FILM GUIDE 2009
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE PROGRAM
Thursday 21st - OPENING & Cocktail
7.00 pm
Introduction by the Founders & Directors of Real Life
7.30pm
NBPC Short films
IN SHORT FORM: The Slave Post Communities Of Accra, Ghana
8.00 pm
THE MANUSCRIPTS OF TIMBUKTU (In Competition)
By Zola Maseko (2008, 74 min., South Africa)
‘The Manuscripts of Timbuktu’ is a documentary about the history of the Manuscripts seen through the life of one of Africa’s greatest scholars, Ahmed Baba who is portrayed in the film by the famous actor, Eriq Ebouaney. It's a poetic and visually stunning film that elevates the views of African historians and packs a punch at European historians who covered up the true meaning of the manuscripts and ancient African culture and writing. Music by Vieux Farka Touré and Jonathan de Vries.
GOETHE INSTITUT
Friday 22nd
7.30 pm
UPROOTED (In Competition)
By Juan Mejia Botero (2007, 44 min., Colombia /USA)
Noris’s captivating story lends a human face to what is an often invisibilized and dehumanized population. 'The displaced' are portrayed as an uncomfortable consequence of the civil war, and a drain on resources. “Uprooted” acts as a counter-narrative to humanize internal refugees in Colombia, and across the world.
Above all else, this documentary is an intimate portrayal of the tragedy of uprooting; a beautifully detailed tale about struggle and resilience; a bittersweet story of loss, love, family, and dreams.
8.30 pm
THE CRY OF THE SEA
by Aïcha Thiam (2008, 26', Senegal)
The "cry of the Sea" is the struggle of a mother, Yaye Bayam DIOUF, who lost her only son in a dugout (or boat) for the Canary Islands. Today, all her life in “Thiaroye sur Mer” is devoted to fight against clandestine immigration. The "Cry of the Sea" is also a heartfelt cry, a singular point of view on a plague which has carried more than three thousand young Senegaleses.
9.00pm
You didn't see anything in Kinshasa (In Competition)
By Mweze Dieudonne Gangura (2008, 90 min., RD Congo)
Kinshasa is the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa's third biggest country and the second megalopolis of sub-Saharan Africa This film describes different groups of vulnerable people, whose lives fly below the radar of most observers of daily life in the congolese capital. The film states clearly that aspiring to a better social equallity, democracy and good governance is not an abstract concept but the very foundation of true development.
GAMA EXECUTIVE THEATER
Saturday 23rd
3.00 pm
BRONX PRINCESS
Yoni Brook & Musa Syeed (38 min., 2008, USA)
BRONX PRINCESS follows headstrong 17-year-old Rocky's journey as she leaves behind her mother in New York City to reunite with her father, a chief in Ghana, West Africa. Filmed during the tumultuous summer between high-school and college, BRONX PRINCESS tells Rocky's coming-of-age story. By confronting her immigrant parents' ideas of adulthood, Rocky reconciles her African heritage with her dream of independence.
4.00 pm
CINDERELAS, LOBOS E UM PRINCIPE ENCANTADO (In Competition)
By Joel Zito Araujo (2008, 110 min., Brazil)
Traveling in Brazil and also through European countries like, Italy and Germany, the director discusses the dream of many Brazilian women to find European husbands. Many of them migrate, and become dancers in shows of samba and other Brazilian rhythms. Without study or training, some of them become prostitutes and rarely achieve their dream; in spite of this trauma, the film showcases a happy ending.
6.00 pm
CEMETERY STORIES: A REBEL MISSIONNARY IN SOUTH AFRICA (In Competition)
By M. Cherif Keita (2008, 58 min., Mali/US)
The director, a West African who resides in the US, takes us along his eight-year journey on the footsteps of two families, the Wilcoxes and the Dubes, one of white American missionaries, and the other, Zulus from Inanda, whose friendship in the late 19th century, stands as a major landmark in the struggle for Black liberation and Democracy in South Africa. Along the way, the scholar-director brings to both families some lost pieces of their history and makes them reconnect after losing touch with each other for ninety years.
7.15 pm
NORA (In Competition)
By Alla Kovgan & David Hinton (30 min, 2008, US/UK/Mozambique)
“Nora” is based on true stories of the dancer Nora Chipaumire, who was born in Zimbabwe in 1965. In the film, Nora returns to the landscape of her childhood and takes a journey through some vivid memories of her youth. Using performance and dance, she brings her history to life in a swiftly-moving poem of sound and image.
8.00 pm
BEHIND THE RAINBOW (In Competition)
By Jihan El Tahri (2009, 124 min., Egypt)
Focused on the conflicts within the ANC, in power in South Africa after the end of
Apartheid, this rigorous, complete and richly documented film deals with the fratricide struggle between Thabo Mbecki and Jacob Zuma. It is not restricted to the political analysis but also studies in depth their psychology. The destructive nature of power emerges and in particular the threats that hang over a country, the evolution of which is decisive for the future of the whole of the African continent. Second Prize for the best Documentary at Fespaco 2009.
Sunday May 24th – Closing ceremony
3.00 pm
JACQUES ROUMAIN, THE PASSION OF A COUNTRY (In Competition)
By Arnold Antonin (2008, 110 min., Haïti)
This very informative movie explores the Haitian society of the late 19th century and early 20th by focusing on the tormented life of one of Haiti's most important authors, Jacques Roumain, who was also a prominent political figure. In his writings, Roumain raised vivid questions that were and still are very much relevant in regard to some of the issues the country faces today.
Paul Robeson Prize at the 21st Pan-African Festival of Film and Television in Ouagadougou (Fespaco) 2009.
5.00 pm
OUR FORBIDDEN PLACES (In Competition)
By Leila Kilani (2008, 110 min., Maroc)
In 2004, the King of Morocco launched an Equity and Reconciliation Commission to investigate state violence during the "years of lead". For three years, the film accompanies four families in their search for the truth: activist, young rebel soldier or simple citizen, either they or their relations were imprisoned in different widely spread parts of Morocco. But, forty years later, the state secret finally unveils the existence of another, more intimate secret, the family secret. They all feel the need to reconstruct history and recover their parents, taken from them twice over.
First Prize for the best Documentary at Fespaco 2009.
7.00 pm
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OULED LENINE (In Competition)
By Nadia El Fani (2007, 81 min., Tunisie)
The director Nadia El Fani portrays, through interviews and travelling over the country, her own father, one of the chief of the Tunisian Communist Party! “That was the time when we achieved Independence for the country, when women and men were equal, when…“ This film is made as a profound investigation upon modern History. Yet, it is full of emotion as it depicts a family ‘saga’ over a few generations, over just the last fifty years or so… on both banks of our common sea: the Mediterranean.
Award Ceremony
9.00 pm
RASTA’S PARADISE
By Parine Jaddo (2008, 50 min., Iraq) Rasta’s Paradise is a 50 min documentary about Rastafarians in Ethiopia. It attempts to shed light on their movement, way of life, music, and the reasons for repatriating to Ethiopia. It travels from Addis Ababa to Shashemene, visiting Rastas, in their tabernacle, school, and homes as they explain the geopolitical connections between their message, identity and ‘take’ on current world events.
OUTDOORS SCREENINGS at NKRUMAH CIRCLE
Thursday 21st
6.30 pm
IN SHORT FORM: The Slave Post Communities Of Accra, Ghana
A series of shorts films produced in Accra
7.00 pm
BLACKOUT
By Jerry LaMothe (USA, 2007, 1h35, fiction)
In summer 2003, America experienced the largest blackout in its history-widely reported as peaceful. But in Brooklyn's forgotten East Flatbush neighborhood, mayhem unfolded when the power shut down. This is the untold story of the blackout, a place where, as night fell, looters emerged, violence surfaced and residents feared for their lives. Featuring: Jeffrey Wright, Zoe Saldana, Melvin Van Peebles and Latanya Richardson.
8.30 pm
NORA (In Competition)
By Alla Kovgan & David Hinton (30 min, 2008, US/UK/Mozambique)
9.00 pm
BRONX PRINCESS
By Yoni Brook & Musa Syeed (38 min., 2008, Fiction)
The film follows headstrong 17-year-old Rocky's journey as she leaves behind her mother in New York City to reunite with her father, a chief in Ghana, West Africa.
Friday 22nd
6.30 pm
IN SHORT FORM: The Slave Post Communities Of Accra, Ghana
A series of shorts films produced in Accra
7.00 pm
IN MY GENES
By Lupita Nyong’o, (2009, 78min., Kenya)
In My Genes addresses the personal and societal challenges that people with albinism face as members of one of the most hyper-visible and misunderstood minority groups of Kenya's predominantly black society through the experiences of eight individuals from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Through this uplifting story of discrimination on the
basis of skin color, not only does she want to shed light on the problem of stigma, but also hopes to celebrate human difference.
8.30 pm
UPROOTED (In Competition)
By Juan Mejia Botero (2007, 44 min., Colombia /USA)
Saturday 23rd
6.30 pm
IN SHORT FORM: The Slave Post Communities Of Accra, Ghana
A series of shorts films produced in Accra
7.00 pm
THE MANUSCRIPTS OF TIMBUKTU (In Competition)
By Zola Maseko (2008, 74 min., South Africa)
8.30 pm
HOME GROWN, HIPLIFE IN GHANA (In Competition)
By Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi (2009, 58 min., Ghana)
HomeGrown: HipLife in Ghana, is a feature-length documentary about V.I.P. (Vision In Progress). The film documents ten years of their journey from the ghetto in Accra to their first international tour. They grow from being teenagers with a shared dream to musicians with fans around the world.
