Now Playing in Africa Trivia Quiz

Answer: Apartheid

Over 1 million stranded aliens (that resembled life-sized prawns) were stewarded into a camp called District 9 on the edge of Johannesburg. The camp quickly became a slum and the aliens were despised by humans who demanded their exclusion. The parallels with the Apartheid policy were quite apparent: There was a total separation of Aliens and citizens with no cultural integration at all. Multinational United (MNU), a huge weapons manufacturer was brought in to move them to a new area outside the city. In the process, the son-in-law of the MNU chief, Wikus, was accidentally sprayed with alien fuel and he started to mutate into a prawn. The government, realising how valuable such a person is to understand prawn physiology, starts a manhunt so Wikus hides in the only place he won't be found - District 9. Some Aliens escape promising to return in three years to reverse Wikus' mutation. We never find out if his humanity is restored.

While this science fiction action thriller film was directed by first-time director Neill Blomkamp who also wrote the script, the fact it was produced by Peter Jackson, probably convinced Tri-Star to throw some money at it. The resulting viral marketing campaign probably helped in the movie netting $210 million at the box office. The movie received four Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1 who remembers this movie with both horror and admiration.

Answer: Idi Amin

Amin was the megalomaniac dictator of Uganda, serving as the third president from 1971 to 1979. He was responsible for thousands of deaths of his countrymen.
He was a big man, and at one stage was the light heavyweight national boxing champion. He was a soldier, who rapidly worked his way up the ranks, until he was in a position to overthrow the incumbent, Milton Obote. He gave himself the ridiculously grandiose title of "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshall Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular", and also claimed to be the Scottish king!
The movie centred on that claim, telling the story of a Scottish missionary who innocently became part of Amin's entourage. Amin claimed that he was so impressed by the historical Scottish resistance to British dominance over the centuries, that he declared himself king of Scotland, despite never having been there. The movie was adapted from the book of the same name, released by author Giles Foden, in 1998. The movie won a lot of awards, including a Best Actor Oscar for Whitaker.

Phoenix Rising's ozzz2002 overthrew this question into the quiz for the Red Crew.

Answer: Klaus Maria Brandauer

Though not exactly a household name in Hollywood, Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer was director Sydney Pollack's only choice for the role of Baron Bror Blixen, who enters a marriage of convenience with young Karen Dinesen (Meryl Streep) before moving to Kenya with her. His riveting performance as the charming but faithless Bror (as well as his brother Hans, Karen's former lover) earned Brandauer an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and a Golden Globe in the same category. The film won a total of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Despite bearing the same title as Karen Blixen's 1937 memoir, "Out of Africa" the movie also contains material from other sources. In addition, many key details of the author's life in Kenya were omitted or changed - including those pertaining to her doomed romance with Denys Finch-Hatton (Robert Redford). The movie, however, was extremely successful at the box office, and - as mentioned above - was nominated for a large number of prestigious awards.

Lady Nym of Phoenix Rising's Red Crew wrote this question, remembering that "Out of Africa" was one of her mother's favourite films.

Answer: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Idris Elba starred as Nelson Mandela in the film, 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'. The movie was based on Mandela's autobiography of the same name and spanned his life from childhood, through a 27-year imprisonment, to his eventual election as the first President of South Africa. Nelson Mandela was a lifelong activist of social justice.
The film was a not considered a box office smash. Citing possible reasons for its lack of success, the screenwriter, William Nicholson chalked it up to the film being released within months after Mr. Mandela's death and one year after '12 Years a Slave'. Other critics hailed the actors' performances but thought Elba's accent and West African descent versus Mandela's was a stretch. The film was nominated for a handful of awards, winning a Golden Globe for Best Original Song-Motion Picture.

Jaknginger of Phoenix Rising stretched this question into the Red Crew's team quiz.

Answer: Chess

Starring Madina Nalwanga as Phiona Mutesi, Lupita Nyong'o as her mother, and David Oyelowo as her coach, "The Queen of Katwe" is a 2016 film set in Uganda. It follows Phiona as she is introduced to chess and soon becomes a competent player. She is entered into a tournament at an affluent school, the surroundings of which she finds intimidating, but she overcomes this and wins first place. As her involvement in competitions continues, she hopes that it will enable her and her family to escape their current life. She succeeds in taking her team from Uganda all the way to Russia, becoming a Grandmaster in the process.
It was filmed in Kampala, Uganda and Johannesburg and only took 54 days to shoot. It was released to critical acclaim, and it was nominated for and won many awards, including an Academy Award for Most Promising Actor for Madina Nalwanga.

Red Crew's smpdit has a very limited chess ability but loves looking at unusual chess sets.

Answer: Canadian

Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn were the stars of the 1951 movie "The African Queen". In the book that the film was based on, the character of Allnut was English, bestowed with a thick Cockney accent. Mr Bogart declined to attempt to speak in that accent, and the producers rewrote the character to be Canadian. Early in the film Katherine Hepburn's character calls Allnut "Wretched little man. What indifference" The response "He's a Canadian" came back, to explain his attitude towards the situation in Europe. The film was set in German East Africa at the start of WWI, an area that at that time encompassed modern day Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. It was partially filmed, unusually, in Uganda and The Congo. This did mean the crew and cast were subject to bouts of sickness as the living conditions were limited to say the least. The rest of filming, mainly those requiring immersion in water, took place in studios in Middlesex UK for safety reasons.

Red Crew's smpdit thinks Humphrey Bogart was right to not attempt Cockney, she refers you to Dick Van Dyke.

Answer: Casablanca

Despite being named for the Moroccan city, "Casablanca" was shot almost entirely on the Warner Brothers set in Burbank, California - the Van Nuys Airport was used for the scene when the Nazi major arrives, but even the waiting airplane was staged at the studio. The film follows the owner of the local "gin joint," Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) as he gets caught up in the tensions between Nazi officers, desperate people trying to escape the Nazis, and the French police. Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) is Rick's former paramour who desperately needs letters of transit that Rick can provide - will he help her leave him in the lurch once again? The movie concludes with Rick telling Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) that he believes they are about to begin a beautiful friendship. The two actors were both nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, but neither won. The movie did garner three Oscars, for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Vichy France controlled southern Morocco before the Allies' Operation Torch. During their period of control, Jewish persecution increased. The occupation during WWII added fuel to the fire burning to establish Moroccan independence, which was finally established in 1955.

Player pusdoc of Phoenix Rising's Red Crew has never gotten on a plane to or from Casablanca, but she'll always have Paris.

Answer: Rwanda

The film is of course "Hotel Rwanda", which depicted a true story from the 1994 massacre of Tutsi natives by the government backed Hutu militia. Over 1000 people were sheltered from the genocide in the hotel. Cheadle was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance, as was Sophie Okenado, who portrayed his wife. Much of the movie was filmed in Kigali, Rwanda where the Hotel Milles Collines is situated. The hotel was built in 1973 by the Belgian airline, Sabena, who continued to own the property during the genocide. They have since sold it.

Player pusdoc of the Red Crew is still horrified that the world watched this unfold.

Answer: Born Free

"Born Free" by Joy Adamson tells of her and her husband's account of their time hand-raising a lioness (Elsa) in Kenya. The novel was adapted for the screen by then black-listed writer Lester Cole, and was directed by James Hill. With George Adamson acting as chief technical adviser, the movie showed the couple's struggle to hand-rear an orphaned lioness. Rather than surrender her to a zoo, Joy and George taught her to survive in the wild and she successfully joined an existing pride.

Receiving critical acclaim upon its release, "Born Free" showed the real struggle to survive in the wilds in all its glory, from territorial fights, to hunting and feeding and the reason why Elsa was orphaned in the first place.
Following the success of the film, McKenna and Travers became animal rights activists, and helped create the 'Born Free' Foundation'. In 1974, a 13-episode television series was released.

Phoenix Rising's leith90 may be a crazy cat lady, but is sure glad she doesn't have a lion roaming around the house and filling up the litter tray.

Answer: Mined in a war zone

Blood diamonds are so called because they are mined in a war zone and used to fund conflicts. This Zwick-directed film was set during a civil war in Africa, where many of the local people are forced to mine diamonds for the various factions. Soloman Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is one such local whose young son is conscripted by mercenaries as a child soldier. Vandy then finds a large pink diamond and hides it moments before the area is raided and he is arrested. He meets Danny Archer (DiCaprio), a diamond smuggler and they join forces. Archer will help find Vander's son in exchange for the diamond. "Blood Diamond" opened across the US and Canada in December 2006. At the 79th Academy Awards, the movie was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

Phoenix Rising's leith90 is quite partial to diamonds, but prefers them unbloodied thank you very much.