Africa Film WebMeeting


Message from: ArtMattan@aol.com (african-cinema-conference@xc.org)
About: African Diaspora Film Festival Program

Mon, 10 Nov 1997 06:26:06 -0800 (PST)

  • Next message: Mari Maasilta: "Re: Query: What films for teaching African humanities"
    Originally from: <ArtMattan@aol.com>
    Originally dated: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 06:26:06 -0800 (PST)

    FIFTH ANNUAL COMTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIASPORA FILM FESTIVAL - NOVEMBER 28 TO
    DECEMBER 14 in NEW YORK

    FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS BELOW. FOR COMPLETE FILM LISTING AND SCHEDULE CONSULT
    OUR WEB SITE ON http://128.59.90.125/

    U.S PREMIERES

    BITTER SUGAR
    Guadeloupe, 1997, 90 min, drama, French w/ English sub-titles, by Christian
    Lara, dir. - Christian Lara is one of the most prolific filmmakers in the
    Caribbean with a body of work that comprises some ten films. Bitter Sugar is
    a historic fiction that puts colonialism on trial. (Sunday, Dec. 7 at 3:05pm
    and Thursday, Dec 11 at 1:00pm)

    THE 11TH COMMANDMENT
    Guinea/France; 1996; 89 min.; mystery-drama; French w/ English subtitles;
    Mama Keita, dir. A gripping thriller full of mystery and intrigue
    representative of today's African cinema. (Monday, Dec 8 at 9:00pm and
    Tuesday, Dec 9 at 2:00pm)

    DAKAN/DESTINY
    Guinea; 1997; 93 min.; drama; French-Guinean w/ English subtitles; Mohammed
    Camara, dir. - Twenty-year olds Manga and Sory are gay and in love. While
    Manga's widowed mother refuses to believe it, Sory's father is disgraced by
    it. The lovers are forced apart so they can lead a "normal" life (Saturday,
    Dec 6 at 9:00pm; Tuesday, Dec 9 at 6:30pm and Thursday, Dec 11 at 3:00pm)

    LE DAMIER/THE DRAUGHTMEN'S CLASH
    Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) & Gabon; 1996; 40 min,; Comedy;
    French w/ English subtitles; Bakupa Kanyinda Balufu, dir. - A parody of
    African dictators, this film tells the story of the president of a
    fictitious
    African nation who spends a sleepless night playing draughts with a vagabond
    who is claimed to be the "all-around champion". (Monday, Dec 1 at 8:00pm
    and Wednesday, Dec 3 at 7:30pm)

    THOMAS SANKARA
    Democratic Republic of Congo, 1991, 26min, documentary, French w/ English
    subtitles, Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda, Dir. - Captain Thomas Sankara was the
    leader of the Burkinabe Revolution. In the former Upper Volta known today
    as Burkina Faso, a group of men decided to launch a revolution that would
    enable the country "to accept the responsibility of its reality and its
    destiny
    with human dignity". (Monday, Dec 1 at 8:00pm and Wednesday, Dec 3 at
    7:30pm)

    TROPIQUE NORD
    Canada; 1994; 52 min.; documentary; French w/ English subtitles; Jean-Daniel
    Lafond, dir. - The film is a philosophical tale focusing on the issues of
    ethnicity and racism which are at the very heart of the debate surrounding
    the future of Quebec as viewed through the eyes of a journalist of Haitian
    origin. (Sunday, November 30 at 3:00pm and Tuesday, Dec 2 at 7:10pm)

    NY PREMIERES

    BLACK DJU
    Cape Verde & Luxembourg; 1995; 80 min; drama; Portuguese & French w/ English
    subtitles; Pol Cruchten, dir. - The Cape Verdian singer Cesaria Evora is
    the mother of Dju, a young man who leaves his country, Cape Verde, in search

    of his father, a migrant African worker in Luxembourg. Dju encounters an
    alcoholic cop (veteran actor Philippe Leotard) who becomes his partner in
    this tale of love and friendship. (Friday, Nov 28 at 5:30pm; Thursday, Dec 4
    at 7:10pm and Saturday, Dec 6 at 5:10pm)

    ESSADA
    Tunisia, 1996, 100 min, drama, Arabic/French with English sub-titles,
    Mohamed
    Zran, Dir. - Nidal a boy from Essa'da, a poor neighborhood in Tunis, meets
    an artist in search of a source of inspiration. What follows is a look at a
    social reality rarely depicted in Tunisian cinema. (Thursday, Dec 4 at 5:
    10pm and Saturday, Dec 6 at 7:10pm)

    THROUGH THE DOOR OF NO RETURN
    USA,, 1997, 80min, documentary, English, Shirikiana Aina, Dir. - A people
    with no memory of their past is a people with no identity. Shirikiana Aina
    leads us into a journey to recover the common past of slavery shared by
    people of African descent in the New World. This film continues the
    reflection upon slavery started with Sankofa made by Shirikiana's partner
    Haile Gerima . (Friday, Dec 5 at 8:30pm and Monday, Dec 8 at 5:00pm)

    MACHAHO
    Algeria; 1995; 91 min.; drama; Berber w/ English subtitles; Belkacem
    Hadjadj,
    dir. - Arezki, a farmer, nurses back to life a dying young man, Labri, only
    to later feel betrayed and humiliated when the young man begins a
    relationship with his daughter and gets her pregnant. Arezki searches far
    and
    wide to avenge his honor. (Wednesday, Dec 3 at 5:30pm and Monday, Dec 8
    at 7:00pm)

    MAITE
    Spain/Cuba; 1994; 92 min.; Comedy; Spanish with English subtitles; Eneko
    Olasagasti and Carlos Zabala, dir - Complications arise when two Basque
    brothers traveling from Spain to Cuba on a business trip meet five year old
    Maite, a business associate=92s daughter with lots of smarts and curiosity,
    who gets in the way and triggers a serious change of plan. (Monday, Dec 1
    at 10:00pm and Friday, Dec 5 at 2:15pm)

    SANTERA
    Venezuela; 1996; 97 min.; drama; Spanish w/English subtitles; Solveig
    Hoogesteijn, dir. - Paula, a Spanish doctor is sent to Venezuela to evaluate
    conditions in the penitentiary system. She meets up with Soledad who was
    arrested for killing her brother-in-law by casting a spell on him. Paula
    investigates and discovers Soledad=92s secret past, her occult powers, and
    ancestral myths. (Friday, Dec 5 at 10:30pm; Sunday, Dec 7 at 5:05pm and
    Wednesday, Dec 10 at 5:00pm)

    TAAFE FANG/ "SKIRT POWER"
    Mali; 1997; 95 min.; Comedy; in Kaado w/ English subtitles; Adama Drabo,
    dir. - Director Adama Drabo has devised a gender-bending farce set among the
    18th Century Dogon to make some serious points about the status of women in
    Africa today. This irresistible tale about a comic revolution in which
    women's and men's roles are reversed was, in part, inspired by the actual
    role women played in Mali's 1991 revolution. (California Newsreel) Winner
    Jury=92s Special Prize FESPACO 1997. (Sunday, Dec 30 at 7:30pm; Wednesday,
    Dec 3 at 2:30pm and Friday, Dec 5 at 6:30pm)

    CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S FILMS

    LE MAGIQUE
    Tunisia; 1994; 90min; drama; French w/English subtitles; Ezzedine Fazai,
    Dir.
    - A boy left alone in a Tunisian Village is inspired by the first motion
    picture he sees and creates the magic world of cinema in a little box.

    NIGHTJOHN
    US; 1996; 90min; drama; English; Charles Burnett, Dir. Nightjohn tells the
    story of a legendary slave who gives up freedom in order to teach fellow
    slaves how to read and write forbidden fruit in the antebellum South. The
    film is narrated by Sarny, a young slave who tells the story of her life
    and that of the man who opened up her world by giving her the great gift of
    literacy.(Sunday, Nov 30 at 1pm; Monday, Dec 1 at 12 noon; Thursday, Dec.
    4 at 12 noon; Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 12 noon; and Thursday, Dec 11 at 10am).

    ASHAKARA
    Togo/France; 1993; 87min; action/comedy; French w/English subtitles; Gerard
    Louvin, Dir. The film centers on a local homeopathic cure for a virus that
    has crept into Africa. Dr. Kara, a respected medical researcher, literally
    goes back to his roots in a remote Togo village to find the remedy. When
    a Swiss pharmaceutical company gets wind of the African Discovery, it
    dispatches a company representative to secure commercial rights. (Friday,
    Dec 5 at 12 noon).

    ONCE UPON A TIME - WHEN WE WERE COLORED
    US; 1996; 113min; drama; English; Tim Reid, Dir. This film tells the story
    of a little boy who is raised by his great-grandparents and, after them, his
    great-aunt in the bosom of the 40's South. He comes of age well-equipped to
    cope not only with the usual stress of the transition to adulthood but also
    with the bruising challenge of making a life in a racist society. (Friday,
    Nov. 28 1pm; Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 12 noon; Monday, Dec 8 at 12 noon and
    Wednesday, Dec 10 at 12 noon).

    SPECIAL EVENTS

    OPENING NIGHT
    THE DINNER - US PREMIERE
    USA, 1997, 86 min, drama, English, Bernie Casey, Dir. - Three
    African-American men gathered around a table in a very elegant restaurant
    discuss about the Black experience in the world in general but particular in
    the United States. Bernie Casey directorial debut is a powerful analysis
    on the American society. (Friday, Nov 28 at 9:30pm)

    BRAZILIAN NIGHT
    QUEM MATOU PIXOTE? / WHO KILLED PIXOTE? -
    NEW YORK PREMIERE
    Brazil; 1996; 120 min.; drama; Portuguese w/ English Subtitles; Jose Joff=
    ily, dir. - Fernando Ramos was a boy from a poor family that lived in
    Diadema, an industrial town on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. By the age of
    eleven, he was
    already on the streets accompanying his mother who sold lottery tickets.
    However, out of the blue, a single event was to change the course of his
    life. (Tuesday, Dec 2 at 9:30pm)

    EGYPTIAN NIGHT
    NASSER - NEW YORK PREMIERE
    Egypt; 1996; 142min; drama; Arabic w/ English subtitles; Mohamed Fadel, dir
    - This film gives an idea of what it means for a small Middle Eastern nation
    to
    dare to defy the worlds' superpowers, the United States and its' Western
    allies in particular. In 1996, Egypt=92s then president Gamal Abdel Nasser
    orchestrated the nationalization of the Suez Canal, which cost the lives of
    120,000 Egyptians from a population of only 4 million. (Thursday, Dec 4 at
    9:10pm)

    ETHIOPIAN NIGHT -
    TUMULT - NEW YORK PREMIERE
    Ethiopia; 1996; 117 min.; drama; Amharic w/ English subtitles; Yemane I.
    Demissie, dir. - This film is a dramatic feature film about Yoseph, an
    aristocratic-turned revolutionary who secretly masterminds a coup d'etat
    against the Ethiopian monarchy in 1960. When the coup fails, Yoseph finds
    himself a fugitive. During his desperate flight, his last hope is Dejen, a
    servant who was once his childhood playmate. (Sunday, Dec 7 at 8:00pm)

    DELUGE
    Ethiopia.; 1996; 61min; documentary; Amharic w/ English Subtitles; Salem
    Mekuria, dir. - This film is visual meditation on one of the worst human
    rights violations in African history. Set in Ethiopia between 1974 and 1991,
    it explores the story of the students whose "Revolution" and their lives
    ended with a brutal military dictatorship. (Sunday, Dec 7 at 8:00pm)

    PUERTO RICAN NIGHT
    MANOS A LA OBRA: THE STORY OF OPERATION BOOTSTRAP
    Puerto Rico; 59 min.; 1983; documentary; English; Pedro Rivera and Susan
    Zeig, dir. -
    This film examines Puerto Rico's Operation Bootstrap, the highly vaunted
    economic development plan undertaken in the 1950=92s to provide a role model
    for economic development throughout Latin America.
    (Tuesday, Dec 9 at 9:00pm)

    ALMA PERDIDA/LOST SOUL
    U.S.; 1992; 37 min.; drama; English; Pete Resto, dir - Jesus Quinana, a
    17-year-old Puerto Rican boy from a loving and stable family never had a
    desire to try drugs. However, from the perilous influences of a "friend," he
    finds himself trapped in a world of drugs and battling his addiction to
    heroin. (Tuesday, Dec 9 at 9:00pm)

    VANESSA, THE ORANGE THROWER - NEW YORK PREMIERE
    U.S; 1993; 28 min.; Satire; English; Kimberly Caviness, dir - This film is
    about Catholic guilt, hormones and a fourteen-year old girl name Vanessa
    Martinez who lies about being pregnant to get attention. Her family and
    community become convinced that it=92s an act of Immaculate Conception
    before she is forced to confront her personal and cultural identity.
    (Tuesday, Dec 9 at 9:00pm)

    SENEGALESE NIGHT
    ROCKING POPENGUINE - NEW YORK PREMIERE
    Senegal, 1993.90min, Comedy In French with English sub-titles, Moussa Sene
    Absa, Dir. - With a good sense of humor, the director introduces us to a
    group of youngster very much in tune with their time and cultural changes.
    Rocking Popenguine, a film that is a fond evocation of a gone era, is a
    celebration of the ability that young people from all over possess to blend
    elements of different cultures. (Thursday, Dec 11 at 8:00pm)

    LE FRANC
    Senegal, 1994. 46min, comedy, Wolof and French with English sub-titles,
    Djibril Diop Mambeti,Dir. -. The devaluation of the African Franc brought
    many changes into the lives of people in Senegal and other countries in
    Western Africa. Djibril Diop Mambeti leads us into the life of Marigot, a
    hapless musician who wins the Lotto. This genial short film resonates with
    wry intelligence and political comment. (Thursday, Dec 11 at 8:00pm)

    PANEL DISCUSSIONS SERIES
    Teachers College, Columbia University . 525 West 120th Street . Milbank
    Chapel Cosponsored by the Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation at
    Teachers College, Columbia University

    Friday, December 12, 1997 . 5:30pm
    CONVERSATION WITH SERGIO GIRAL

    Friday, December 12, 1997 . 7:30pm
    WORKS BY A NEW GENERATION OF AFRICAN FILMMAKERS

    Saturday, December 13, 1997 . 2pm
    REPRESENTATION OF THE CARIBBEAN IDENTITY IN FILMS

    Saturday, December 13, 1997 . 4pm
    THE CHALLENGE OF DISTRIBUTING BLACK FILMS IN THE USA

    Saturday, December 13, 1993 . 6pm
    Catered reception opened to all attendees of panel discussions

    PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE

    RETROSPECTIVE OF FILMS BY SERGIO GIRAL
    Sergio Giral is one of Cuban most important and renowned filmmaker. Director
    of award-winning films, he made more than twenty shorts and documentaries,
    and six feature films. His unique style provides the best achievements in
    filmmaking, scriptwrting, and video production. He is well known, in
    particular, for his portrayal of the role of Africans and Africans
    descendants in the life of his country from the days of slavery to the
    present.

    Films in Retrospective
    MARIA ANTONIA
    1990) (feature film) (100') screening on Tue, Dec 9 at 4:00pm Director will
    be present for a Q&A after screening

    RANCHEADOR/SLAVE HUNTER
    (1976) (feature film) (95') screening on Sat, Nov 29 at 2:00pm and Tue, Dec
    2 at 5:00pm

    THE OTHER FRANCISCO
    (1975) (feature film) (100') screening on Sat, Dec. 8 at 7:00pm Director
    will be present for a Q&A after screening

    CLOSING CONCERT
    Sunday, December 14, at 3pm. Miller Theater - Broadway & 116th St.
    Cosponsored by the Miller Theater, Columbia University School of the Arts
    Miller Theater will host the closing event of the festival, a Gala Concert
    featuring leading female artists from the African Diaspora including: Young
    African American R&B group DIVA; Dancer and Choreographer Alexis Carole from
    Martinique and the three acclaimed African vocalists: Antoinette Allany,
    Alice Sofa and Chantal Taiba.
    Tickets $20 and $15. Tickets/info ArtMattan Productions (212)749-6020

    NEW INITIATIVE - CADFF UPTOWN
    CADFF UPTOWN was conceived as a community outreach program to serve the
    Upper West Side communities and feature screenings at the Harlem Victoria V
    Theatre
    (125th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues) and Columbia's Miller Theatre
    (116th Street and Broadway). In collaboration with the Center for Outreach
    and Innovation at Teachers College, Columbia University; Morningside Area
    Alliance; and the Miller Theatre School of the Arts at Columbia University.

    TICKETS
    FILM ADMISSION: FESTIVAL PASSES ARE $85, TICKETS ARE $8 PER SCREENING
    A PASS GIVES YOU ACCESS TO ALL REGULAR SCREENINGS DURING THE FESTIVAL AND TO
    THE PANEL DISCUSSIONS
    TICKETS FOR OPENING NIGHT , SPECIAL NIGHTS, AND FOR CLOSING CONCERT MUST BE
    PURCHASED SEPARATELY
    FOR CHILDREN'S/YOUNG PEOPLE FILMS TICKETS ARE $5 AT 10AM AND 12 NOON
    SCHOOL GROUPS ARE WELCOME AND DISCOUNT GROUPS AVAILABLE
    PROGRAMS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

    For more information and a festival schedule call (212) 749-6020
    =====
    PS. Any spelling and typo errors may be my fault. I had to rework this a
    LOT as it wasn't pure clean text and had lots of line/wrapping, =, and =92
    etc errors
    cheers, Steve Smith, moderator



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