SinkingSand
Friday, March 30 at 6pm, FREE screening of award-winning film from Egypt “Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story” about gender war in Egypt and women who fight back.
On Saturday and Sunday films from Ghana, Cuba, Sudan, and the USA will be screened including:
• Sinking Sands by award-winning director Leila Djansi starring Jimmy-Jean Louis (the Hero), a film from Ghana that cuts across race and sex, demands answers and self-evaluation from individuals in all types of bondage, especially WOMEN;
• Cuba: An African Odyssey by award-winning Egyptian director Jihan El Tahari about the role of Cuba in the liberation movement in Africa;
• The Healing Passage, Voices From The Water by Pearl A. Sharp which explores how arts can help us reflect on the Middle Passage;
• Cinema in Sudan: conversations with Gadalla Gubara by Frederique Cifuentes the portray of great Sudanese filmmaker Gadalla Gubara (1920-2008), one of the pioneers of cinema in Africa;
• A program of shorts by independent American women filmmakers. There will be a Q&A after the screening.
FULL SCHEDULE FOLLOWS
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012
6:00PM SCHEHERAZADE, TELL ME A STORY
A female talk show host in Cairo stirs up political controversy when she focuses her on-air discussions on the topic of women's issues. "Lively, swift, vibrantly colorful and for the most part wonderfully acted, the film is slyly aware of the daytime talk show as a vehicle for women's concerns." - The New York Times. Egypt, 2009, 135 min, Drama, Arabic with English subtitles, Yousry Nasrallah, dir.
SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2012
3:30PM CINEMA IN SUDAN: CONVERSATIONS WITH GADALLA GUBARA
A portrait of a great Sudanese film-maker, Gadalla Gubara (1920 – 2008) who was still working at the age of eighty-eight - one of the pioneers of cinema in Africa. He lost his sight late in his life but still continued to film life in Sudan as no one before him. Through his oeuvre, Gadalla reveals to us a Sudan both mysterious and misunderstood. France, 2007, 52 mins, Documentary, English, Frédérique Cifuentes, dir.
5PM CUBA, AN AFRICAN ODYSSEY
From Che Guevara’s military campaign to avenge Lumumba in the Congo up to the fall of apartheid in South Africa, 300,000 Cubans fought alongside African revolutionaries. Cuba, an African Odyssey is the previously untold story of Cuba’s support for the African liberation movement, one of the Cold War’s most vigorous contests over resources and ideology. Egypt/
SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2012
2PM THE HEALING PASSAGE, VOICES FROM THE WATER
Cultural artists, along with historians and healers, look at present day behavior that is connected to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. For more than 300 years Africans were carried from their homeland, across the Atlantic Ocean ("The Middle Passage"), into chattel slavery in the Americas and the Caribbean. The residual impact of this African Holocaust still reverberates in the world today through psychological trauma, genetic memory, personal and community consciousness. The artists use music, dolls, dance, altars, spoken word, visual art and ritual to create paths to healing. USA, 2004, 90 min, Documentary, English, S. Pearl Sharp, dir.
4PM SHORTS PROGRAM
THE DREAM TEAM On the last day before winter recess, Michael Jones is forced to surrender his keys, classroom and long time friendship. USA, 2011, 8 min, Drama, English, Rachel Johnson, dir. Q&A after the screening.
WHITE SUGGAR IN A BLACK POT What appears to be a good opportunity for a diligent mother and her family to move ahead forces her to make one of the toughest decisions of her life. USA, 2011, 18 min, drama, English, Rachel Johnson, dir. Q&A after the screening.
A CREATION STORY In this story within a story, clay animation weaves in and out of live action to reveal the intimate relationship between mother and daughter, hair and history. USA, 2011, 9 min, Drama, English, Natasha Ngaiza, dir.
5 AFTERNOONS What happens when an aging militant and a lonely business major meet once a week for tea? USA, 2010, 12min, Drama, English, Natasha Ngaiza, dir.
WHITE LIKE THE MOON A Mexican-American girl struggles to keep her identity when her mother forces her to bleach her skin. White Like the Moon is a revealing film about a dilemma not very well known outside Latino communities;
6PM SINKING SANDS
Jimah and Pabi are a match made in heaven until a domestic accident leaves Jimah with a scar that alters his physical appearance. The seemingly fairytale relationship becomes one of violence and abuse. Ghana 2011, 1h26min, Drama, English, Leila Djansi, dir. winner of several awards at the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) including best actress and screenplay.
The African Diaspora International Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization that presents an eclectic mix of foreign, independent, classic and urban films representing the global Black experience through an extraordinary range of subjects and artistic approaches. Created in 1993, ADIFF has long been delighting audiences with U.S. premieres of independent films, including features, documentaries, animation, and shorts.
The Women in Front of and Behind the Camera film series is made possible thanks to the support of the following institutions and individuals:
For screeners, press information, and interviews, contact the African Diaspora International Film Festival at (212) 864-1760/ Fax (212) 316-6020 or E-mail media@NYADIFF.org. Festival web site: www.NYADIFF.org.
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Held in NYC, Chicago, DC and Jersey City, the African Diaspora Film Festival (ADFF) features programs around urban, classic, foreign & independent films that explore the richness and diversity of the life experience of people of color all over the world.
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