SILVER

The term "coconut head generation" originated as an insult targeting today's Nigerian 20-somethings, who have been sweepingly mischaracterized as lazy and apathetic. Reclaiming the term as an ironic self-moniker, a growing number of the nation's youth are instead proving themselves to be politically and morally engaged. In this invigorating observational documentary, Kinshasa-born, French-raised filmmaker Alain Kassanda (COLETTE AND JUSTIN, also screening in this year's festival) captures the words and emotions of students at the University of Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria. The country's first university, it was founded in 1948 and is still reckoning with its colonial British legacy. Here, students have begun a weekly film club, where screenings of work by such directors as Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, John Akomfrah and Med Hondo instigate intellectual conversation. Immersing himself with students engaged in spirited debates over contemporary Nigerian society's ever-present power imbalances and sometimes heated discussions around ethnicity, feminism and gender, Kassanda proves to be a forceful new voice in nonfiction by ceding the floor to a vibrant new generation. (Note adapted from New Directors/New Films.) DIR/SCR Alain Kassanda. France/Nigeria, 2023, color, 89 min. In English, Pidgin, Yoruba and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

No AFI Member passes accepted.