Africa World Documentary Film Festival kicks off this month

Though the AWDFF is non-competitive, prizes of $1,000 and $500 will be awarded to two documentaries in Full-length and Short categories, respectively judged by the AWDFF committee as furthering understanding and contributing significantly to knowledge of the African World.

Through the art of documentary filmmaking, the AWDFF is committed to the promotion of knowledge, life and culture, of the people of Africa worldwide. This year, in its seventh season, will be presenting 29 films submitted by filmmakers from Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Grenada, Italy, Jamaica, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, United Kingdom and USA.

Says festival Director, Niyi Coker, Jr, "We celebrate and congratulate the extraordinary group of talented filmmakers who have employed their craft and skills in the exploration of African subjects. Some of the major subjects covered in these documentary films are Culture, Socio-Economic, Environment, History, Gender, Legal, Music & performing Arts, Religion, Politics, Sport as well as Human Rights issues."

July schedule/screenings

Saturday, 26 July 2014

• Festival Opening: 4pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.

• Move: Theodore Collatos (73m, USA), Saturday, 26 July 2014, 5pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.
  Move is about world-renowned dance choreographers Kevin Lega Jeff and Gary Abbott and their inspiring Chicago based contemporary African American dance company 'Deeply Rooted Dance Theater'. Set to the contemplative music of Wynton Marsalis the film follows the group during a winter tour as we glimpse the intimate world of the dancers and the spiritual and emotional nature of the artistic process. As the grass roots company struggles to budget the tour, issues of gender identity in dance, race dynamics in a mixed-race company, and politics are explored in a fresh and powerful new way.

Sunday, 27 July 2014

Move: Theodore Collatos (73m, USA), 7:30pm, Cinemuse, 5 Ryneveld St, Stellenbosch.

Monday, 28 July 2014

• The Lives of LaMott Atkins: Robert Philipson (34m, USA), 1:10pm, Lecture Hall B2, B-Block Building, UWC, Robert Sobukwe Dr, Bellville.

  W. E. B. DuBois famous wrote that every Black in America grow up with 'this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others.' But what happens when the double consciousness of being gay is overlaid on that? This self-narrated documentary follows a man of extraordinary talent: running back for the Stanford Cardinal; dancer at Julliard; model, singer, and performer in Europe; the epitome of Black masculinity and grace. And yet he's closeted for the first 40 years of his life. When he finally crashes and burns, his wanderings bring him to the very heart of gay life in San Francisco. And still he won't come out.

• Asni, the Life of Asnaketch Worku. Courage, Passion & Glamor in Ethiopia: Rachel Samuel (80m, Ethiopia), 6:45pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.
  A documentary film on an extraordinary artist, Asnaketch Worku who is as much a cultural icon to Ethiopians as Billie Holiday is to Americans and Edith Piaf to the French. Asnaketch lived her life on the edge of her artistry, over the edge of her passions. She brought high standards to theater and excitement to music in conservative Ethiopia in the 1950's to 1960's. Her gift and transparent nature made her infectious to audiences not only in Ethiopia but also around the world.

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

• Grenada: Colonialism and Conflict: Valerie Scoon (45m, Grenada, USA), 1:10pm, Lecture Hall B2, B-Block Building, UWC, Robert Sobukwe Dr, Bellville.

  This documentary chronicles the philosophical and sometimes bloody struggles Grenadians have waged against colonialism and its long lasting psychological influences. Grenadian leaders fought against colonialism in different ways. Julian Fedon freed 100 slaves to fight the British. Eric Gairy led the poor people in massive strike and obtained many improvements for them. Maurice Bishop led a successful coup against Eric Gairy in 1979, promising education and societal reform. History tells the tale, however, that even as Grenadian leaders have struck blows at colonialism, they have at times employed the tools of oppression taught to them by their colonial masters.

• Wecome to Loliondo (Velkommen til Loliondo): Morten Vest (59m, Denmark), 6:45pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.
  "Welcome to Loliondo" is the untold story behind the presumably harmonic surface of wildlife, tourism and indigenous peoples in the world's finest safari-location in northern Tanzania. A Maasai is shot in the head, hundreds of Maasai houses are set on fire as tourist-companies, Arab investors and Maasais fight over the right to the land. Meanwhile a young Maasai decides to use music as a weapon in order to get the world's attention.

Wednesday, 30 July 2014

• Stateless: Scott Erlinder (47m, Rwanda, USA), 1:10pm, Lecture Hall B2, B-Block Building, UWC, Robert Sobukwe Dr, Bellville.

  Since the 1994 Genocide, Rwandan refugees from that conflict - and from subsequent events - have created a population of over 150,000 (some say 250,000) living around the world. In July 2013, these people will lose their refugee status and be forced back to Rwanda by the UNHCR and host countries. The refugees fear repatriation to a country they see as dictatorial and oppressive. The film explores why it is not a proper time to invoke this return. Stateless has interviews with major figures in refugee studies, Paul Rusesabagina (the real 'Hotel Rwanda' person), Theogene Rudesingwa (former Ambassador to the US from Rwanda, currently in exile), as well as UN officials, Human Rights activists and refugees themselves.

• Camarada Presidente (Comrade President): Mosco Kamwendo (90m, Zimbabwe, Mozambique), 6:45pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.
  Samora Moisés Machel is a 1930's Mozambican village boy who is initiated into the struggle for the independence of his country, through his own experiences with Portuguese colonialism. With vigor and charisma, he rises to become a daring military strategist and a psychologically resourceful leader. But the independence of Mozambique alone is not enough as his country cannot survive with racist Rhodesia and Apartheid South Africa as neighbors. This is a difficult situation requiring difficult solutions, some of which leaves Samora's image in poor light. A unique, non-corrupt African leader who insists on the executive being the first to sacrifice and the last to benefit, but nonetheless a human being with his own weaknesses and mistakes to make. After helping the Zimbabweans to achieve their independence, Samora decides to go for apartheid South Africa, which has the strongest military on the African continent. Although he has enjoyed popular support from his people and his colleagues in government, all along, the war with apartheid South Africa is one he finds himself fighting alone, towards his final days.

Thursday, 31 July 2014

• Mountains Will Move: Douglas McCann (30m, Tanzania, USA), 1:10pm, Lecture Hall B2, B-Block Building, UWC, Robert Sobukwe Dr, Bellville.

  In the shadow of Africa's highest peaks, a new generation of Tanzanian girls struggles to overcome poverty and inequality. On the other side of the world, an all-female group of Australian teenagers sets out to raise money and awareness by taking on a challenge of new heights. What begins as a movement to offer a helping hand turns into a journey for two groups of young women that will climb together side by side to reach for the top of one of the highest mountains in Africa, Mount Meru (14,977 feet). Theirs is a touching story that reminds us that the efforts of working together can yield unimaginable results, and that by empowering girls today we ensure a brighter world for the women of tomorrow.

• Black Africa White Marble: Clemente Bicocchi (77m, Congo, Gabon, Italy USA), 6:45pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.

  Black Africa White Marble is a gripping, real-life David-and-Goliath thriller told through an innovative blend of animation, puppetry, archive materials, graphics, and original documentary footage. In the 1880s, there were two paths for Central Africa: Pietro di Brazza's and Henry Stanley's. Italian by birth and French by education, Brazza rejected the racism of his age, using his philosophy of non-violence to penetrate the rain-forests of the Congo Basin, sowing trust along the way. Meanwhile, his rival Stanley (in the service of the Belgian King Leopold II) advanced with the roar of the cannon. More than a century later, when the current Congo president decides to transfer di Brazza's remains from his grave in Algiers to a multimillion-dollar mausoleum in Congo's impoverished capital, writer Idanna Pucci discovers an insidious hidden agenda behind the plan--one that sheds harsh light on both Central Africa's colonial past and its corrupt present.

  Asni, the Life of Asnaketch Worku. Courage, Passion & Glamor in Ethiopia: Rachel Samuel (80m, Ethiopia), 7:30pm, Cinemuse, 5 Ryneveld St, Stellenbosch.

Friday, 1 August 2014

• City of the Damned: Stephanie Lincoln, Matt Rogers, Mor Albalak, Shaneika Lai, Stephanie Lee (15m, USA), 1:10pm, Lecture Hall B2, B-Block Building, UWC, Robert Sobukwe Dr, Bellville.

  City of the Damned focuses on LGBT rights in the face of the brutal anti-homosexuality bill before the Ugandan Parliament. Although the death penalty has been withdrawn from the bill due heavily to international pressure, punishments are harsh and public opinion remains the biggest threat to the Ugandan LGBT community. The daring non-governmental organization Youth on Rock Foundation is fighting against this stigma by promoting economic empowerment among its members. Najib, YRF's treasurer, sells clothes in Uganda's largest market. He wants to prove that his sexuality does not define him; it's his respect for life, his determination for equality, and his aspirations to become a lawyer and self-respecting Ugandan citizen.

• Finding Home: Samantha Andre (13m, USA), 1:25pm, Lecture Hall B2, B-Block Building, UWC, Robert Sobukwe Dr, Bellville.

  Currently there are over 10 million refugees throughout the world and only 60,000 are allowed to enter into the United States each year. Finding home is a short, cinema verité style documentary that follows the Abdis, a refugee family from Somalia, throughout their first two months in the United States. The Abdi parents gave up everything they had for the chance of peace and a better life for their five children. Finding Home provides a first-hand look at the lives of refugees inside the United States and exposes the struggles and hopes refugee families face when trying to adapt to their new lives and cultures.

• Brothers of the Black List: Sean Gallagher (71m, USA), 6:45pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.
  The film tells the story behind the longest litigated civil rights case in American history. It all began in September 1992, when an elderly woman in Oneonta, New York reported that she had been attacked in an attempted rape by a young black male who cut his hand during the altercation. This led to a college administrator at nearby Suny Oneonta giving the police a list of the names and residences of the 125 black men who attended the school. Police used this list to track down every black male in town, questioning them and demanding to see their hands. An outcry from the students and community and the attention from the national media led into the judicial system where the case would be shuffled around state and federal courts through fourteen years of litigation.

Saturday, 2 August 2014

• Daughters of the Niger Delta: Ilse van Lamoen (56m, Nigeria, Netherlands), 1pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.

  The film tells a different story about the Niger Delta than the usual media reports about oil outputs, conflict, and kidnapping. The film gives a taste of everyday life in the region through the eyes of three ordinary women: Hannah, Naomi, and Rebecca. Their personal stories shed light on human rights violations in the Niger Delta that we rarely hear about in the news.

• Living as Brothers: Kevin Fraser (88m, Canada), 2:15pm, The Homecoming Centre, District Six Museum, 15 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.
  'Living as Brothers' looks at the lives of Jamaican migrant men toiling in the orchards of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, unseen by the thousands of tourists who descend on the small town each year. In their own words, these men, some of whom have been returning for over twenty years, tell of the second life they've created for themselves in Canada, the reasons for their making this journey, and their struggles back in rural Jamaica. Told over a season of picking fruit, their story is arduous, stressful, precarious, offering few second chances, but is ultimately one of brotherhood.

All films at UWC are free; the other two venues would greatly appreciate donations.

For more, go to www.africaworldfilmfestival.com or contact University of the Western Cape at az.ca.cwu@ofniffdwa or 021 959 2394/2964.