Friday, July 29, 2022

ADIFF DC Film Festival Line-Up Announced

Dancing the Twist in Bamako by Robert Guédiguian


From our friends at the African Diaspora International Film Festival
...

DC African Diaspora International Film Festival, August 5-7, 2022

The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF), in collaboration with the Africa World Now Project, will host its 15th annual film festival in Washington, DC from Friday, August 5 - Sunday, August 7. This year’s festival will take place entirely in person at George Washington University (GWU) University Student Center (800 21st Street, NW). with a selection of 16 fiction films and documentaries in the context of ADIFF DC. ADIFF DC will also offer a film selection online. Ticket prices will range from $10 for one student/senior ticket to $120 for an all-access festival pass. Mask required.

Now in person for the first time in two years, ADIFF DC 2022 will include a Q&A discussion with Julia Browne, Producer of Opening Night Film Fighting for Respect: African American Soldiers in WWI by Joanne Burke, a historical documentary that captures the plight of African American soldiers who fought in WWI, receiving the Croix de Guerre military decoration from France, while still fighting discrimination and hatred at home in America. 

Closing Night will start by a conversation with DeShuna Elisa Spencer, Founder & CEO of KweliTV followed by the screening of The Mali-Cuba Connection by Edouard Salier and Richard Minier, about ten young promising musicians from Mali who are sent to Cuba to study music and strengthen cultural links between the two socialist countries during the Cold War. 

Some of the Highlights in the festival include: The Haitian Program with two documentaries from Haiti - Kafe Negro: Cuba & The Haitian Revolution by Mario Delatour which tells the story of the waves of Haitian workers who, over time, profoundly transformed the culture and demographics of Cuba and developed coffee growing on the island; and Kenbe Fem: A Haitian Story of Survival, Unity and Strength by Mark Goodnow and David Pierre-Louis which follows David Pierre-Louis, a Haitian-American and Seattle art-venue owner, on a son’s journey to find his mother after the country’s devastating earthquake.

ADIFF DC also offers a strong line-up of women centered stories with the Black Women Behind the Camera Program featuring the films Me Little Me directed by Elizabeth Ayiku and Get Out Alive starring and written by Nikki Lynette. Me Little Me is a Narrative feature film about Mya, a young Black woman who is fiercely pursuing a promotion at work while also attending an intensive out-patient treatment program for eating disorder recovery; 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.

Other women centered stories include Angels on Diamond Street by Petr Lom (USA) about three women fighting for social justice in an African-American church in Philadelphia; Bedroom Chains by Hassan Mageye (Uganda) about Natasha, an extrovert who stands to defend women; The Women in Block J by Mohamed Nadif (Morocco) which tells the story of three patients and a nurse from a women's psychiatric ward in Casablanca, Morocco, as they confront their suffering and forge a strong friendship; Haingosoa by Edouard Joubeaud, (Madagascar) about a young single mother from Madagascar who struggles to pay the school fees of her six-year old daughter and Loimata, The Sweetest Tears.

The African Youth program features As Far As I Can Walk by Stefan Arsenijević (Serbia) a love story between Strahinja and his wife Ababuo, two refugees in Serbia who left Ghana with a dream of a better life in Europe and Dancing the Twist in Bamako by Robert Guédiguian set in 1962 Mali, when the youth of Bamako dance the twist and rock and roll music newly imported from the West and dream of political renewal.

Other highlights include:

The Sleeping Negro by Skinner Myers, an existential drama that follows a young, black man who must overcome rage, alienation, and hopelessness in order to find his own humanity.

A Son (Un Fils) by Mehdi Barsaoui, an intense family drama starring French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila, winner of Award for Best Actor, Venice Film Festival 2019 and winner of the César Awards, France for Best Actor in 2021. 

Marighella by Wagner Moura, the story of Afro-Brazilian poet, politician, and revolutionary Carlos Marighella.

ADIFF DC FILM SERIES FACT SHEET

WHAT: ADIFF DC

WHERE: GWU University Student Center, 800 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA

WHEN: From August 5 to 7, 2022

TICKETS: Regular Screenings: $13.  Students/Seniors: $11.  Opening/Closing nights: $15. All Access Festival pass $120.  Virtual screenings are $10.  Virtual all access pass is $55.

16 FILMS - 16 COUNTRIES: USA, Brazil, Uganda, Morocco, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Haiti, Mali, New Zealand, Senegal, Madagascar, Tunisia, Serbia, Bulgaria.

WEB SITES: NYADIFF.org

SPONSORS: ArtMattan Productions, KweliTV & WPFW


SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5

2:30pm | A Son (Un Fils) by Medhi Barsoui (Tunisia)

HAITIAN PROGRAM:

4:30pm | Kafe Negro: Cuba & the Haitian Revolution by Mario Delatour (Haiti, Cuba)

Kenbe Fem: A Haitian Story of Survival, Unity and Strength by Mark Goodnow and David Pierre-Louis (Haiti, USA, Dominican Republic)

6:50pm |  The Sleeping Negro by Skinner Myers (USA)

OPENING NIGHT FILM:

8:30pm | Fighting For Respect: African American Soldiers in WWI by Joanne Burke (France, USA) + Q&A with Producer Julia Browne

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6

10:00am | Marighella by Wagner Moura (Brazil)

1:00pm | Bedroom Chains by Hassan Mageye (Uganda)

3:00pm | The Women in Block J by Mohamed Nadif (Morocco)

4:55pm | Loimata, the Sweetest Tears by Anna Marbrook (New Zealand)

BLACK WOMEN BEHIND THE CAMERA PROGRAM:

6:50pm |  Me Little Me by Elizabeth Ayiku (USA)

8:45pm | Get Out Alive by Roger Ellis (USA)


SUNDAY, AUGUST 7

10:30am | Haingosoa by Edouard Joubeaud (Madagascar)

12:20pm |Angels on Diamond Street by Petr Lom (USA)

AFRICAN YOUTH PROGRAM:

2:10pm |  Dancing the Twist in Bamako (Senegal, Canada)

4:40pm | As Far As I Can Walk by Stefan Arsenijević (Serbia, France, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Bulgaria)

CLOSING NIGHT:

Meet DeShuna Elisa Spencer, Founder & CEO of KweliTV

6:30pm | A conversation with DeShuna Spencer

7:30pm | The Mali-Cuba Connection by Edouard Salier and Richard Minier (Mali, Senegal, France)

ABOUT THE AFRICAN DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL:
Established in 1993, the African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) 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.

The mission of The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) is to expand the traditional views and perceptions of what the Black experience is by showcasing award-winning socially relevant documentary and fiction films about people of color, from Peru to Zimbabwe, from the USA to Belgium and from New Zealand to Jamaica.