''I Dreamed of Africa'' is a 2000 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Hugh Hudson Hugh Hudson (born 25 August 1936) is an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in films. He directed the ...

, starring

Kim Basinger Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress and former fashion model. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film and television, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Glo ...

. It also stars

Vincent Perez Vincent Perez (born 10 June 1964) is a Swiss actor, director and photographer. He played the title character, Ashe Corven, in '' The Crow: City of Angels'', and starred in '' Queen of the Damned'', playing Marius de Romanus. Some of his films i ...

Eva Marie Saint Eva Marie Saint (born July 4, 1924) is an American actress of film, theatre and television. In a career spanning over 70 years, she has won an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Brit ...

, Garrett Strommen, Liam Aiken and

Daniel Craig Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English-American actor who gained international fame playing the secret agent James Bond in the film series, beginning with '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and in four further instalments, up to '' ...

. It is based on the

autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction. Bec ...

'' I Dreamed of Africa'' by Kuki Gallmann, an Italian writer who moved to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

and became involved in

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

work. It was screened in the ''

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

'' section at the

2000 Cannes Film Festival The 53rd Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 25 May 2000. French film director, screenwriter, and producer Luc Besson was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film '' Dancer in the Dark'' by Lars von Trier. The ...

. This film was both a commercial and critical failure.

Synopsis

Italy, 1972. Kuki Gallmann (

), a divorced Italian socialite, changes her life after surviving a car crash. She marries Paolo (

), a man she does not know well, and moves with him and her young son to Kenya, where they start a ranch. She faces many problems, both physical and emotional, that will test her.

Cast

as Kuki Gallmann *

as Paolo Gallmann *

as Franca *

as Declan Fielding * Liam Aiken & Garrett Strommen - Emanuele (age 7 and age 17) *

Lance Reddick Lance Reddick (born December 31, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Cedric Daniels in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in '' Bosch'' (2014–2020) ...

as Simon * Connie Chiume as Wanjiku * Shannon Esra as Siri

Soundtrack

This includes ''"Voi che sapete",'' sung by

Brigitte Fassbaender Brigitte Fassbaender (; born 3 July 1939), is a German mezzo-soprano opera singer and a stage director. From 1999 to 2012 she was intendant (managing director) of the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, Austria. She holds the title Kammersäng ...

(mezzo-soprano), with the

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its ...

, István Kertész conducting, from Act 2 of the opera ''Le nozze di Figaro'' ('' The Marriage of Figaro''), K. 492, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This was one of the last films scored by acclaimed composer

Maurice Jarre Maurice-Alexis Jarre (; 13 September 1924 – 28 March 2009) allmusic Biography/ref> was a French composer and conductor. Although he composed several concert works, Jarre is best known for his film scores, particularly for his collaborations wit ...

Reception

The film, on the whole, was not received well, despite praise for Kim Basinger's performance. It was given a 10% ranking on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 102 reviews. Basinger earned a

Golden Raspberry Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...

nomination for Worst Actress (also for ''

Bless the Child ''Bless the Child'' is a 2000 supernatural horror film directed by Chuck Russell and starring Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Angela Bettis, Rufus Sewell, Christina Ricci, and Holliston Coleman. It follows a woman who discovers that her niece, w ...

''). It was also a huge financial

flop In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...

; its budget was $50 million while worldwide gross was less than $15 million.

References

External links

* * * * *
''I Dreamed of Africa''
at

{{Hugh Hudson 2000 films 2000s adventure drama films 2000 biographical drama films 2000s romance films American biographical drama films American adventure drama films Drama films based on actual events 2000s English-language films Films about death Films about families Films about snakes Films based on biographies Films set in Kenya Films shot in Italy Films shot in Kenya Films shot in South Africa Films set in the 1970s Films set in 1972 Films set in the 1980s Films set in 1980 Films set in 1983 Films directed by Hugh Hudson Films scored by Maurice Jarre Columbia Pictures films 2000 drama films Biographical films about writers 2000s American films