Tales of Song, Salvation, & Soul: The African Diaspora International Film Festival

Details

Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 24 November 2022 11:36

Written by Brad balfour

Telling tales of lives, triumphs, and struggles from people of color, The African Diaspora International Film Festival runs from November 25th to December 11, 2022 at venues across the city. Now in its thirtieth year, the ADIFF features narrative films, shorts, documentaries, animated works and much more.

Opening the festival is Woodstock of House, a documentary looking at how over a period of decades house music evolved and persisted, despite mainstream America in the late 1970s trying to suppress it for being too black, too Latin, and too gay.

Angels on Diamond Street is a documentary about three women fighting for social justice in an African American church in Philadelphia. We follow head cook Mamie Mather, former Black Panther Barbara Easley-Cox and Pastor Renee Mackenzie at the soup kitchen of the Church of the Advocate. When ICE agents threaten an undocumented Mexican immigrant family seeking sanctuary, the Pastor makes a stand to protect them.

Get Out Alive is a musical about depression by artist and activist Nikki Lynette. Using storytelling, humor, song, dance, visual art and a DJ, Lynette shows us that even when life leads us to a bad place, we can always make it out alive.

Kirikou and the Sorceress is an underrated animated classic. Recounting the tale of tiny Kirikou born in an African village in which Karaba the Sorceress has placed a terrible curse. Kirikou sets out on a quest to free his village of the curse and find out the secret of why Karaba is so wicked.

Sisters in Cinema pays homage to African American women, who against all odds made history. The careers, lives and films of inspirational women filmmakers, such as, Euzhan Palcy, Julie Dash, Darnell Martin, Dianne Houston, Neema Barnette, Cheryl Dunye, Kasi Lemmons and Maya Angelou are showcased within the film.

Now in its 30th year, the ADIFF was established in 1993 and is a Harlem based minority-led not-for profit international film festival that presents, interprets and educates about films that explore the human experience of people of color all over the world in order to inspire imaginations, disrupt stereotypes and help transform attitudes that perpetuate injustice. To celebrate its anniversary, ADIFF NYC 2022 has expanded its footprint in the city through partnerships with various institutions that will host free community screenings. These include the Schomburg Center in Harlem, the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem and Baruch College. 

To learn more, go to: https://nyadiff.org/

African Diaspora International Film Festival
November 25 - December 11, 2022

Various locations in NYC

War, Marriage, & More at New York Baltic Film Festival

Details

Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 01 November 2022 14:14

Written by Brad Balfour

Mariupolis 2

Now in it’s fifth year. the New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF), presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America, will be running November 2-13, 2022 as a hybrid festival featuring Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian cinema. The in-person portion of the fest takes place at New York’s Scandinavia House (58 Park Ave, New York, NY) from November 2nd to the 6th and virtually November 4th to the 13th.

The theme for this year’s festival is  Past or Present, inspired by the intense emotional response felt in the Baltic countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jūle Rozīte, the festival's Head of Programs, states: “When the war started, Eastern Europeans and many of us globally experienced the dissonance of seeing both past and present play out simultaneously. Suddenly, family traumas and collective memories were forced to the surface, as the inherited stories of occupation we have grown up hearing were playing out in real-time in Ukraine. Cinema from the Baltics can remind us of what was, act as a warning, elicit communal resistance and instill hope for a better tomorrow.”

The festival opens on Wednesday, November 2 with  the animated feature My Love Affair With Marriage, directed by Latvian-born and Brooklyn-based Signe Baumane.The film is a wild semi-autobiographical musical journey, exploring the notions of love, sex, and romance through the lens of neurochemistry. Baumane’s fiercely original and visually arresting work was recognized with the Jury Distinction for Feature Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival this year.

The documentary Mariupolis 2 is a harrowing look at Russia’s brutal siege of Mariupol in Ukraine this year. The director, Mantas Kvedaravičius, was tragically killed during filming. Mariupolis 2 was recognized with a Golden Eye Special Mention at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The festival will also screen the film’s predecessor, Mariupolis, in which Kvedaravičius documented the lives of people during Russia’s attacks on Mariupol back in 2014.

Burial, directed by Emilija Škarnulytė, is a hypnotizing meditation on the power and danger of nuclear energy, presenting the paradox of scientific advancement coupled with environmental destruction with a meticulously crafted, eerie soundscape. Škarnulytė will be joined for a discussion with MoMA curator Sophie Cavoulacos following the screening.

To learn more, go to: https://www.scandinaviahouse.org/

New York Baltic Film Festival
November 2 - 13, 2022

Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave
New York, NY 10016

10th Annual Nyack Film Festival Features Works From Around the World

Details

Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 10 August 2022 21:07

Written by Brad balfour

Now in its tenth year, the Nyack Film Festival returns with five nights of cinematic goodness August 14th to the 18th. Held at Hotel Nyack the festival features 64 films from artists around the world. Films include This Too Shall Pass, a short contemplating the fraught emotions and isolation caused by the pandemic. Inspired by true events, The Recess explores gender oppression in Iranian society as a young girl is caught trying to disguise herself as a man in order to see a soccer game. The Brink Of is a musical romance film about an indie pop duo, navigating their tumultuous relationship as partners on the brink of mainstream success. Glooscap And Noogami  is an animated short loosely based on the Wabanaki creation story. Marijuana Minutes follows an unambitious stoner as she finds her easy-going life turned upside down thanks to a vape pen that allows her to travel through time.

After the festival closes there will be a free outdoor film screening of VIRGIN BLACKTOP: A New York Skate Odyssey in Nyack Memorial Park, next to the river and under the stars, on Friday, August 19, starting at 8pm.

To learn more, go to: https://nyackfilmfestival.com/

10th Annual Nyack Film Festival 2022
August 14 - 18, 2022

Hotel Nyack JdV by Hyatt
400 High Ave
Nyack, NY 10960