Rooms under threat
Initially named Abaine Madi Dzoudzou cultural center - from the name of a famous teacher of the island -, the current mahorais cinema was inaugurated in January 2020. It is located in the heart of the main town of the commune of Chirongui. Audiences can enjoy a program consisting of 4 to 5 different films each week for a hundred annual screenings, as well as a few national releases.
As for the former historic cinema of Mamoudzou, the aptly named Alpa Joe, it is unfortunately no longer in operation since 2017 due to work. The rehabilitation is still in progress.
Association initiatives to promote the cinema
A real cultural engine, the association Cine musafiri has the mission to promote cinema in Mayotte, but also throughout the Indian Ocean. Active for 10 years now, the association organizes open-air screenings in Bandrélé in particular, inviting directors to talk about their films. We recently welcomed Laurent Pantaleon from Reunion or Wally Fall from Martinique.
Note that Mayotte Film Office, in partnership with Cine Musafiri, launched in 2020 a call for applications for the very first fiction writing residency in Mayotte. This opportunity is for young local filmmakers and screenwriters who have the desire to complete a short film project. The Mayotte Film Office also publishes pan-African and Afro-diasporic film news via its Facebook account.
A taste for debate
In addition to the meetings initiated by Cine Musafiri, film-conferences are regularly organized at the initiative of certain schools such as the North High School in Mamoudzou. These events are open to students, of course, but also to outside spectators. For the students of the Cinema-Audiovisual section of the high school, it is obviously a great opportunity to exercise their eyes.
Local actors are thus anxious to transmit to young and old the taste for cinema through discussion and debate. Thus, the CEMEA, a national movement committed to education, regularly organizes "film-debates" at Tsararano, on themes such as "Parenthood".
Films shot in Mayotte
In terms of Mauritanian productions, there are few films that have been shown internationally. However, the film De l'amour sous la haine caused a sensation in 2018. Born from the collaboration of two directors: Patrick Jean Exenat, of Haitian origin, and Daouidar Saidali, born in Mayotte, the film was notably selected at the New York African Diaspora International film festival. The story tells of a love between a white woman and a black man and its complications.
The television film Paradis amers, directed by Christian Faure, broadcast on France 2, was adapted from the book Tout doit disparaître by Mikaël Ollivier. It tells the story of a teenager from the metropolis who, forced to follow his parents to Mayotte, discovers a whole new culture.
Mayotte, its mixed culture, its paradisiacal landscapes and its economic contradictions have inspired documentary filmmakers from the metropolis. Mayotte hip hop (r)evolution (2016) is a beautiful film by Nadja Harek that approaches the island through the prism of dance as a way to inhabit the territory. More recently, S'aimer à Mayotte by Laure Chatrefou takes a gentle look at the forms of love that exist on the island, where polygamy, though illegal, is still practiced.
