African Diaspora Film Festival Gathers Black World Cinema

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 25 November 2010 02:35

Written by Laura Blum

The 18th African Diaspora Film Festival (November 26 to December 14, 2010) kicks off on Black Friday, yielding both a double entendre and gift ideas for Christmas shoppers (assuming there’ll be DVDs for sale).

And the wordplays keep coming. As if riffing on its diaspora theme, the Festival is dispersed around Manhattan, to such far-flung venues as Anthology Film Archives, (32 Second Avenue @ 2nd Street), The Riverside Theater (91 Claremont Ave. @ 120th Street), The Schomburg Center for Black Culture (515 Malcom X Boulevard), Symphony Space Thalia Theater (2537 Broadway @ 95th St.) and Columbia University’s Cowin Center (147 Horace Mann) and The Chapel (125 Zankel).

But scattering among different hoods (and subsequently, cities) may be more of a statement than a pun. ADFF offers a platform for reaching diverse audiences to films that reflect Africa and the international Black community, on the recognition that such “marginal” fare is often hard pressed to find distribution. Festival-goers can expect to see contemporary and vintage works by emerging and veteran directors of color, and in so doing, to “redesign the Black cinema experience and strengthen the role of African and African descent directors in contemporary world cinema,” per ADFF creators Reinaldo Barroso-Spech and Diarah N’Daw-Spech.

The Opening Night title is Africa United, a road movie following three Rwandan youth from their capital city of Kigali to South Africa, where they plan to audition for the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup. Gardner-Paterson’s obstacle-strewn crowd pleaser has drawn inevitable comparisons with Slumdog Millionaire.

The Festival’s two Centerpiece films are Abner Benaim’s comedy Chance and Tetchena Bellange’s documentary Black Hands–Trial of the Arsonist Slave/ Les mains noires: Procès de l'esclave incendiaire. Chance situates the enduring revenge-of-the-maids genre in Panama, where long-suffering housekeepers plot to seize their vacationing employer’s mansion. Benaim will be on hand for Q&A after the screening, to be capped by a dance party at the Bowery Bar.

Black Hands--Trial of the Arsonist Slave tracks the little-known story of Angelique, an 18th-century slave was accused of burning Montreal, and subsequently sentenced to death. The film probes the mythologies and taboos surrounding this unsettling – and unsettled -- chapter in Quebec history. Following the screening, Black Arts Movement poet Sonia Sanchez will discuss the film with Bellange.

Another hot ticket is the gala screening of two relatively short documentaries, Annette von Wangenheim’s Josephine Baker, Black Diva in a White Man's World and William Greaves’ 1974 portrait of the Harlem Renaissance, From These Roots. The Baker bio by way of Germany highlights the famed performer’s off-stage credentials as a resistance fighter, an ambulance driver during WWII and a vocal opponent of racial discrimination. The program will be presented by Princess Jenkins, founder of Harlem boutique The Brownstone. Josephine Baker’s son, Claude Baker, will participate in a post-screening discussion, followed by a reception.

Rhythm of Fire/Ritmo de Fuego is yet another buzz-building documentary. Narrated by Danny Glover, it captures the African-inflected revelries, musicians and Santeros at Santiago de Cuba's annual Festival of the Caribbean. Julie Belafonte, who produced and co-directed the film alongside Ecuadoran Pablo Palacios, will entertain audience questions.

Other selections include Menelik Shabazz’ documentary Catch a Fire, about “19th-century Malcom X” figure Deacon Paul Bogle, paired with Christian Lara’s 1802 Freedom Now. The latter, an historical drama, charts the struggle for freedom waged by Guadeloupe’s Black islanders when Napoléon dispatches a general to reinstate slavery.

Discover the whole ADFF shebang -- at http://nyadiff.org

African Diaspora Film Festival
November 26 to December 14, 2010
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue @ 2nd Street
New York, NY
(212) 864-1760