of Kenya towards homosexuality
Wanuri Kahiu delivers a vibrant and colorful narrative faithful to her ''Afrobubblegum'' style, that leads the path for more African women directors to create more diverse stories that explore different parts of the African culture and life.
