Women Who Fight Back in Film Series

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 01 June 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) presents Women Who Fight Back Film Series on June 3 -  5, 2011 at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.

"Black women everywhere are fighting to defend women's right to exist as full human beings. ADIFF has compiled some powerful films that tell stories of women who fight to keep their family, their culture and their integrity alive and strong."

The films are:

Friday, June 3

Faraw, Mother of Dunes
dir. Abbdoulaye Ascofaré (Mali)
A mother of two quarrelsome boys and a depressed teenage girl is also the wife of a political prisoner who returns from prison a broken man. She struggles hard to survive in a poor and desolate area, and is ready to face anything to keep the family alive -- except prostituting her beautiful daughter.

Josephine Baker: Black Diva in a White Man's World
dir. Annette von Wangenheim (Germany, USA)
A revealing documentary about one of the most famous and popular performing artists of the 20th century. The film focuses on Baker's life and work, especially in the mirror of European colonial clichés, and presents her as a resistance fighter, an ambulance driver during WWII, and an outspoken activist against racial discrimination.

Saturday, June 4

Family Motel
dir. Helene Klodawsky (Canada)
Ayan, a Somalian refugee living in Canada, is raising teenaged daughters while supporting a husband and two sons left behind in Somalia. Ayan is unable to afford the soaring rents on her two service jobs, and is evicted from her apartment for late payment. Canadian social services are unable to assist in placing her, so she and her daughters must move into a Family Motel.

Soraya, Love Is Not Forgotten
dir. Marta Rodríguez and Fernando Restrepo (Colombia) 
Soraya Palacios' story is that of many Afro-Colombian peasants displaced from their land in the armed conflict between the national army, Colombian guerillas, and the right-wing paramilitary. After her husband's assassination by paramilitaries, Soraya must abandon her home, while trying her best to provide for her six children. Like many other Afro-Colombian women displaced from Choco, she refuses to forget her culture and history.

Shown with

Susana Baca: Memoria Viva
Mark Dixon (Peru, Belgium)
Susana Baca is not only a champion in the performance and preservation of Afro-Peruvian heritage, but also an elegant singer whose shimmering voice sings of love, loss and life. Susana and her husband, Ricardo Pereira, have founded the Instituto Negrocontinuo  (Black Continuum) in Lima, a spirited facility for the exploration, expression, and creation of Black Peruvian culture. While Baca has dedicated herself to researching and performing virtually all forms of Afro-Peruvian folklore, it is the lando that has become her trademark. This slow to mid-tempo, highly evocative mix of Spanish, Indigenous and African rhythms has become what the son is to Cuba, or the samba to Brazil -- the lando is the sound of Black Peru.

Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story
dir. Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt) 
Hebba Younisis a contemporary, fiercely independent talk show host. She is married to Karim Hassan, an opportunistic newspaper editor for a government-owned daily. Hebba is asked to forfeit the success of her career for the professional ambitions of her husband. She must soften the critical tone of her reports on governmental affairs. As Hebba finally complies and shifts away from hard politics to devote her program to social issues - the so-called "women's stories" -- she discovers lives and struggles that may be even more damaging to reveal.

Sunday, June 5

Hearing Radmilla
dir. Angela Webb (USA)
This film is a portrait of Radmilla Cody, who was Miss Navajo Nation from 1997 to 1998. It follows her reign as the first biracial Miss Navajo, then explores her pursuit of a singing career, and finally addresses the cruel realities that led to serious legal consequences for her.

Umoja: the Village Where Men Are Forbidden
dir. Jean Crousillac and Jean-Marc Sainclair (France, Kenya)
The film tells the story of brave Samburu women who were raped by British soldiers based in Northern Kenya between 1970 and 2003. Dishonored, the women were beaten and renounced by their husbands. In 1990, a few of those women gathered and created Umoja, a village forbidden to men, which rapidly became a refuge for those in a similar plight. Since then, jealous men have frequently attacked Umoja, causing trouble, and harassing its founder and matriarch Rebecca Lolosoli. 

Compensation
dir. Zeinabu irene Davis (USA)
The first feature by award-winning filmmaker Davis (Cycles and A Powerful Thang) presents two unique African-American love stories between a deaf woman and a hearing man, Inspired by a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar. An important film on African-American deaf culture, this narrative shares their struggle to overcome racism, disability and discrimination. Davis innovatively incorporates silent film techniques (such as title cards and vintage photos) to make the piece accessible to hearing and deaf viewers alike, and to share the vast possibilities of language and communication.

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
dir. Lisa Gay Hamilton (USA)
The directorial debut of actress Lisa Gay Hamilton, the film celebrates the life of legendary African American actress, poet and political activist Beah Richards, best known for her Oscar nominated role in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. While Richards struggled to overcome racial stereotypes throughout her long career onstage and onscreen in Hollywood and New York, she also had an influential role in the fight for Civil Rights. Enlightening and moving, the film is a fitting tribute to Richard's life of integrity, leadership and service to the two cultures she loved so deeply: the Arts and the African American community.

You had your fun last weekend. Now it‛s time to be inspired.

For more information, go to www.NYADIFF.org.

Women Who Fight Back Film Series
June 3 -  5, 2011

Teachers College
Columbia University
525 W 120th Street - Room 263 Macy
New York City

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