***Films from Chad, Senegal, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, South Africa and more.***
***Including an Ousmane Sembene Retrospective: Ten films from one of Africa's most celebrated filmmakers.***
OPENING NIGHT
Washington, DC Premiere of EZRA.
Screening of EZRA and African cuisine reception catered by RED CALABASH: $20; All other films, $9.75 except -- IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA, which is FREE and HIP HOP REVOLUTION, $5. To purchase tickets on line at no extra charge go to: www.AFI.com/Silver.
afrikafe and its partners are proud to host an opening night reception for the fourth annual New African Films Festival. The vibrancy of African filmmaking from all corners of the continent will be on display throughout the weekend, including Washington, DC premieres of FESPACO winner EZRA, JUJU FACTORY and U.S. Premiere of TARTINA CITY. Special appearance by actor and activist Danny Glover, and director Charles Burnett with NAMIBIA: THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION
OPENING NIGHT screening of EZRA; Introduction by Actor Activist Danny Glover, reception to follow, 7 PM; $20
This moving film was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2007 Festival Panafricain du Cinema á Ouagadougou (Africa¹s largest and most prestigious film event) and selected for International Critics Week at Cannes. One morning on the way to school, seven- year-old Ezra is kidnapped by rebels and for the next ten years remains in the jungle as a child soldier. Now a disturbed young man, Ezra finds himself in front of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone where he is asked to speak of his brutal attack on a village. As his mute sister listens in horror, she finally reveals a secret she has kept hidden from him. DIR/SCR Newton I. Aduaka; SCR Alain-Michel Blanc; PROD Gorune Aprikian and Michel Loro. France/Nigeria, 2007, color, 103 min.
JUJU FACTORY, Saturday, March 8, 1 PM; $9.75
Best Film, Zanzibar International Film Festival JUJU FACTORY--Kongo is a struggling author living in the Matonge district of Brussels, an area mainly populated by African immigrants. His editor wants him to deliver a traveler¹s handbook targeting Europeans looking for accessible exoticism, but Kongo wants to investigate the lives of the people around him and the complicated history between Belgium and the Congo. DIR/SCR Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda. Democratic Republic of Congo, 2006, color, 97 min. In French with English subtitles.
FARO, Goddess of the Waters, Saturday, March 8, 3 PM; $9.75
In this assured debut from Salif Traoré, a former assistant to filmmakers Souleymane Cissé and Abderrahmane Sissako, Engineer Fili Traoré returns to his rural village in Mali many years after having been cast out as the child of an unwed mother to find his father and initiate a waterworks project. But his arrival coincides with the drowning of a young villager. The elders determine that Faro, the water spirit, has been angered by Traoré¹s return and the only way to appease her is with sacrifice.
DIR/SCR/PROD Salif Traoré; SCR Olivier Lorelle; PROD Bärbel Mauch, Daniel Morin, Ismaël Ouédraogo and Philippe Quinsac. Mali/ rance/Canada/Burkina Faso/Germany, 2007, color, 96 min. In Bambara with English subtitles.
CLOUDS OVER CONAKRY, Saturday, March 8, 7:30 PM; $9.75
This impressive film finds a new approach to capturing the tradition-versus-modernity theme so frequently seen in African cinema. Twenty-five-year-old BB, son of the inflexible Imam Karamo the guardian of his village's ancestral traditions is chosen to be his father's worthy successor, but he refuses to accept his destiny. BB prefers to work independently as an artist and live with his love, the beautiful young computer scientist Kesso. (note courtesy of the Film Society of Lincoln Center) DIR/SCR Cheick Fantamady Camara. Guinea/France, 2007, color, 97 min.
In French with English subtitles.
HIP HOP REVOLUTION, Saturday, March 8, 9:45 PM; $5
Back by Popular Demand, from SILVERDOCS 2007 HIP HOP REVOLUTION Special Price $5 Saturday, March 8, 9:45 This visually stimulating film, pumping with the sound of underground classic songs, explores the 25-year evolution of hip hop in South Africa, from its birth on the Cape Flats through the insurgence of black consciousness and the political uprising in the 1980s. Interviews with first-generation pioneers of South African hip hop explain how the African-American art form mirrored their experiences and gave youth a medium to express themselves, inciting a timely sense of black pride. DIR/PROD Weaam Williams. South Africa, 2006, color, 48 min.
Director Charles Burnett in Person with
NAMIBIA: THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION, Sunday, March 9, 1 PM; $9.75
Covering over 60 years of history, NAMIBIA tells the story of Namibia¹s first president, Sam Nujoma, charting his political awakening and his part in his country's fight against South African occupation. Rather than a documentary-style history of the long, brutal conflict, the film mixes real and composite characters to explore the spirit and sacrifices of the struggle that culminated in independence in 1990. DIR/SCR Charles Burnett; PROD Abius Akwaake and Steve Gukas. Namibia, 2007, color, 161 min.
HOLLOW CITY, Sunday, March 9, 6:45 PM; $9.75
One of the few films made in Angola since it was torn apart by civil war, this eye-opening drama is set in Luanda, the capital, in the war¹s aftermath. N'dala is a war orphan who escapes his caretakers, hoping to find his way back to his home village. Wandering Luanda's streets, he meets an array of characters and is lured into a robbery, while pursued by a missionary nun across the bewildering and dangerous city. DIR/SCR Maria João Ganga; PROD François Gonot. Angola/Portugal, 2004, color, 90 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles.
TARTINA CITY, Sunday, March 9, 8:45 PM; $9.75
US Premiere!
Adoum, a young reporter, fights to get a passport to leave Chad. Once abroad, he hopes to do an extensive report on the situation in his country.
But at the airport, a mysterious, compromising letter is found in his belongings. Adoum is arrested and ends up in the underground dungeon run by the notorious Colonel Koulbou. When Adoum's friend tracks him down, it is already too late. Meanwhile, Colonel Koulbou has a new wife, and she is already fed up with her treatment at his hands... (Note courtesy of the World Film Festival of Montreal) DIR/SCR/PROD Issa Serge Coelo. Chad, 2006, color, 88 min.
IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA, Monday, March 10, 7 PM; FREE!
DREAMS OF DUST, Tuesday, March 11, 9:40 PM; $9.75
Mocktar, a Nigerian peasant, comes looking for work in Essakane, a dusty gold town in Northeast Burkina Faso where he hopes to forget his haunting past. He quickly finds out the gold rush ended twenty years before, and the inhabitants of this strangely timeless wasteland exist simply from force of habit. The beautiful Coumba, however, still courageously struggles to raise her daughter after the death of her family. Soon Mocktar will be fighting not only to survive, but also to provide a better future for this mother and child. DIR/SCR Laurent Salgues. France/Canada/Burkina Faso, 2006, color, 86 min. In French with English subtitles.
SEMBENE RETROSPECTIVE
FAAT KINE: Friday, March 7, 9:45 PM
MOOLAADE: Saturday, March 8, 5 PM
BLACK GIRL w/BOROM SARRET: Sunday, March 9, 5 PM
EMITAI: Monday, March 10, 9 PM
CAMP DE THIAROYE: Tuesday, March 11, 6:45 PM
GUELEWAAR: Thursday, March 13, 7 PM
CEDDO: Thursday, March 13, 9:20 PM
MANDABI: Friday, March 14, 9:15 PM; Saturday, March 15, 1 PM
XALA: Saturday, March 15, 9:15 PM; Sunday, March 16, 9:15 PM; Monday, March 17, 8:45 PM
ALL FILMS NOT RATED. For more info visit: AFI www.AFI.com/Silver; TransAfrica Forum: www.transafricaforum.org or www.afrikafe.com
