the traveler's resource guide to festivals & films
a FestivalTravelNetwork.com site
part of Insider Media llc.

Connect with us:
FacebookTwitterYouTubeRSS

Previews

San Francisco Ocean Film Festival

The 7th Annual San Francisco Ocean Film Festival is being held February 3-7, 2010 in J’lachic Theatre 39 at PIER 39 at The Embarcadero and Beach Street, San Francisco, CA. Co-sponsored by Aquarium of the Bay and The Bay Institute, the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival will be bigger and better than ever as the event expands to encompass five days of ocean-inspired films. 

“Adding two days to the festival has the dual advantage of providing attendees with more flexibility on the days and times that films are shown, as well as tripling the number of free weekday screenings for Bay Area public school students,” stated Festival Founder and Board Chair Krist Jake. “We are particularly excited about moving the venue to PIER 39 where there are more restaurants and amenities to meet our festival-goers’ needs.”

With a reputation as the largest and most diverse festival of its kind, the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival features documentaries, animations, narratives and other traditional and experimental genre on topics ranging from ocean adventures to the environment to marine wildlife to island culture and more.

The festival is organized as a series of programs that feature attention-riveting films and in-depth discussions with filmmakers and content experts, creating a unique public forum on the environmental, social and cultural importance of the world’s marine resources.

Starting off the Festival is the short film about Dr. Sylvia Earle, the First Lady of oceanographers, in Sylvia Earle: A Profile, directed by Amy Miller and Joan Johnson. Dr. Earle has  been recognized by the Library of Congress as a Living Legend.

The highlight of feature films is, of course, The Cove, now an Oscar® nominee for Best Feature Documentary after already winning 46 film awards worldwide (so far). The awards are well-deserved for this account of dolphin activist Ric O’Barry’s dedicated attempts to expose the secret capture and slaughter of dolphins in a Japanese fishing village. Director Louie Psihoyos makes his film directing debut after years as a world-class photographer.

Many selections in the festival deal with sea creatures at risk in the eco-challenged oceans, including whales, sharks and numerous birds, as well as coral reefs and polar icescapes. Among those films:

In To Save the Whale, directed by Gavin Newman, the Emmy Award-winning cinematographer follows Greenpeace crews as they attempt to foil Japanese whalers who defy an international ban on commercial whaling to slaughter whales in the interests of “science”.

Requiem, directed by Bryce Groark, discusses the steep decline in shark stock worldwide. One cause is due to shark finning, the on-board removal of a shark’s fins and the discarding at the sea of the remainder of the shark, which is sometimes alive during the process. As apex predators, sharks regulate the abundance of other fish, and therefore have a direct effect on ocean life.

Other films cover such “fish-ues” as depletion of species, pollution, and the demise of fishermens’ livelihoods and way of life. Some films are:

In The End of the Line, director Rupert Murray outlines the depletion of wild fish, once thought to be an inexhaustible resource. Some scientists estimate that 90% of all large fish have disappeared, such as the once-popular cod, which vanished from the western Atlantic by 1992.

The Bering Sea: An Ecosystem in Crisis, directed by Brent Balalas, studies the effect on the Aleuts of the devastation by factory trawlers, whose obscene wastefulness and massive habitat destruction are wiping out the last remnants of the pollock fishery.

But several films are also positive in their presentations of human endeavor, such as:

Free Swim, directed by Jennifer Galvin, is an award winning documentary about the paradox of coastal people not knowing how to swim. On an island in the Bahamas, a group of kids are taught to swim in open waters, thus helping them overcome their fears, gain confidence and reconnect with their challenging environment.

The Official Selection of the Festival, From the Badlands to Alcatraz, directed by Nancy Iverson, follows five Oglala Lakota youth from South Dakota to San Francisco to swim from Alcatraz to the City. The film weaves the past and present of both Alcatraz and the Pine Ridge Reservation into a vivid depiction of the awe-inspiring journey the five youth navigate as they plunge into the waters of Alcatraz Island.

And many films remind us of the amazing life and dazzling beauty of the seas, including:

Surfing Dolphins, directed by Greg Huglin, whose film goes beyond simply beautiful or sublime, as this jubilant and lyrical montage combines exquisite dolphin footage with excellent water imagery and sound.

In Ocean Chronicles, director Leandro Blanco’s kaleidoscope of images whirls through time and space in this exploration of humankind’s relationship with the ocean.

South Georgia Island: A Southern Ocean Paradise, by Corina Gamma, JJ L’Heureux and C. Hunter Johnson. This film needs no narration as the rich score and superb images remind us that this paradise needs our protection.

Also included is a panel discussion on Oceans and Sustainability with local seafood purveyors, restaurateurs and conservationists, hosted by David McGuire, director of Seastewards.org.

For further details, visit www.oceanfilmfest.org.  

San Francisco Ocean Film Festival
February 3-7, 2010


Theatre 39 at PIER 39
The Embarcadero and Beach Street
San Francisco, CA.

Texas Black Film Festival Through Feb. 7

The Texas Black Film Festival, in Dallas, Texas, screens for its fourth year Wednesday, February 3, to Sunday, February 6, with a host of movies designed to showcase the Lone Star State's film-industry resources and works that express the African-American experience, as well as to provide filmmakers with networking and opportunities to sharpen marketing and production skills through workshops.

Based at the Studio Movie Grill, a much-written-about Dallas staple where moviegoers can indulge in a full-menu dinner while watching a new Hollywood release, the family-friendly festival will as well screen "best of" events at future dates at the Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas, and the Studio Movie Grill Copperfield, in northwest Houston.

Wednesday's premiere-night event features the esteemed actor Giancarlo Esposito, of Spike's Lee's Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, School Daze and Malcolm X, and the star of the cult-classic seriocomedy Bakersfield P.D.

The festival will also present awards in the Feature Film, Short Film, Animation, Documentary and Texas Film categories, and for Actor, Actress and Director.

Film categories are screened in two-hour blocks, with each block ticketed as an $8 event. Day passes for Thursday to Friday are $25; a three-day pass is $60. The official hotel is the  Radisson Central, which offers a TBFF Special room rate of $75 plus tax.

See the next page for the film schedule >>

Studio Movie Grill
11170 N. Central Expressway
(Royal Lane & 75 Central Expressway)
Dallas, Texas 75243
(214) 361-2966

Radisson Central

6060 N. Central Expressway
Dallas, Texas 75206
(800) 333-3333
(214) 750-6060

Festival Web site: http://www.texasblackfilmfestival.com/index.html


 

TBFF 2010 FILMS AND SHOWTIMES


FEATURES

Bilal's Stand
dir. by Sultan Sharrief (Ann Arbor, MI) TEXAS PREMIERE
INSPIRATIONAL DRAMA. After secretly submitting a college application, and taking up
the art of ice carving in order to win a scholarship, Bilal is forced to decide 
whether he will continue working at the family cab stand. (FRI- Noon)

Disowning Claire
dir. by A.C. Abbott (Dallas, TX) WORLD PREMIERE
ROMANTIC COMEDY. Shot in Dallas. This suburban WF admits to her family that she prefers black men. (THUR- 10PM)

Dream Mali

dir. by Barbara Kowa (Berlin)
U.S. PREMIERE. ART DOCUMENTARY. Digital multi-cultural film project. If art is a universal language, is it possible to use it to communicate with people of totally different social, religious, educational and cultural backgrounds? Two visual and performing artists from Berlin travel to remote villages in Mali – where people speak only Bambara. An artistic exploration of social similarities and economic disparities. Multilingual: German, English, French and Bambara with English subtitles. (FRI 2:00) (83 mins)

Frederick Douglass and the White Negro
dir. by John J Doherty (Dublin, Ireland). U.S. PREMIERE. HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY. Produced in Ireland, this documentary discusses Frederick Douglas’ visit to Ireland and the mutual impact the two had on each other. (SAT- Noon)

Grown in Detroit: Teen Moms become Urban Farmers

dir. by Mascha Poppenk, Manfred Poppenk (Netherlands).
DOCUMENTARY. DALLAS PREMIERE. Just imagine... Teen moms becoming urban farmers. Utopia? Not in Detroit. Nature is taking over the city and the new generation is taught to harvest its profit. (THUR- 2PM)

Neshoba
dir. by Micki Dickoff (Los Angeles, CA) & Tony Pagano (South Salem, NY)
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY. a Mississippi town still divided about the meaning of justice, 40 years after the murders of civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, an event drmatized in the Oscar-winning film, Mississippi Burning. (FRI- 2PM)

Sweet Justice
dir. by Kelly Grey (Dallas, TX) COMEDY. Shot in Dallas. Child support detectives on the job. (FRI- 10AM)

The Good Fight: James Farmer Remembers the Civil Rights Movement
dir. by Jessica Schoenbaechler (Dallas, TX). BIO-DOCUMENTARY. Chronicle of Farmer’s life from his earliest days as a "Great Debater" at Wiley College to his legacy teaching a new generation of students about the movement that shaped a country. (THUR- 4PM)

Unequal

dir. by John White (Compton, CA)
CHRISTIAN ROMANCE COMEDY. After learning of a "church girl" (Candace) who's "saving herself for marriage,"  a playboy (Urban) decides to pursue her in order to become her "first." (FRI-8PM).

SHORT FILMS


A Voice of the People

dir. by LaDonna Castro (Dallas, TX)
BIO-DOCUMENTARY. The story of Norma Adams-Wade, the first full-time African-American staff writer for the Dallas Morning News.

All Out
dir. by O'Shea" Myles (Long Beach, CA)
WORLD PREMIERE. DRAMA. After catching their daughter with a man, two lesbian parents come to terms with their daughter’s heterosexuality. (FRI- 10PM)

Always With You
dir. by Troy warwell (CA)
TEXAS PREMIERE.  DRAMA. A man is left by his wife after his neglect causes their 4-year-old son to be involved in a fatal accident. (SAT-4PM)

Asbury Park
dir. by Robert Andersen (Jersey City, NJ) TEXAS PREMIERE.
DRAMA. A young man returns to his hometown seeking redemption and forgiveness for the wrongs of his past. While his mother greets his return happily, he must struggle to rebuild his relationship with his brother, just as the town around him struggles to rebuild itself. (FRI-10PM)

Change

dir. by Jay Rodriguez (Jackson, NJ)
WORLD PREMIERE. DRAMA. A film reflecting upon the point of view of young and deprived individuals. Becoming a product of their environment is an all too common experience but it's not something that is etched in stone. (SAT-6PM)

Changing

dir. by Lela Bell (Plano, TX)
WORLD PREMIERE. DRAMA. Scott and Aliza Holt relocate to Texas in 1983, and discover that being an interracial family in the South is an added battle they didn't expect. (FRI-4PM).

Empty Space

dir. by Rob Underhill (Raleigh, NC,) TEXAS PREMIERE.
DRAMA. Every morning Mike wakes like this. Soon after, the voices in his mind wake too. Vivid recollections, situations, and each scene he acts out on a bare stage. (FRI-6PM)

Forgive Us Our Transgressions
dir. by Walter Richardson (Los Angeles, CA)
WORLD PREMIERE.
DRAMA. FORGIVENESS. 20-year-old African-American college student who’s haunted by the lynching of a relative in the South and has to choose between moving forward or avenging the unpunished crime when he has the opportunity to confront the perpetrator who is responsible. (SAT-4PM)

Free Meal

dir. by Evita Castine (Los Angeles, CA)   TEXAS PREMIERE.
COMEDY/ DRAMA. Andre Cox thinks that with his high school graduation approaching life is going to get easier for him in inner-city Los Angeles, but his older sister has other plans. (SAT-4PM)

Go Getta!

dir. by Sean Phillips (Houston, TX) WORLD PREMIERE.
DRAMA/ COMEDY. Beautiful young professional female has led a partying life, and anxiously awaits the results of an HIV test. (FRI-4PM)

Grace
dir. by Steven Mondesir (Irvington, NJ) WORLD PREMIERE.
DRAMA. After helping an old girlfriend in desperate need, young man is forced to recall a painful past. (SAT 6PM)

In Retrospect...

dir. by Logan Coles (Brooklyn, NY) WORLD PREMIERE. DRAMA. Unexpected passing of young woman forces an uncomfortable reunion between her estranged jazz-been husband and her emotionally detached daughter. (FRI-10PM)

Jitters
dir. by Jason S. Williams (Winter Parl, FL) WORLD PREMIERE.
DRAMA. FORGIVENESS. Black woman asks estranged father to give her away at her wedding. Discussion of her marrying a white man The film deals with issues of race, religion, abandonment, cultural differences and forgiveness. (SAT 6PM)

Jodi
dir. by Jordan Auten (Van Nuys, CA) TEXAS PREMIERE. DRAMA.
INSPIRATIONAL/ RACE. While at the neighborhood grocery store with her 6-year-old daughter Lux, Jodi confronts her past when she unexpectedly runs into the love of her life. (SAT 4PM)

Letters From Home
dir. by Keva Keyes (Goose Creek, SC) TEXAS PREMIERE.
PATRIOTIC DRAMA.  A team of U.S. Army soldiers deployed to a remote base in Afghanistan anxiously await mail call. It's through this encounter we get to know team members and witness the effects the letters have on them. (SAT 6PM)

Memoirs of a Black Latina

dir. by Crystal Roman (Staten Island, NY) WORLD PREMIERE.
An intimate portrait of 4 voices that have yet to be heard and their inner most thoughts and feelings towards their Triple Minority Status. Memoirs characters are based upon four emotions (Anger, Sad, Love and Empowered). (THUR 8PM)

Nobody Has to Know

dir. by Julian Walker (Davidson, NC) TEXAS PREMIERE.
DRAMA. Silent film about a man steps outside of his marriage and has an affair with another man. When his wife gets pregnant he calls off the affair. However, a phone call a month later reveals that the affair may stay with him for the rest of his life. (FRI 10PM)

Nothing More, Nothing Less
dir. by Dui Jarrod (New Orleans, LA) WORLD PREMIERE.  ROMANCE. The beautiful story of a young woman dealing with the death of her fiancé and the secrets that may never allow her to love again. (SAT-6PM)

Online
dir. by Keith Purvis (Chicago, IL) WORLD PREMIERE. COMEDY/ EXPERIMENTAL. ONLINE takes viewers along for the ride of a whirlwind romance that spotlights two fashionable 20-somethings who meet, fall in love, get married and get divorced all in a matter of seven minutes. (SAT-4PM)

Osvaldo's
dir. by Randy Wilkins (Bronx, NY) TEXAS PREMIERE. COMEDY ROMANTIC. Hispanic widower dates younger woman and addresses the difficulty his young daughter has with the new relationship. (THUR-8PM)

Painting Poetry
dir. by Earl Latchley (Houston, TX) ROMANCE. A poetic tale that tells the story of a painter struggling to cope with the loss of his beloved. (FRI-6PM)

Picnic
dir. by Alexandra Thomas (Austin, TX) COMEDY. Two black documentary film makers covering the story of a white supremacist sect. (FRI-10PM)

Proven Guilty
dir. by Kalyce Simpson (Dallas, TX) HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT FILM. DRAMA MYSTERY. (THUR-10AM)

Ralph, Esq.
dir. by Corey Shields (Houston, TX) WORLD PREMIERE. DRAMA. Attorney gives up his career to live the life of an amusement clown. (FRI-4PM)

Renouncing Angelica

dir. by Temi Ojo (CA) TEXAS PREMIERE.
CHRISTIAN ROMANCE. Best Short Film Port Harcourt, Nigeria 2009 (Film Festival) Gold Lion Film Festival WINNER Director's Award Swaziland, South Africa. Man falls in love with woman for whom he was a bone marrow donor.  (FRI-8PM)

Shades of Gray

dir. Sharon Hill (Los Angeles, CA) DRAMA ROMANCE. TEXAS PREMIERE.
Two inter-racial couples (WM-BF and BM-WF) examine each persons individual perspective on the relationships. Brilliantly written and acted. (THUR-8PM)

Sounds of Poetry
dir. by Henderson Maddox (Atlanta, GA) TEXAS PREMIERE.
DRAMA INSPIRATIONAL. Features Robin Givens. Young girl endures household with drugs and abuse, and uses her ability to write poetry as an escape which proves cathartic.  (FRI-6PM)

Steps
dir. by Barney Cheng (West Hollywood, CA) TEXAS PREMIERE.
CHRISTIAN. Young black girl is saved by the steps of Hispanic woman. (SAT-4PM)

Strait Talk

dir. by Chris Howell (Arlington, TX) WORLD PREMIERE.
Shot in Dallas. TV Pilot/ Talk show. (FRI-10AM)

Sugarman Fly High
dir. Robert Lavenstein (MD) WORLD PREMIERE.
DRAMA Young man discovers his estranged Aunt lives nearby and seeks her advice and 
guidance. He discovers a family secret that has been silenced 
by his father for over thirty years. (SAT-6PM)

Tags
dir. by Dominique DeLeon (Brooklyn, NY) WORLD PREMIERE.
SHORT "STREET BIOGRAPHY" Story of the commitment of a young graffiti artist to her craft. (FRI-10PM)

Thank You For Washing

dir. by Camille Brown (Los Angeles, CA) WORLD PREMIERE.
COMEDY/ ROMANCE. Brilliant short about a germaphobic office worker who falls in love with a co-worker.  (THUR-10AM; FRI-6PM)

The Funeral
dir. by Iverson White (Shorewood, WI) TEXAS PREMIERE.
A woman's husband dies and his girlfriend shows up at the funeral. How will the wife react? (SAT-4PM)

The Man in the Glass Case

dir. by Maxwell Addae (Los Angeles, CA) TEXAS PREMIERE.
DRAMATIC NARRATIVE FICTION.  James, an emotionally detached warehouse employee commits an irrational violent act against a co-worker, resulting in a confrontation with his boss that challenges his apathetic view of life. (FRI-4PM)

The New 20's
dir. by Maurice Dwyer  (North Hollywood, CA) WORLD PREMIERE.
WOMEN DRAMA MATURE ADULT Six friends, now all in their thirties, navigate through life’s trials and triumphs,dealing with real world issues they had not faced in college, or even in their twenties.  (SAT-4PM)

The Night We Died

dir. by Ron Gonzalez (TX) WORLD PREMIERE.
ROMANCE. Young professional man is faced with the difficult decision of what to do when once advised by an angel that someone he loves will be called to heaven. (FRI-6PM)

The Secret
dir. by Daria James (Houston, TX) DALLAS PREMIERE (FRI-4PM)

Type O
dir. by Brianna Brown (Mississauga, ON Canada) U.S. PREMIERE.
DRAMA INSPIRATIONAL. Divorcee is faced with challenge when her daughter who suffers from sickle-cell anemia  requires a blood transfusion, and the only potential donor is the girl’s Caucasian new step-mother. (FRI-6PM)

Unspoken
dir. by Rocky McKoy (Landover, MD) TEXAS PREMIERE.
ROMANCE DRAMA. A husband and wife struggle with a dying relationship while the husband is unable to communicate his pain.  (SAT-4PM)

Who Would You?

dir. by Todd Eric Valcourt (Los Angeles, CA)  TEXAS PREMIERE.
COMEDY ADULT A husband and wife who go a little too far while talking about each other's secret desires. (SAT-4PM)

You Better Run
dir. by David Beier (Natchitoches, LA) TEXAS PREMIERE.
DRAMA COURAGE. Aspiring college student has a run-in while on his way to an interview that will test his courage and perseverance.  (FRI-Noon)

DOCUMENTARIES


A Voice of the People, Biography of Norma Adams-Wade
dir. by LaDonna Castro (Plano, TX) Biography of the life of the first African-American female staff writer for the Dallas Morning News.  (THUR-10AM)

Black Soldiers in Blue
dir. by Warren Bass (Philadelphia, PA) TEXAS PREMIERE.
The story of the recruitment of black volunteers and their training at Camp William Penn, the first and largest federal training camp for black soldiers during the American Civil War. (FRI-Noon)

Can She Be Saved?

dir. by Yasmin Shiraz (Chantilly, VA) TEXAS PREMIERE.
Youth Activist, Yasmin Shiraz, interviews middle school girls who have been labeled as 'aggressive' and finds out the reasons behind their explosive behavior. (THUR-10AM)

Carry Me Home

dir. by Channing Godfrey Peoples (Dallas, TX)
Reveals the elaborate tradition of African-American funeral homes burying the dead in grand flair.  (FRI-10AM)

Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ile Aiye
dir. by Carolina Moraes-Liu (Bahia, Brazil) TEXAS PREMIERE.
This is a story of three young women competing for the title of Ebony Goddess in the largest urban black city outside Africa, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. (THUR 8PM)

Herskovitz – At The Heart of Blackness

dir. by Smith, Brown & Sommers (CA) TEXAS THEATRICAL PREMIERE.
Special screening co-sponsored by Dallas Holocaust Museum. Biography of the Jewish professor credited with founding the academia of modern-day African-American studies.  (THUR- 6:15)

Inside Buffalo

dir. Fred Kuwornu (Rome, Italy) TEXAS PREMIERE.
Inside look at the African-American soldiers of World War II, and the social discrimination they endured. (FRI-Noon)

Nourishing The Kids Of Katrina - The Edible Schoolyard

dir. by Robert Grant (Sacramento, CA) WORLD PREMIERE.
Chef/educator Alice Waters' "edible schoolyard" program improves the emotional and physical health of African-American adolescents at a Hurricane Katrina ravaged grammar school. (THUR-4PM)

One Square Mile
dir. by Carl Crum (Fort Worth, TX)  DALLAS PREMIERE. The Lake Como community in Fort Worth, Texas; a neighborhood born out of segregation a century ago, now tries to cope with surrounding development and the effects of its heritage. (THUR-2PM)

Pray For Eric 

dir. by Ken Wyatt TEXAS PREMIERE.
NY-based filmmaker decides to visit his rural North Carolina neighbors who "allegedly" supported or sympathized with serial bomber Eric Rudolph. (THUR-4PM)

ANIMATION

O Pintor de Ceos (The Painter of Skies)
dir. by Jorge Morias Valle (Vigo-Pontevedra, SPAIN) WORLD PREMIERE.
DRAMA MYSTERY. A crazy painter, marked by his past, and his faithful assistant try to find a solution against perpetual storms. (FRI-2PM)

 

ReelAbilities

The Second Annual ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival is running January 28 through February 1, 2010, at The JCC in Manhattan at 334 Amsterdam Avenue, and at other locations throughout the New York metropolitan area. ReelAbilities is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different abilities.

The festival presents award-winning films, discussions and other engaging programs to bring the community together to explore, discuss and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.

The award winning animated feature Mary & Max, directed by Adam Elliot, opens the festival on January 28. This clay-animated film tells the story of a pen-friendship between a lonely 8-year-old girl in Melbourne and a 44-year-old Jewish man with Aspergers Syndrome living in New York.

The Closing Night film is Coming Down the Mountain, directed by Julie Anne Robinson. It's the story of David, a teenager whose 17-year-old brother, Ben, has Down's Syndrome, and how the family's world revolves around Ben's needs while David's are unwittingly neglected by their parents.

Other films are:

Beeswax, directed by Andrew Bujalski, a story of twin sisters who share a house, and their loves and dilemmas.
   
Among the Giants, directed by Cory Tomascoff, about the Adaptive Design Association, a nonprofit organization that builds customized equipment for kids and adults with disabilities, mainly using cardboard.

Nobody's Perfect, directed by Niko von Glasow. This documentary follows von Glasow as he looks for 11 people who, like him, were born disabled due to the side-effects of Thalidomide, and who are prepared to pose — naked — for a book of photos.

Shooting Beauty, directed by George Kachadorian, a documentary of fashion photographer Courtney Bent, who discovered a hidden world of beauty at a center for people living with significant disabilities, and began inventing cameras accessible to her new friends.

White Balance, directed by Dorit Hakim, is the story of a 12-year-old with a deep passion for ice skating, who is slowly losing his hearing, and therefore his balance, but refuses to give up his dream.

Henry O!, directed by Ziad H. Hamzeh, a documentary about Enrique (Henry) Oliu, a blind baseball commentator, who hears the crack of the bat and knows if it's a single, double or home run.

Zig-Zag Love, directed by Gillies Mackinnon. This is a love story about a relationship between a teenage cancer patient and a girl with cerebral palsy.

The Hunger House, directed by Justin Edgar, a moving short film touching on the dehumanization of people with disabilities by the Nazis during World War II.

All films are followed by discussion with filmmakers and speakers.

Other events:

Crooked Beauty
Following a screening of this excerpt from the work-in-progress film, Jonah Bossewitch, Ashley McNamara, and Annie Robinson of the Icarus Project will discuss viewing "mental illness" as a disability versus The Icarus Project's vision of a new culture and language that resonates with their actual experience of "mental illness". This panel explores questions of creativity and "madness," "divers-ability" and normality, mutual aid and biomedical psychiatry.

Flame
A band made up of 11 musicians/performers with developmental and physical disabilities.

Infinity Dance
A non-traditional dance company featuring dancers with and without disabilities

Gimp
Choreographer Heidi Latsky presents a roster of performers who embody unique physical virtuosity.
   
To Be Seen
An original theater piece written and performed by The Creative Alternatives NY (CANY) and The JCC in Manhattan's Adaptations Drama Group.

Music for Autism
An Interactive, "Autism Friendly" Concert with Tony Award-winner Jarrod Emick and singer/guitar player Andrew Ross.

Practical Guide to Autism
Author discussion and book signing with Dr. Fred Volkmar.

Seeing with Photography
The Seeing with Photography Collective is a group of photographers based in New York City who range from sighted to visually impaired and and totally blind.
 
Kids Club Art Exhibit
Featuring self- portraits created by the children of the Kids Club for Special Children.

For more information, visit www.reelabilities.org.

ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival
January 28 through February 1, 2010


The JCC Manhattan
334 Amsterdam Avenue
New York Cit
y

The Best of the African Diaspora Film Festival

From February 19 – 24, 2010, BAMcinématek will present The Best of the African Diaspora Film Festival, an event spotlighting the diversity of filmmaking in Africa and throughout the African Diaspora. The Festival presents an eclectic mix of urban, classic, independent and foreign films that depict the richness and diversity of the life experience of people of African descent and indigenous people all over the world.
 
This year’s festival brings together films from countries including Nigeria, Jamaica, South Africa, Bolivia, Cuba, Senegal, Martinique, Egypt, and the United States. The ADFF’s mission is to present these films to diverse audiences, redesign the Black cinema experience, and strengthen the role of African and African descent directors in contemporary world cinema.

Films include:

Amilcar Cabral (2001) 
Directed by Ana Ramos Lisboa
Cape Verde/Portugal
52min, in Portuguese with English subtitles. 
This documentary probes the life story of the revolutionary giant Amilcar Cabral, assassinated in Conakry in 1973, through rare archival footage, testimonies from important African figures, and the credible recreation of notable episodes of Cabral's life.

Frantz Fanon: His Life, His Struggle, His Work (Frantz Fanon: Sa Vie, Son Combat, Son Travail) (2001) 
Directed by Cheikh Djemai 
52min,
Martinique/France/Algeria/Tunisia, in French with English subtitles.
Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist from Martinique who became a radical spokesman for the Algerian revolution. This documentary traces the life of one of the great thinkers of the 20th century.

Arugba (2008) 
Directed by Tunde Kelani
97min,
Nigeria, in Yoruba with English subtitles. 
The latest from Nigerian filmmaker Kelani (Abeni) is a political satire of contemporary Nigeria. Set against the backdrop of a corrupt society seeking rebirth, the film presents a world in which modernity and tradition exist alongside each other but seldom in equilibrium.

Black Nation (2009) 
Directed by Mats Hjelm
60mins, Sweden/U.S.
This look at the state of black manhood in America is seen through the prism of the streets of Detroit, MI, and its controversial Church of the Black Madonna. Swedish filmmaker Mats Hjelm draws on his deep personal connection to the church and the city to explore the racial, cultural, and political ramifications of a "black male genocide"—all within the context of the decomposition of a once proud city.

Blues March - Soldier Jon Hendricks (2009) 
Directed by Malte Rauch
78min
U.S./Germany
During World War II, 22-year-old Jon Hendricks, along with 900,000 other black GIs, fought wars on two fronts: one against the Nazis and another against racial discrimination. This documentary tells the story of Hendricks, later a world-renowned jazz musician, who deserted the army along with many other African Americans because of discrimination and harassment.

With A Stroke of the Chaveta (Con el toque de la chaveta) (2007) 
Directed by Pam Sporn
28min.
U.S., in Spanish with English subtitles. 
This documentary reveals the tradition of lectores, or readers, which was an integral part of the world of Cuban cigar makers from the 1800s to today.

Solidarity in Saya: An Afro-Bolivian Music Movement (2009) 
Directed by Maya Jensen
30min,
Bolivia, in Spanish with English subtitles. 
Through music and interviews with Afro-Bolivian economist Juan AngolaMaconde and others, this documentary explores the little known minority of Afro-Bolivian rural villagers in La Paz and the African-based music they use as a cultural tool of resistance.
 
Glorious Exit (2008) 
Directed by Kevin Merz 
75min, Nigeria/U.S./Switzerland, in English and German with English subtitles. 
A Swiss-Nigerian actor living in Los Angeles is summoned to Nigeria to bury his father. According to Nigerian tradition, the first-born is in charge of a father's burial. Although Jarreth accepts the responsibility, he struggles with the idea of being morally bound towards a family that he hardly knows and who has never been particularly interested in him.

Visibly Invisible (2008) 
Directed by Kurt Orderson
57min, Norway/South Africa
Promoting awareness about African culture, history, and identity in Norway, Afrikan History Week
represents the 50,000 strong African community living in that country. This documentary showcases their main activity, a platform for critical reflection on African cultural forms.

Making History (2008) 
Directed by Caecilia Tripp, Karen D McKinnon
10min
U.S/U.K.
This film mixes real time conversation between Linton Kwesi Johnson, considered the father of dub (reggae) poetry, and Nobel Prize nominee Edouard Glissant, one of the most important Caribbean writers of the last half-century, with a fictional narrative about a young woman cruising through night-time New York.

Anomaly (2009) 
Directed by Jessica Chen Drammeh
United States
47min.
This thought-provoking look at this country's multiracial identity uses spoken word and music to tell stories of navigating a complex racial landscape.

The Journey of the Lion (1992) 
Directed by Fritz Baumannz
Jamaica/Germany
90min
Brother Howie is a Jamaican Rastafarian who dreams of the land of his ancestors: Africa. On a journey in search of his roots and his identity he travels through three continents and—with great humor and sensitivity—discovers not only Africa, but the entire world.

Made In Jamaica (2006) 
Directed by Jerome Laperrousaz
110min,
Jamaica/France
This documentary explores the multifaceted reality of reggae and dancehall music through interviews and musical performances with artists like Gregory Isaacs, Bounty Killer, Toots & the Maytals, Vybz Kartel, Sly & Robbie, Elephant Man, Bunny Wailer, Lady Saw, Third World, Beres Hammond, Tanya Stephens and more.

Nothing but the Truth (2008) 
Directed by John Kani
South Africa
118min.
This drama explores the complex relationship between black South Africans who risked their lives in the struggle against apartheid and those who returned victorious after living in exile.

Pro-Black Sheep (2009) 
Directed by Clayton Broomes Jr. 
U.S.
109min,
When Rashad, a young man with an extraordinary intellect, is discovered sending anonymous emails criticizing black leaders for undermining the progress of black America, the leader who makes the discovery hires Rashad, setting him on a journey to find the voice he needs to make a difference. 

Stolen Kisses (Kobolat Masroka) (2009) 
Directed by Khaled El Hagar
Egypt,120min, in Arabic with English subtitles. 35mm
This portrayal of nine Egyptians in their 20s creates a picture of modern Cairo by focusing on family conflicts, unemployment, sexual frustration, prostitution, and violence—themes which are rarely touched upon in Egypt.

Up from the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream (2009) 
Directed by James Schaub
U.S. 58min.
Cicely Tyson narrates this documentary about the massive migration of African Americans from the rural South to the prosperous North during the World War II years and beyond. The film also features civil rights activist, comedian, and author Dick Gregory and the scholar of Black Americana studies, Dr. Ben Wilson.

When The City Bites (Quand la ville mord) (2009) 
Directed by Dominique Cabrera
France
60min, in French with English subtitles
When Sara and her cousin arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport from Brazzaville, they are soon put to work in a prostitution ring. When Omar, the pimp, kills Sara’s cousin in a brutal beating, Sara decides to take matters into her own hands.

Youssou N'dour: Return to Gorée (2006) 
Directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud 
Switzerland/ Luxembourg/ Senegal
108min, in English and French with English subtitles. 35mm
Youssou N’Dour, the Senegalese singer, gives a jazz concert on the island of Gorée to commemorate those who started their journey in life as slaves in the New World and created one of the most important and celebrated musical expressions in the world.
 
Tickets: $12 per screening for adults; $9 for seniors (65 and over),  
$9 for children (ages five to eleven), and $9 for students (25 and under with valid I.D.) 
Monday–Thursday, except holidays; $8 BAM Cinema Club members
Tickets available by phone at 718.777.FILM
 
For more information visit: www.nyadff.org

Best of the African Diaspora Film Festival
Feb. 19 – 24, 2010
BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Avenue
Brookylyn, NY 11217

Subcategories

Newsletter Sign Up

Upcoming Events

No Calendar Events Found or Calendar not set to Public.

Tweets!