The twelfth edition of the New York African Film Festival opens on 20 April 2005. The programme will open with the the award-winning South African film "Forgiveness", a moving testament to the cathartic rebirth of those who survived the cruel tragedies of apartheid. A key theme of the festival is the poetry and politics of filmmaking on the African continent, featuring 32 films from 12 countries, among them many whose national cinema are virtually unknown to western audiences, such as Niger, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Angola and Mozambique. A special program of films will examine race in South Africa and the experience of mixed-race people in that country and elsewhere. The festival will also present a mid-career retrospective of Pierre Yameogo, one of the most popular filmmakers from Burkina Faso, whose films are known for their direct approach to African reality.
(See also New York African Film Festival 2004)
Beyond these themes, the festival will continue its tradition of celebrating the best of African cinema, with the work of eminent filmmakers such as Ousmane Sembene and the groundbreaking Cameroon director Jean-Marie Teno as well as the work of new talent such as Zimbabwe's Tsitsi Dangarembga's KARE KARE ZVAKO (MOTHER'S DAY) . Rahmatou Keita's AL'LEESSI, UNE ACTRICE AFRICAINE depicts the promise of cinema in Niger in the early 1960s, spotlighting the first female professional actress in African cinema. Margarida Cardoso's film, KUXA KANEMA is an homage to the first cultural act of the newly independent Mozambiquan government—the creation of a national cinema. THE MAKING OF MOOLAADÉ provides a window into the work methods of the grand master Ousmane Sembene.
African directors and guest speakers will be present during the festival. The programme, organized by Richard Peña and The African Film Festival, Inc., headed by Mahen Bonetti, opens at the Walter Reade Theater at the Lincoln Center, 20-28 April, and continues at BAM Cinématek, May 26-29.
A round table discussion with filmmakers, writers, and artists will also take up these themes at Columbia University's School of the Arts on 23 April.
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