 |
| Image from the film "Cosmic Africa" |
For over a decade, the New York African Film Festival has been introducing African cinema to an ever-growing appreciative Western audience. Every year in April, the two-week Festival features a series of screenings of feature films by African filmmakers and documentaries on a range of cultural and human rights themes within an African context, complemented by a number of panel discussions and special events, encouraging an ongoing cultural dialogue between filmmakers, artists and media professions on the African and American continents.
This year, the programme of the 11th New York African Film Festival, which runs from 3 to 15 April and continues from 23 to 25 April, 2004, highlights three major themes: a celebration of "10 years of South African Democracy", presenting a dynamic society moving from apartheid to an egalitarian future; "Loving, Living & Fighting ... Niaja Style", a review of the vibrant Nigerian film and video industry, or "Nollywood", with its entertaining stories on indigenous themes; and "Let's Talk About Sex", an exploration of ground-breaking films on the experience of sexual minorities in Africa. As in the past, the Festival also pays tribute to a major African filmmaker: this year, as part of its Nigerian spotlight, it presents a mid-career retrospective of Tunde Kelani, one of the country's foremost film directors.
Founded in 1993 by the nonprofit arts organization, African Film Festival, Inc., headed by Mahen Bonetti, and organized in collaboration with Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the pioneering Festival serves to promote a nuanced understanding of the diversity of African cultures and history. It also resourcefully contributes to making African filmmakers — often marginalized within the global market of commercial cinema — a fixture in North America. The African Film Festival has continually grown over the years while retaining its dedicated spirit of cultural exploration and exchange, and continues to be the leading festival outside Africa devoted to African cinema.
The Festival opened with the US premiere of "Critical Assignment" (2003), one of Africa's first big-budget pictures, an action thriller shot in six different African countries, directed by Jason Xenopoulos and co-produced by South Africa, the United Kingdom, Nigeria and Cameroon. Action hero Michael Power — who previously starred in pan-African ad campaigns — plays an internationally acclaimed journalist who returns home to uncover the machinations of corrupt politicians and manages to restore the threatened clean water supply to an unnamed African nation.
The struggle against corruption is also the theme of the other highlight of the opening night, "Agogo Eewo / Taboo Gong" (2002), the award-winning film by Tunde Kelani. Adebosipo, a retired police officer, has been appointed king by corrupt chiefs who are intent on looting the treasury as before. Aware of the various powerful special interests around him, Adebosipo vows to serve his people and help his kingdom break free from its corrupt past, carefully basing his rule on transparency and accountability. The allegorical tale of "Agogo Eewo", which blends traditional Yoruba folklore with a modern consciousness of contemporary politics, compellingly presents the difficulties of restoring democracy in post-dictatorship Nigeria.
It is the tension between tradition and modernity that is the hallmark of African cinema, and one of the reasons it has emerged as a powerful social and cultural force throughout the continent. The Festival presents a diverse array of African filmmakers that draw from a wellspring of folklore, myth, fantasy and magic to communicate a distinctly African sensibility that often blends aesthetic experimentation, vibrant humour and oftentimes biting social critique. Other screening highlights of the African Film Festival are the US premiere of "The Legend of The Sky Kingdom" (2003), Africa's first feature-length animation; "Cosmic Africa" (2002), a moving film on astronomer Thebe Medupe and his quest to bring together his science and the origins of celestial knowledge in Africa; and, finally, classics of African cinema, such as the late Lionel Nkagane's "Jemima & Johnny" (1966) and Kwaw Ansah's "Love Brewed in an African Pot" (1980).
On 10 April, a panel discussion — "TABOO: That's not African!" — co-sponsored by the Film Division of Columbia University School of the Arts and moderated by Richard Peña, examines films addressing traditional religious practices, homosexuality, and the experience of people of mixed race. Guests include Tunde Kelani, Yves Sonokobi, and Branwen Okpako, with excerpts from films screened at the festival, including "Agogo Eewo", "Woubi Chéri", and "Dreckfesser / Dirt for Dinner". The event, free and open to the public, will be held on Saturday, April 10, 3-5 pm, at 511 Dodge Hall, Columbia University, at 116th St. and Broadway.
For more programme information, please call (212) 352-1720 or e-mail nyaff@erols.com or visit the website of the New York African Film Festival (www.africanfilmny.org).
|
Print