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Articles 1 - 20 of 20

Full-Text Articles in African Languages and Societies

Cinema, Black Suffering, And Theodicy: Modern God, Terry Lindvall Apr 2024

Cinema, Black Suffering, And Theodicy: Modern God, Terry Lindvall

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Shayne Lee, Cinema, Black Suffering, and Theodicy: Modern God (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022).


Bravo Burkina!, John C. Lyden Jan 2023

Bravo Burkina!, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Bravo, Burkina! (2022), directed by Walé Oyéjidé.


Mami Wata, John C. Lyden Jan 2023

Mami Wata, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Mami Wata (2023), directed by C.J. "Fiery" Obasi.


The Bible As Relic, Fetish Or Talisman In Nollywood Films: A Semiotic Perspective, Floribert Patrick C. Endong Apr 2022

The Bible As Relic, Fetish Or Talisman In Nollywood Films: A Semiotic Perspective, Floribert Patrick C. Endong

Journal of Religion & Film

Many Nollywood Christian films tap into a plurality of myths and idiosyncrasies prevailing in Nigeria in particular and the Christendom in general. Some of these myths and idiosyncrasies revolve around the perceived magical powers of the Bible, particularly the Holy Book’s ability to neutralize or prevent the designs of paranormal and satanic entities. In line with such Christian myths, many Nollywood Christianity-based films deploy various typologies of artifacts, signs and special effects to represent the Bible as an object which is more than a mere carrier of holy scriptures and the voice of God. In this paper, attention is given …


Nanny, Sheila J. Nayar Apr 2022

Nanny, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Nanny (2022), directed by Nikyatu Jusu.


Films For The Colonies: Cinema And The Preservation Of The British Empire, Thomas Barker Mar 2021

Films For The Colonies: Cinema And The Preservation Of The British Empire, Thomas Barker

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Tom Rice, Films for the Colonies: Cinema and the Preservation of the British Empire (University of California Press, 2019).


Farewell Amor, John C. Lyden Jan 2020

Farewell Amor, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Farewell Amor (2020), directed by Ekwa Msangi.


This Is Not A Burial, It's A Resurrection, John C. Lyden Jan 2020

This Is Not A Burial, It's A Resurrection, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection (2019), directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese.


Reel Pleasures: Cinema Audiences And Entrepreneurs In Twentieth Century Urban Tanzania, Katie Young Oct 2019

Reel Pleasures: Cinema Audiences And Entrepreneurs In Twentieth Century Urban Tanzania, Katie Young

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Laura Fair's Reel Pleasures: Cinema Audiences and Entrepreneurs in Twentieth Century Urban Tanzania.


Trickster Ambivalence In Kwaw Ansah’S Praising The Lord Plus One, Adwoa Opoku-Agyemang Dec 2018

Trickster Ambivalence In Kwaw Ansah’S Praising The Lord Plus One, Adwoa Opoku-Agyemang

Journal of Religion & Film

Kwaw Ansah’s film Praising the Lord Plus One revolves around a crooked charismatic preacher. This paper examines him as one of the manifestations of the West African trickster. Though the figure of the trickster is bound to West African folktales, his familiar, contradictory and ultimately funny features transcend the oral tale to manifest in other media. The article examines Gabriel’s self-transformation into a miracle-maker, his utilization of that identity, and his unmaking. It looks at how biblical exegesis and Christian rites, while apparently major aspects of the film, are reduced to marketing tools for sustaining the trickster ethos. The paper …


Dialectics Of Tradition And Memory In Black Panther, Sailaja Krishnamurti Mar 2018

Dialectics Of Tradition And Memory In Black Panther, Sailaja Krishnamurti

Journal of Religion & Film

This is one of a series of film reviews of Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler.


“Hi Auntie”: A Paradox Of Hip Hop Socio-Political Resistance In Killmonger, Daniel White Hodge Mar 2018

“Hi Auntie”: A Paradox Of Hip Hop Socio-Political Resistance In Killmonger, Daniel White Hodge

Journal of Religion & Film

This is one of a series of film reviews of Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler.


The Semi-Anti-Apocalypse Of Black Panther, Ken Derry Mar 2018

The Semi-Anti-Apocalypse Of Black Panther, Ken Derry

Journal of Religion & Film

This is one of a series of films reviews of Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler.


Black Panther As Spirit Trip, Laurel Zwissler Mar 2018

Black Panther As Spirit Trip, Laurel Zwissler

Journal of Religion & Film

This is one of a series of film reviews of Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler. This review analyzes engagement with the movie as a religious experience and considers some political implications of both its storyline and reception. In particular, the piece focuses on constructions of race, especially in relationship to Africa and African Americans, as well as practical tensions around commodifying dissent.


Racism And Capitalism In Black Panther, Kyle Derkson Mar 2018

Racism And Capitalism In Black Panther, Kyle Derkson

Journal of Religion & Film

This is one of a series of film reviews of Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler.


The Ancestral Lands Of Black Panther And Killmonger Unburied, A. David Lewis Mar 2018

The Ancestral Lands Of Black Panther And Killmonger Unburied, A. David Lewis

Journal of Religion & Film

This is one of a series of film reviews of Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler.


Ancestors Change Constantly: Subversive Religious Colonial Deconstruction In The Religion Of Black Panther, Jon Ivan Gill Mar 2018

Ancestors Change Constantly: Subversive Religious Colonial Deconstruction In The Religion Of Black Panther, Jon Ivan Gill

Journal of Religion & Film

This is one of a series of film reviews of Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler.


I Am Not A Witch, William L. Blizek Jan 2018

I Am Not A Witch, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of I am not a Witch (2017), directed by Rungano Nyoni.


A Fight Over Souls: Documentary Films On The Rwandan Genocide With A Christian Theme, Tommy Gustafsson Sep 2017

A Fight Over Souls: Documentary Films On The Rwandan Genocide With A Christian Theme, Tommy Gustafsson

Journal of Religion & Film

The 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda have spawned over 150 feature films and feature-length documentaries, making it into the second most audio-visually recreated genocide after the Holocaust. Within this large body of historical films a subgenre have emerged with a distinctive Christian theme. This article explores these Christian themed documentary films about the Rwandan genocide and positions them within a film historical perspective as well as analyzes and contextualizes them as a subgenre of films about the Rwandan genocide within films about genocide in general. Of note are how memory and historiography are used, and the links between …


God Loves Uganda, John C. Lyden Jan 2013

God Loves Uganda, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of God Loves Uganda (2013) directed by Roger Ross Williams.