To be recognized might be the most fundamental need of being human. Yet the means and methods for seeking it differ radically, especially among artists. As some of the movies at the 9^th NMFF 2019 have shown, recognition can become a matter of survival.

When Peter Guyer and Thomas Burkhalter were filming Contradict, they worked with female Ghanaian creatives to assemble a portrait of a generation tackling the post-colonial struggles, and how they see feminism after it gained an increasing global presence.

Since hip hop’s birth, samples of politicized words have resonated across genres, be it punk anti-establishment, jaunty new-wave experimentations, or EDM’s uplifting calls for unity. Lola Baraldi traces out music that gives political words a new meaning.

«People in Ghana have gone overboard with religion, politics, and corruption», says FOKN Bois' Wanlov the Kubolor. A critical investigation of the relevance of religion and churches in Ghana.

The musician Ata Ebtekar, aka Sote, is helping to build an experimental music scene from Iran and Iranians abroad: contemporary music that engages with tropes of the past.

Country Music has been long associated with a strong focus on its country of origin. When Peter Guyer and Thomas Burkhalter were filming their «Contradict» in Ghana, they discovered that it is very popular in West Africa.

The Afro Celt Sound System are a musical collective who, in their own words, are a «genuine and positive example of how multiculturalism can thrive and survive in these troubled times».

The Nature Loves Courage Festival in Greece foregrounds female-identifying, queer and non-binary artists and contributes to the development of what is known as post-club culture. What can this festival tell us about today's club culture in general?