USA: The New York African Film Festival showcases African films by African filmmakers

Record ID: 452814

  • Title: USA: The New York African Film Festival showcases African films by African filmmakers
  • Date: 19th April 2007
  • Summary: (AD1) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAHEN BONETTI, DIRECTOR OF THE NEW YORK AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL, SAYING: "In this year's festival we spliced, we've paired contemporary works with archival works, footage of when we did not have the camera in our hands, when we did not tell our stories, how were those stories told in and about Africa, and about African people. And we look at what African film-makers who have the camera in their hands now, what stories are they telling."
  • Embargoed: 4th May 2007 13:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVABLUYQCUEJEEQS5EOWBRDM414I
  • Story Text: From a documentary set in Congo that explores rape as a weapon of war, to a short film about a young first-generation African American girl in New York who watches a struggling old African immigrant -- the New York African Film Festival, held in the Big Apple, presents a wide gamut of films that touch upon various facets of African life, both in the continent and outside it.
    The fourteenth year of the festival marks the fiftieth anniversary of the independence of Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence from colonial rule.
    This year's program, featuring 47 films from 20 countries such as Burkina Faso and Algeria, pays particular attention to cinema which reveals the cultural legacy of colonialism as well as depicts the shaping of cultural and political identities of newly independent nations.
    Mahen Bonetti, the director of the New York African Film Festival, explained their approach to the mix of the films included in the festival this year.
    "In this year's festival we spliced, we've paired contemporary works with archival works, footage of when we did not have the camera in our hands, when we did not tell our stories, how were those stories told in and about Africa, and about African people. And we look at what African film-makers who have the camera in their hands now, what stories are they telling," said Bonetti.
    Two films getting a lot of attention in this year's festival include "Max and Mona," by South African Teddy Mattera, which contrasts tribalism with city culture in a humorous way, and "Death of Two Sons," a documentary set in Guinea and New York which explores the political and spiritual implications of the 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo, a Guinean immigrant in New York.
    The festival has various special categories including "Hope In The Time Of Crisis", co-presented with Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, which includes documentaries by director Osvalde Lewat-Hallade, from Cameroon.
    One of Hallade's films is "A Love During The War", a US premiere at the festival, which looks at the consequences of rape as a weapon of war, as seen from the perspective of African women.
    Hallade explained the importance in telling this story.
    "Unfortunately, as a film-maker if you go the Congo, you cannot avoid but looking at and you have this reality of rape jump right into your face. You cannot avoid that, and therefore, I feel that by making a film on the topic is the only way that I can personally do something about the issue," said Hallade.
    Also at the festival there is a mid-career retrospective of film-maker Fanta Regina Nacro, from Burkina Faso. Films being shown as part of the retrospective include "Un Certain Matin", "Konate's Gift" and "Bintou".
    "Bintou" is a satire about a Burkina Faso husband and wife, where the husband worries about his wife Bintou's newfound financial freedom, thinking it could lead her to commit adultery.
    Nacro, who Bonetti says is the first female director from Burkina Faso, says she had mixed feelings about the festival having a retrospective of her works.
    "I feel this is a big honour to come here and to have this mid-career retrospective. But I'm a little ambivalent about it because on the one hand, it's very nice because it means they recognize your work, and so you feel very honoured about it. But on the other hand, you feel that it's half of your career, and you say - what does that mean, does it mean that I still have half a career? What is going to happen, what should I do next? And it's also, it's also a kind of passage from being young to being old, so I am also ambivalent about it," said Nacro.
    Many of the films in this year's festival try dismantling stereotypes about African society and films -- challenging the audience's perception of precepts such as tradition and modernity, femininity; and even what constitutes a tragedy or comedy, documentary or fictional feature.
    Others focus on the immigrant experience, such as the short film, "Redefinition" by Leslie To, originally from Burkina Faso, now living in New York.
    The festival which began on April 4, will continue through until May
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