Wednesday, August 14, 2013

7th Annual African Diaspora Int'l Film Festival Starts Friday

The Pirogue - Washington, DC premiere

From our friends at the ADIFF-DC...

7th Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival - Washington, DC
August 16-18, 2013

The Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival – Washington D.C. (ADIFF- DC) will celebrate its 7th anniversary in Washington D.C. from August 16 to 18, 2013 with the presentation of seven films that will transport its audiences not only to Atlanta, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Newark but also to eight different countries: Senegal, Ethiopia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Tanzania, South Africa, and Kenya.

The African Diaspora International Film Festival – D.C. will return to the Goethe Institute for its seventh edition with the presentation of the Washington D.C. Premiere of Opening Night Film African Independence, a riveting, award-winning, feature-length documentary from TZ Production Company written, directed and produced by scholar, filmmaker and PBS History Detectives host, Professor Tukufu Zuberi.

African Independence retraces the history of the independence movement throughout Africa using archival footage as well as interviews with such personalities as President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Hon. Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah - Ghana's first President, President F.W. de Klerk of South Africa and many others. The screening will be preceded by an Opening Night reception at 6pm on Friday, August 16 and will be followed by a Q&A with Professor Tukufu Zuberi.

ADIFF-D.C. will also present the Washington D.C. Premiere of award winning film from Senegal The Pirogue by Moussa Toure, official selection in the Un Certain Regard section of 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This powerful drama in which a group of 30 men and a woman sail to Europe in a pirogue, facing the sea and the possibility of never reaching their destination in exchange for the myth of a better life in Europe, was called by A.O. Scott of The New York Times “a remarkably clear-eyed, quietly ambitious film [that] deals with emotionally charged events matter-of-factly, rather than melodramatically."

In collaboration with the Swiss Embassy, ADIFF will screen the Senegal/Switzerland/Luxembourg musical documentary Return to Gorée by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud which follows Senegalese musician and current Culture Minister of Senegal, Youssou N’Dour, as he recruits musicians to prepare for a concert on the Gorée Island that today symbolizes the slave trade and stands to honor its victims.

Also in the program is the Washington D.C. premiere screening of Nishan, a new thriller set in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia about a young businesswoman who dreams of leaving Ethiopia to seek her fortune abroad. When her father mortgages the house to support her emigration, an unsigned document creates a disastrous domino effect in this thrilling feature debut by Ethiopian filmmaker Yidnekachew Shumete Desalegn.

Other films in the program include the Washington D.C. premiere showing of award-winning dance film from South Africa The African Cypher presented in collaboration with local dance organization Rhythm N’ Dance and the presentation of German film Otomo by Frieder Schlaich starring award-winning actor Isaach de Bankolé (Miami Vice, Casino Royale, Ghost Dog, The Way of the Samurai; Otomo; Chocolat) about the last 24 hours in the life of an African immigrant in Germany. This screening sponsored by the Goethe Institute will be followed by a Skype Q&A with the director Frieder Schlaich.

ADIFF Washington D.C. will close with the premiere screening of multicultural, multigenerational vision and presentation of the Shakespeare play Tango McBeth by Philadelphia based independent filmmaker Nadine M. Patterson who will be in attendance for a Q&A after the screening.  The Closing Night reception will start at 4:30pm on Sunday, August 18 to be followed at 5:00pm by the screening and Q&A.

The African Diaspora International Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization.

The 7th Annual African Diaspora Film Festival-Chicago is made possible thanks to the generous support of the following institutions: The Goethe Institute, ArtMattan Productions, Transafrica, Rhythm N’ Dance and the Embassy of Switzerland.

The Goethe Institute is located 812 Seventh Street, NW in Washington D.C.

For a full schedule and to order advance tickets online please call 212-864-1760 or visit http://www.NYADIFF.org.

Tickets are:
* $20 on Friday, August 16 @ 6pm for the Opening Night screening, reception & Q&A for African Independence;
* $15 on Sunday, August 18 @ 4:30pm for the Closing Night screening, reception & Q&A for Tango McBeth.
* $12 per screening for general admission and $10 per screening for students and seniors for all the other screenings.
* $60 for the festival weekend pass which gives access to all screenings and events.