The Africana Film Festival - a celebration of the stories, voices and cultures that comprise the African Diaspora - kicked off Wednesday night with a screening of the film "Africa Paradise" at the Cable Car Cinema.
A collaborative project of the Africana Studies and Modern Culture and Media Departments, the annual festival features films by new and established filmmakers from Africa and the African Diaspora. Festival events will run through Sunday at the Cable Car and include panel discussions, screenings accompanied by question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers and an event celebrating the legacy of Ousmane Sembene, commonly called the "father of African cinema."
"It is a great opportunity for people to look at Africa differently," said Nathalie Etoke, a visiting assistant professor of French studies who focuses on contemporary African cinema and fiction. "Particularly in the West, Africa is portrayed in a restraining frame. You have the stereotypes created by CNN and Fox of civil war and violence. Commercials about how you can help feed the hungry. They show the slums. This is part of Africa, but not everything," said Etoke, who is helping to organize this year's festival. "It is important to give a window of opportunity for Africans to voice their concerns."
The festival was started in 2004 by Meadow Dibble-Dieng AM'03 PhD'06, who worked with Professor of Modern Culture and Media Philip Rosen and Film Archivist Richard Manning to create the event as a venue for people of the African Diaspora to tell their stories.
"These people share a common history of oppression," Etoke said. "The Diaspora has a direct connection to the history of slavery, the middle passage and colonialism."
In the festival's opening film, "Africa Paradise," the year is 2033 and the tables have turned. Africa, or rather the United States of Africa, is a prosperous economic power, where war and poverty are problems of the past. Inspired by the real-life experiences of African immigrants in Europe, the film satirically portrays racist stereotypes as it follows the struggles of a European couple unsuccessfully trying to obtain visas to immigrate to Africa in search of better opportunities. The two Europeans end up having to resort to illegal immigration. "Africa Paradise" will show again on Saturday night, with an introduction by the filmmaker Sylvestre Amoussou.
Other films in the festival include two installments of South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane's miniseries "When We Were Black," the science fiction film "Les Saignantes" by Jean-Pierre Bekolo and Ousmane Sembene's "Moolade."
"Les Saignantes" tells the story of two young women in a future African society who are attempting to dispose of a dead body and end up challenging their country's corrupt, sexist patriarchy. Sembene's "Moolade," which won the Un Certain Regarde Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, depicts a group of girls attempting to escape the tradition of female circumcision that is still practiced in certain African communities.
Distinguished filmmakers such as Flora Gomes from Guinea Bissau and Jean-Marie Teno from Cameroon will be introducing films and taking part in the panel discussion on Sembene's work. The event, honoring Sembene, who recently passed away at the age of 84, will include a discussion and mini-retrospective of his films.
Etoke said the purpose of the film festival is not to shed a positive or negative light on Africa and the African Diaspora, but rather to depict the complexities of its diverse cultures. Although many African films deal with universal issues, it is important to understand that the way these issues are handled differs depending on the cultural context, she said.
"The whole rhetoric of good versus evil is not really pertinent," Etoke said. "To get to know a culture you have to get out of your universe of reference. People don't know the real story behind the predicaments that contemporary Africa is facing."
