SORAC African & Caribbean Film Festival 2002
| SORAC’s African Film Festival Series Presents African & Caribbean Film Festival |
March 25-April 5, 2002
Montclair State University
1 Normal Avenue
Upper Montclair, NJ 07043
Faat Kine Cover Illustration
Sponsored by the Department of French, German, and Russian, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sprague Library, SORAC, and the Latin American Student Association
The festival features nine movies from North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Its goal is to foster an enhanced understanding of Africa and its diaspora, African cultures, experiences and contributions to world civilization. Movies are projected in 16 mm or video format. At the end of each film, a speaker will address and clarify the various cultural and historical issues raised in the films. All films are free and open to the public. (view directions)
SCHEDULE
(Click on title to view description)
Taafe Fanga (Skirt Power)
Monday, March 25
6-8pm
Richardson Hall 120
Flame
Tuesday, March 26
6-8pm
Brantl Hall, Dickson Hall 177
The Silences of the Palace
Wed., March 27
6-8 pm
Brantl Hall, Dickson Hall 177
A Door to the Sky
Thursday, March 28
6-8 pm
Cohen Lounge, Dickson 178
La Rue Cases-Nègres
Monday, April 1
7-9 pm
Cohen Lounge, Dickson 178
Faat Kine
Tuesday, April 2
6-8 pm
Brantl Hall, Dickson Hall 177
A Walk in the NIght
Wed., April 3
6-8 pm
Brantl Hall, Dickson Hall 177
Dôlè
Thursday, April 4
6-8 pm
Brantl Hall, Dickson Hall 177
Natal da Portela
Friday, April 5
6-8 pm
Cohen Lounge, Dickson Hall 178
Taafe Fanga (Skirt Power)
Director: Adama Drabo, Mali, 1997, 95 min., in Kaado and Bambara with subtitles
This proleptic tale about a comic revolution in which women’s and men’s roles are reversed was, in part, inspired by the actual role women played in Mali’s 1991 revolution. Taafe Fanga’s story of sexual politics in a Dogon village necessarily involves the interpenetration of cosmogeny, history and the still unfolding present.
Flame
Director: Ingrid Sinclair, Zimbabwe, 1996, 85 min., in English
Flame is the story of two close friends whose involvement in the liberation struggle lead to very different outcomes. Florence, impulsive and brave, and Nyasha, scholarly and cautious, are scarcely more than children when they run away from their village to join the liberation forces in 1975. After a harrowing trek to the rebel camps in Mozambique, they adopt their new guerilla identities: Nyasha becomes Liberty, representing her desire for independence, while Florence selects Flame, symbolizing her passion.
The Silences of the Palace
Director: Moufida Talatli, Tunisia, 1996, 127 min.
Winner, Camera D’or – Cannes Film Festival, this film is directed with loving attention to the details of women’s lives and to the political realities which they survive with courage, comradeship, and the resources of their bodies. Tunisia in the 1950s (during the twilight of the monarchy) is the sumptuous setting for this drama of memory and motherhood, of political and sexual power.
A Door to the Sky
Director: Farida Ben Lyzaid, Morocco, 1989, 107 min.
This film is a Sufi tale told in a metaphoric language. It is also the first North African film to address the social and economic changes as proposed by a spiritual Muslim woman on a quest to preserve her cultural and religious identity.
Rue Cases-Nègres (Sugar Cane Alley).
Director: Euzhan Palcy, Martinique, 1983, 107 min. In French with English subtitles.
Award-winning drama by Euzhan Palcy set on a sugar plantation in 1930s Martinique, where an old woman struggles to send her grandson to school and give him a better life. Touching without being sentimental, political without being preachy, this story set in 1930s Martinique is both lyrical and powerful.
Faat Kine
Director: Ousmane Sembene Senegal, 2000, 110 min. In French and Wolof with English sub-titles
Faat Kine is, from its first shot to its surprising last, Sembene’s tribute to what he calls the “everyday heroism of African women.” In the opening frame, a procession of traditionally dressed women wends its way majestically through the hectic heart of modern Dakar. Faat Kine lets them pass and drives on as she carries their story into the present.
A Walk in the Night
Director: Mickey Madoda Dube South Africa, 1998, 78 min. In English and Afrikaans with English subtitles.
This is one of the first films from a new generation of talented young black South African filmmakers who have become active since the overthrow of apartheid in 1994. Mickey Madoda Dube’s debut feature adapts Alex La Guma’s celebrated 1962 novella of the same name into a fast-paced crime thriller set in present day Johannesburg.
Dôlè (Money)
Director: Imunga Ivanga Gabon, 2001, 80 minutes In French with subtitles
Winner of the first-place Gold Tanit at the 2000 Carthage Film Festival, Dôlè has already been widely compared to François Truffaut’s iconic coming of age film — a kind of “Le quatre cents coups” in Gabon. Dôlè provides one of the most affectionate and affecting portraits of African youth poised precariously on the cusp of modernity.
Natal da Portela
Director: Paulo Cezar Saraceni, Brazil, 1988, 100 min. In Portuguese with subtitles
The film depicts the life of Natal da Portela as a young man from the favelas–the slums of the northern part of Rio de Janeiro–up to the creation of “la Portela”, the school of samba he created. This is a film filled with joy, music and laughter. “Natal da Portela” is also a film that narrates the story of contemporary Brazil and the legacy of African people in that country.
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Directions and Contact Information Montclair State University is located at the intersection of Valley Road and Normal Avenue in Upper Montclair, NJ (see detailed directions here and an interactive map of the campus here.). Security will direct visitors to Guest Parking area. All showings are free and open to the public. For updates, please consult this web site very often. For more information or directions please contact festival organizers, Professors:
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