By now you've probably watched the (British) Channel 4 TV documentary film about Nigeria's millionaire preachers--the fake healings, buckets full of money collected by church leaders ("tithes"), police escorts, mall openings as well as all that flash. This all against a background of grinding poverty. I watched it last night. Most Nigerian blogs not surprisingly (many of them are believers of some sort), have focused on theological debates thrown up by the documentary. One of the preachers, Dr Fireman, when quizzed about his ostentatious show of wealth, responds to Channel 4's journalist: "Jesus was rich and had an accountant who followed him around." No one's surprised that with low confidence in political parties and the state, people gravitate toward fast-money preachers promising eternal salvation, financial and physical health. However, it appears the filmmakers could only get to the B-List preachers since we didn't see any of the really rich preachers. Those preachers, compiled in a list by a Forbes blogger earlier this Fall, include David Oyedepo (estimated net worth of $150m), Chris Oyakhilome ($30-50m) and TB Joshua ($10-15m).  Of all these men, it is perhaps Joshua is the most interesting (there's even a TB Joshua Watch online). TB Joshua claims to heal HIV/AIDS, cancer and paralysis at his Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos. More significantly, he has also found a willing audience among African elites, especially its political class and leading sporting personalities. But first to his claims as a healer. Joshua serves as an advisor to many of Nigerian leading sports people. They  thank him profusely for their good health. But it is not just his country's sports people who have put their trust in Joshua's healing powers. In one celebrated case, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, a top rugby player from South Africa traveled to Lagos with a knee injury and claimed to have been healed by TB Joshua. Two fellow Springbok team members, who had cancer, also traveled to Lagos to see Joshua and promptly stopped their treatments.  Two of Van der Westhyzen's teammates, Ruben Kruger and Wuim Basson, also went to see TB Joshua. He claimed to heal them too, but they died of their cancers. Consistent with evangelical Christianity's teachings, Kruger and Basson's failure to get well were rationalized as their lack of faith. (In Basson's case, Joshua even claimed to communicate with him beyond the grave.) South African television has reported stories of especially white South Africans traveling in large groups to Joshua's church for healing. As for the politically connected who travel to see and hear Joshua in Nigeria, they include Ghanaian president John Atta Mills, of whom it is claimed that "... Joshua had prophesied his victory in the Ghanaian polls, specifying there would be three elections and the results would be released in January." Atta Mills has described Joshua as a mentor. Separately, a Zimbabwean newspaper reported that prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai visited Joshua's church in September. So have other leaders of Tsvangirai's MDC movement as well as Mugabe's ZANU-PF. Some were hoping it would give them an edge in party political contests. The same newspaper mentioned a few other high profile guests: former presidents Frederick Chiluba (Zambia), Pascal Lissouba (Congo-Brazzaville), André Kolimba (Central African Republic), Omar Bongo (Gabon) and Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini (who came to testify about his "daughter’s healing from epilepsy"). The president of Zimbabwe's football association Cuthbert Dube also claimed to be healed by Joshua. Not all governing elites are as welcoming of TB Joshua and his healings (and predictions--he claims to foresee plane crashes, natural disasters, though critics point out that the videos where he apparently makes such predictions are cleverly edited). In fact, Cameroon has banned Joshua. But the most curious recent guest at Joshua's church has been Winnie Mandela, seen in this recent video, below, with Joshua's Emmanuel TV, referring to herself as "the grandmother of Africa," blamed everything that's wrong on the continent on modernity (except Christianity of course) and who suggested Africa needs "democracy of a special type": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZXZFFzlT08 BTW, we keep wondering why do South Africans travel to Nigeria, when they have their own miracle-making farmer at home?

I finally got to see director Andrew Dosunmu's debut feature film, "Restless City," this summer (at the Urban World Film Festival). The story, part American dream narrative, revolves around a young West African immigrant, Djibril, who lives in Harlem, trying to start his record career, while selling CDs and delivering packages and mail on his moped. Djibril (played by Sy Alassane) falls for a beautiful woman, Trini (Nicole Grey), who also happens to be a prostitute. Djibril wants to rescue her from her pimp, with devastating consequences. But that narrative is only part of the story. This film is also about how New York City is framed. This is a beautiful but hard city for the growing African immigrant population who reside in its margins. And the city is a star of the film; whether the small uptown apartments, subway cars, dance clubs, hairdressers, etcetera. The actors speak in Wolof, English, French and Yoruba. The pace is slow but engaging, there's a certain lyricism to it and it is beautifully shot (that's the work of director of photography Bradford Young). It is also stylish (the costume designer is Mobolaji Dawodu of The Fader) and it has a soundtrack of Don Cherry's jazz. In my book it is probably the best African film this year. Like his film, Andrew is always on the move.  (Check out his fashion photography for The Fader or his earlier music videos for Janet Jackson or Common or his book about African football). Word is he is already working on his next film: a feature about an immigrant family, titled "Ma'George" and starring Isaac de Bankole and Angelique Kidjo and with Bradford Young as d.p. * We have some top 10-lists coming next week, but I wanted to get in a word first.

For all the huffing and puffing in the West about the DRC's cooked elections -- President Joseph Kabila "polled" 49% and the Electoral Commission, stacked with Kabila cronies, "gave" opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi 32% of the vote -- there's a bottom line for elites. The Financial Times, in an editorial yesterday, gives it to us straight:

Britain funded this charade with £31m, the European Union with €47m, and the UN with $110m. They have all raised concerns. But the international community does not favour Mr Tshisekedi. Instead it is ready to choose the option perceived as safest: supporting the status quo.

Source.

It's that time of year again. The students in my required Media and Culture course at The New School (I have a day job yes) just uploaded their final projects--a short documentary or commentary piece (limit under 5 minutes)--online. Here's one of them. Student Erik Luers debates the decision by mainstream media organizations to show (or inability to control the exhibition of) the gory images of the murder of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi: http://youtu.be/9sMlx4jPGFQ

The Mozambican Associação da Luta Contra o Cancer (ALCC) enlists female superheroes to raise awareness around breast cancer. If you can't read the small print copy: "Nobody’s immune to breast cancer. When we talk about breast cancer, there’s no women or superwomen. Everybody has to do the self-examination monthly. Fight with us against the enemy and, when in doubt, talk with your doctor." The local Maputo branch of a multinational ad agency designed the campaign. Here's a few: Source.

This list is partly self-indulgent. It is also a way--hopefully weekly--for me to keep an online record of films I still would like to see. Here's a few. First up, Lotte Stoofs's documentary film about the life of a landmark hotel in Beira, Mozambique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IJ1YPQK2lE "Swahili Fighting Words," a feature documentary about a Tanzanian filmmaker's search for his family roots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLgmO_gyAaE "The Encounter," a short about "a young white woman on a search for inner peace, [who] gets stuck in an elevator with an older African man": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCkWB5Vc7_k Then there's "Umkhungo," a short film by a Johannesburg director that weds Hollywood and popular South African beliefs about the supernatural: http://youtu.be/D2gBqOsZm0k There seems to be a few films with themes on gay beauty competitions in Cape Town. We've blogged here about "Glitterboys and Ganglands." Now there's "Sisterhood," a film about 3 farmworkers who dream of acceptance and winning a local drag competition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtEMrX9p5cs The documentary "Blood in the Mobile":

Director Franck Piasecki Poulsen embarks on a personal mission to uncover the origin of the minerals in his Nokia cell phone. Navigating the bureaucracy, corruption, and dangers of eastern Congo, he arrives at Bisie, one of the largest and most notorious illegal mines in the region, where armed groups maintain tight control and inhumane conditions, and child labor runs rampant. Determined to know if his cell phone is funding conflict in Congo, Poulsen works his way into Nokia's corporate offices, where he confronts executives about their mineral supply chain.

Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQhlLuBwOtE