African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) is thrilled to announce the 30th anniversary of its iconic New York African Film Festival (NYAFF), which runs from from May 10-June 1, 2023. Under the banner, Freeforms, NYAFF30 will celebrate with a program of over 50 films from more than 25 countries, with screenings taking place at three collaborating venues: Film at Lincoln Center (May 10-16); Maysles Cinema in Harlem (May 19-21), and Brooklyn Academy of Music (May 26-June 1).

Launched in 1993, the NYAFF is one of the first film festivals in the United States to reflect on the myriad ways African and diaspora filmmakers have used the moving image to tell their own complex and nuanced stories.“The New York African Film Festival was founded to counteract the voice-over, where Africans were being spoken for over grim images, and to provide a place where the seventh art could become a weapon for us to reclaim our voices, to reappropriate our images, and to add layers to the narrative,” said NYAFF founder and AFF Executive Director Mahen Bonetti. “In each frame presented by the festival over three decades, we have found our connection with each other and our footing in other people’s spaces, while presenting myriad stories about all corners of the African diaspora and the human experience itself.”

In three decades, this mission has expanded to include all corners of the African diaspora and the debut presentations of numerous films and directors that have since gained critical acclaim and canonical fame. Program highlights corresponding to the different venues follow below. For the complete schedule of NYAFF30 films and events, please refer to the festival website link.africanfilmny.org/nyaff30. Film at Lincoln Center tickets go on sale April 13: https://www.filmlinc.org/festivals/new-york-african-film-festival/.

Film at Lincoln Center (FLC): May 10-16, tickets go on sale April 13

Opening week highlights at FLC include the New York premiere of Moussa Sène Absa’s Xalé, the third film in the Senegalese director’s trilogy focused on women; and the U.S. premiere of Hyperlink, an anthology of four short films by South African filmmakers (Mzonke Maloney, Nolitha Mkulisi, Julie Nxadi, and Evan Wigdorowitz) who reflect on the seductive, treacherous, and illusory nature of the internet.

U.S. feature film premieres, among them Fatou Cissé’s A Daughter’s Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé, a deeply intimate portrayal of one of Africa’s most celebrated filmmakers; Dent pour Dent by Ottis Ba Mamadou, about a civil servant who loses his job, becomes dependent on his wife, and seeks revenge through a marabout, or holy man; Katy Léna N’diaye’s Money, Freedom, a Story of CFA Franc, a revealing account of why a currency holdover resulting from French colonialism is still in use to this day; and Ery Claver’s Our Lady of the Chinese Shop, a delicate urban tale that reveals a family and city full of resentment, greed, and torment in Luanda, Angola, in part due to a peculiar, holy plastic figure of Our Lady.

Other feature film highlights include the New York premiere of Know Your Place, Zia Mohajerjasbi’s slice-of-life drama set in Seattle in which an errand undertaken by Robel, a 15-year-old Eritrean-American, turns into an odyssey across the rapidly gentrifying city; and the recently restored Den Muso, Souleymane Cissé’s 1975 classic drama, the first film in the Bambara language, about the devastating consequences of a young woman’s rape and subsequent pregnancy.

Additionally, FLC will host two short film programs—Call and Response, a series of contemporary shorts exploring the imaginative, expressive ways individuals throughout the African diaspora respond to obstacles and desires, and Freeforms, a collection of eight poetic shorts marked by stylistic and emotional daring with themes ranging from magic to retribution.

Related FLC talks and events

FREE MASTERCLASS with acclaimed Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Sène Absa on Saturday, May 13, at 11:30 am, emphasizing the impact of migration on familial and community bonds from the perspective of mothers. The event takes place in the Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center with tickets available here.

FRFREE KEYNOTE TALKS: Safi Faye Memorial Talk: Women of African Cinema, a conversation bringing together contemporary African directors and curators to reflect on the pioneering legacy of the feminist filmmaker in the wake of her recent passing. The event will be held in the Amphitheater in FLC’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center RSVP here. In Conversation with Souleymane Cissé and Moussa Sène Absa – in conjunction with retrospective screenings of Yeelen and Den Muso at this year’s festival, NYAFF30 is pleased to host a special conversation featuring Cissé and Moussa Sène Absa. RSVP here.

Evoking poet Lucille Clifton’s call to “sing for red dust and black clay” in her book of poetry Good News About the Earth, Nigerian-American artist Zainab Aliyu invites thirty filmmakers working within African diasporic cinema to explore pottery as a metaphor that points towards the potential of free forms in her video piece, From red dust to Black clay. This free digital art exhibition will run from May 11 – 16 in the Amphitheater.

Maysles Cinema (Harlem): May 19-21, tickets go on sale April 25

The Maysles segment of the festival opens with the New York premiere of Sierra Leonean director Sessy Kamara’s Sisterhood, which follows twin sisters Husinatu and Hassanatu as they emigrate to the Middle East in search of better economic prospects and become domestic workers. Other highlights include the US premiere of the animated drama, Nayola by José Miguel Ribeiro, which explores Angola’s post-civil war impact on three generations of women; the US premiere of Branwen Okpako’s interactive documentary, Return to Chibok, adapted from Helon Habila’s book detailing his journey to Chibok two years after the notorious abduction of 279 boarding school girls; and a short film program titled Collective Forces, examining community efforts to enact change and take matters into their own hands.

Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM): May 26-June 1, tickets go on sale April 24

The final segment of the festival takes place at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) under the name FilmAfrica, and together with BAM’s annual DanceAfrica, will celebrate the vibrant artistry and revolutionary history of Ghana. Included in the NYAFF30 lineup is the world premiere and director’s cut of Kwesi Owusu and Nii Kwate Owoo’s newly restored 1991 British-Ghanaian classic, Ama: An African Voyage of Discovery, in which a golden floppy disk becomes a prophetic device through which a young Ghanaian girl living in England rediscovers her African identity. The recently rediscovered Things Fall Apart (1971) by Hans Jürgen Pohland, based on the fictional trilogy, Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease by the late legendary Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, will also be presented for the first time since its premiere over 50 years ago.

Other FilmAfrica highlights include Kwaw Ansah’s 1989 historical drama Heritage Africa; C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s mesmerizing Mami Wata, whose Brazilian DP Lílis Soares won the Sundance 2023 Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography; Certain Winds from the South, the debut film by Ghanaian photographer Eric Gymafi based on Ama Ata Aidoo’s titular short story; the visually stunning Atopias: The Homeless Wanderer by Ethiopian-Eritrean visual artist, Daniela Yohannes; and William Klein’s 1969 The Panafrican Festival of Algiers documentary featuring Nina Simone, Eldridge Cleaver, Archie Shepp, Miriam Makeba, Stokely Carmicheal, amongst others. A program of short films by the new wave of Ghanaian filmmakers will also screen here.

To kick off the festival, the NYAFF will present a Town Hall at The Africa Center on Thursday, May 4, at 6:00 pm, featuring African and diaspora artists displaying and discussing work that explore the festival’s theme Freeforms. Participants include Assane Sy, Senegalese photographer and film curator of Jollof Films; Ladan Osman, Somali-American poet, and filmmaker; Afro-Mexican Bocafloja, rapper, poet, and spoken word artist; and Khane Kutzwell, a Trinidadian-American hair stylist and barber for film and TV. Moderator Maboula Soumahoro is a French-Ivorian scholar and writer, whose book, Black is the Journey: Africana the Name (2021), will contextualize the program. A free post-festival outdoor screening will also be presented at The Africa Center on Saturday, June 3.

For information about attending the NYAFF30 Opening Night Party, contact info@africanfilmny.org.

The programs of AFF are made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Community Trust, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Bradley Family Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Domenico Paulon Foundation, NYC & Company, French Cultural Services, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Manhattan Portage, Black Hawk Imports, Essentia Water, South African Consulate General, National Film and Video Foundation and Motion Picture Enterprises.

Films & Descriptions

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Film at Lincoln Center: May 10 – 16, 2023
Opening Night, May 10 at the Walter Reade Theater – 165 W. 65th Street, New York, NY
May 11 – 16 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center – 144 W. 65th Street, New York, NY

FLC Opening Night
Xalé
Moussa Sène Absa, 2022, Senegal/Ivory Coast, 101m
Wolof with English subtitles
New York Premiere

Awa, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, is happily living her teenage years alongside her twin brother, Adama, who dreams of Europe. When their grandmother dies, their Aunt Fatou and Uncle Atoumane promise to marry in order to preserve the family union. But Fatou does not love Atoumane and the latter, tired of waiting to consummate his marriage, commits an act from which there is no going back. This film is the third in Moussa Sène Absa’s trilogy focused on women.
Wednesday, May 10 at 6:30pm (Q&A with Moussa Sène Absa)
Thursday, May 11 at 4:00pm

FLC Centerpiece
Hyperlink
Mzonke Maloney, Nolitha Mkulisi, Julie Nxadi, and Evan Wigdorowitz, 2022, South Africa, 63m
English, French, Xhosa, and Swahili with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere

A Christian convert is preparing for his rebirth as a man of god—unaware that his teenage daughter, who hasn’t heard from him in three months, has declared him dead on social media. A schoolgirl sees her private life made public when she invites a classmate, who is an online influencer, to her home. A divorced man with financial troubles so wants to show his young daughter he can be a good father that he fails to see the precarious position he is maneuvering himself into. And a poet and commentator risks losing herself and those she loves in her desire to use her fame to achieve social change. In four short films, young South African filmmakers reflect on the seductive, and at times treacherous, illusory reality of the internet. Using humor, suspense, and social criticism, this collective production sketches a society dominated by idealized projections of the dreamt self.
Saturday, May 13 at 6:30pm (Q&A with Mzonke Maloney, Nolitha Mkulisi, Julie Nxadi, and Evan Wigdorowitz)
Tuesday, May 16 at 4:00pm

Colette and Justin
Alain Kassanda, Democratic Republic of Congo/France/Belgium, 2022, 89m
Lingala and French with English subtitles
North American Premiere

Born in Kinshasa and living in Paris, filmmaker Alain Kassanda embodies the classic immigrant dual identity: in the Democratic Republic of Congo he is seen as French, while in France he is seen as Congolese. Determined to understand the colonial legacy from which he comes, Kassanda convinces his maternal grandparents—Colette and Justin—to sit for a series of interviews. Together, they watch old news footage, remember a visit from the Belgian king, and recall what life was like as part of the nascent Black bourgeoisie who served the colonial administration. But Colette and Justin is more than a film about family reminiscences. Kassanda uses a wealth of black-and-white archival footage to tell the story, superimposing his own thoughts and his grandparents’ voices over the visuals—in effect, using the colonizers’ images against them. (He generally avoids footage of the horrors, focusing instead on daily life.) Kassanda, we learn, has two heroes: Justin and inaugural Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba, who was murdered by secessionists in collusion with Belgium. In the course of making Colette and Justin, he realizes their lives were intertwined far more deeply than he knew.

Preceded by
Ota Benga
Chadrack Banikina and Cecilia Zoppelletto, 2023, Democratic Republic of Congo, 6m
French with English subtitles
World Premiere
An animated film that captures a moment in the true-life story of Ota Benga (1883–1916), the pygmy who was exhibited at the Bronx Zoo. Desperate to return home to the rainforest in Congo but trapped in Lynchburg, Virginia, Ota Benga reflects on being bought by so-called “civilized society” and treated like an animal—a passionate call by the fire to return to his ancestors.
Co-presented by POV
Saturday, May 13 at 4:00pm (Q&A with Cecilia Zoppelletto and producer Guy Kazadi)

Cordelia
Tunde Kelani, 2021, Nigeria, 98m
New York Premiere

Adapted from the eponymous novel by Nigerian author and poet Femi Osofisan, Cordelia is a romantic period-drama where romance meets politics. This novella starts with a lecturer in a disturbed state about his marriage, which is resulting in an inability to teach his students. One of them later confronts him in his office about his shoddy lecture, and the student in question is accompanied to the lecturer’s office by another student named Cordelia. But little does our lecturer know that Cordelia is about to be at the center of a major riot at the institution.

Preceded by
Employee of the Month
Goga Clay, 2022, Nigeria, 19m
New York Premiere
Ibinabo, a young husband and father-to-be, lives an unremarkable but exemplary life. He strives to prove himself to his boss, but gets caught up in the horrors of the October 2020 protests against police brutality.
Monday, May 15 at 8:30pm (Q&A with Goga Clay)

A Daughter’s Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé
Fatou Cissé, 2022, Mali, 73m
English, Bambara, and French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere

An intimate portrayal of the life and career of Souleymane Cissé, one of Africa’s most celebrated filmmakers. The film traces the Malian director’s trajectory from his formative years in Bamako to the present day, through interviews with Cissé and those who knew him best. It celebrates his groundbreaking films and highlights their enduring relevance.
Co-presented by The Future of Film is Female
Thursday, May 11 at 6:15pm (Q&A with Fatou Cissé)
Friday, May 12 at 3:30pm

Den Muso
Souleymane Cissé, 1975, Mali, 88m
Bambara with English subtitles

A mute girl’s life takes a dramatic turn when she is raped and, as a result, impregnated. Her family is at once plunged into chaos. The film not only explores the repercussions of her assault but also shines a light on the societal and economic challenges that women dealt with in urban Mali during the 1970s. It is a poignant and thought-provoking portrayal of the difficulties that women continue to face in many parts of the world today.

Den Muso was restored by Souleymane Cissé and La Cinémathèque française in 2020, in collaboration with the Cinémathèque Afrique and the French Institute, thanks to the support of Pathé. The restoration work was carried out at the Hiventy laboratory using the original negatives and 16mm magnetic tapes.
Co-presented by Villa Albertine
Friday, May 12 at 5:30pm
Followed by a keynote talk with the director. RSVP for the talk here.

Dent pour Dent
Ottis Ba Mamadou​, 2022, Senegal, 84m
French with English Subtitles
U.S. Premiere

In this comedic drama, Idrissa lives in the suburbs of Dakar, Senegal. As a result of budgetary restrictions imposed by the IMF, then headed by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, he lost his job as a civil servant. Since then, Idrissa has been looking for work, without success. His pride as an African man is all the more affected by the fact that he is now entirely dependent on his wife, Viviane, who somehow manages to support the family through her medical practice. Aminata (Idrissa and Viviane’s daughter) and Moussa, two young students in love with each other, also see their lives disrupted by the economic situation imposed on the country. After yet another humiliation, Idrissa, who holds Strauss-Kahn responsible for his misfortune, decides to go and see a marabout to prepare his revenge.
Tuesday, May 16 at 8:45pm (Q&A with Ottis Ba Mamadou​)

Know Your Place
Zia Mohajerjasbi, 2022, USA, 120m
English and Tigrinya with English subtitles
New York Premiere

Know Your Place is a slice-of-life drama set in present-day Seattle. Robel (a 15-year-old Eritrean-American) and his best friend, Ethiopian-American Fahmi, embark on a journey to drop off a suitcase containing medicine and cash with a friend traveling back to Eritrea because of a family member’s sudden illness. An unexpected turn transmutes Robel’s simple errand into an odyssey across the rapidly gentrifying city; in the process he navigates directions to make his delivery on time, along with the challenges of familial responsibility, self-identification, and dislocation amid the ongoing redevelopment and displacement of the only community he’s ever known as home.
Co-presented by Tsion Café
Sunday, May 14 at 7:30pm (Q&A with Zia Mohajerjasbi)

Money, Freedom, a Story of CFA Franc
Katy Léna N’diaye, 2022, Senegal/France/Belgium/Germany, 104m
French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere

The year 1960 marked the end of the colonial empires across the African continent. France disappeared from the map, leaving behind a colonial creation, the CFA Franc, a currency that still circulates in almost all of France’s former territories south of the Sahara. Why did those countries never denounce this strange legacy after they regained their freedom? The film delves into a little-known story that started in the 19th century and continues to the present time.
Co-presented by Africa Is a Country
Sunday, May 14 at 2:00pm (Q&A with Katy Léna N’diaye)

Our Lady of the Chinese Shop
Ery Claver, 2022, Angola, 98m
Portuguese, English, and Chinese with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere

When a Chinese merchant brings to a neighborhood of Luanda a peculiar holy plastic figure of Our Lady, a mourning mother seeks peace, a committed barber starts a new cult, and a stray kid looks for revenge for his lost friend. This delicate urban tale reveals a family and city full of resentment, greed, and torment.
Co-presented by Akoroko
Saturday, May 13 at 8:30pm
Monday, May 15 at 3:30pm

Shimoni
Angela Wanjiku Wamai, 2022, Kenya, 97m
English, Swahili, and Kikuyu with English subtitles
New York Premiere

After seven years in prison, 35-year-old Geoffrey (Justin Mirichii) is released into the care of a Catholic priests’ compound in Shimoni, a small and sleepy village in rural Kenya. As we discover, Geoffrey knows this place—all too well—as “the pit.” A revered English teacher before his time inside, he now does farmyard chores, attends church services as required, and maintains a distance from other residents. Not that he ever goes anywhere else; some unnamed fear prevents him from stepping outside the gate. Then a man with a distinctive patch of white hair appears, terrifying Geoffrey so much that he wets himself. Weru (Daniel Njoroge) has haunted Geoffrey’s dreams for decades. Now he can’t face him. Film editor Angela Wanjiku’s gripping directorial debut explores the ways in which memory and emotion seize control of the body, which in turn may speak when words fail.
Co-presented by The Future of Film is Female
Friday, May 12 at 9:00pm
Monday, May 15 at 5:30pm

With Peter Bradley
Alex Rappoport, 2022, USA, 86m
New York Premiere

An intimate, provocative series of conversations with 80-year-old abstract painter Peter Bradley. At turns bitter and humorous, the story of Bradley’s rise to success as a Black artist–and subsequent fall from grace–unfolds as we watch his artistic process amidst the changing seasons at his rural home and studio.
Co-presented by Karma Gallery
Sunday, May 14 at 5:00pm (Q&A with Alex Rappoport)

Yeelen
Souleymane Cissé, 1987, Mali, 105m
Bambara with English subtitles

Set in a timeless past, Yeelen recounts the mythic tale of a power struggle between father and son. Soma Diarra, the jealous father and member of a feared Bambara secret society, plots to kill his son and rival, Nianankoro. Highly stylized and deliberately paced, Yeelen forces the viewer to navigate fundamental oppositions: change and tradition, life and death, light and darkness. Inspired by the classic oral literature of the Mande, Souleymane Cissè traces the circle of time and shows us that the origin and the end are one and the same. Film Comment called Yeelen “not only the most beautifully photographed African film ever, but also the best African film ever made.” Winner of a Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987.

Followed by
Excerpt from Lights of Passage
Yeelen Cohen, 2023, USA/Mali, 12m
Lights of Passage is a hybrid autobiographical documentary, a cinematic baptism ceremony, and an homage to cultural preservation through ancestral storytelling practices. The story orbits two filmmakers at opposite ends of their careers, separated by oceans, who are cosmically connected through a name and a film.
Saturday, May 13 at 1:00pm (Q&A with Souleymane Cissé and Yeelen Cohen)

Shorts Program 1: Call and Response

Total Runtime = 86m
A shorts program examining the unique and expressive ways individuals throughout the African diaspora respond to obstacles and desires.

Okem
Joshua Okwuosa, 2022, Nigeria/USA, 15m
English and Igbo with English subtitles
New York Premiere
Okem, a Nigerian immigrant, is faced with his worst nightmare when he receives a call from home.

August Visitor
Ifeyinwa Arinze, 2022, USA, 11m
New York Premiere
When her widowed mother has a male friend over for dinner, an observant Nigerian-American teenager acts out, which leads her to a deeper perception of her mother.

Africans with Mainframes
Kima Hibbert, 2023, USA, 15m
New York Premiere
Africans with Mainframes is a short mockumentary following LaJoye Watkins, a reclusive Black woman living in Brooklyn. She is determined to tell a secret she has harbored all her life: electronic music was actually started by Black Southerners in the 1920s. Exploring themes of loneliness, revenge, and reclamation, Watkins takes us on a historical tour de force and a journey toward a spiritual awakening of her own.

Silsilad
Tariq Tarey, 2023, USA, 12m
New York Premiere
The story of three Somali-American artists, founders of the Minneapolis-based artists’ collective Soomaal House of Art, and the challenges they face running a community-based gallery for BIPOC artists and organizations. Including reflections by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

Mother’s Tongue
D. Wilmos Paul, 2022, USA, 16m
English and French with English subtitles
Junior, an African immigrant teenager ashamed of his accent, enrolls in a creative writing club thinking he can make it through the semester without speaking… and then is confronted with his worst fear.

A Laundry Day
Johanna Makabi, 2022, USA/France, 3m
World Premiere
Today, Fatou goes to the laundromat in Harlem and meets a young man.

Grace
Johanna Makabi, 2022, France, 14m
French with English subtitles
New York Premiere
Eight-year-old Grace hates her neighborhood, and she hates cheerleading. One day, she decides to join her father in space.
Co-presented by Be Reel Black Cinema Club
Thursday, May 11 at 8:30pm (Q&A with Ifeyinwa Arinze, Johanna Makabi, Kima Hibbert, and Tariq Tarey)

Shorts Program 2: Freeforms

Total Runtime = 99m
A collection of poetic, daring and stylistic shorts that take us on a contemplative emotional journey.

By Water
Iyabo Kwayana, 2022, USA, 12m
New York Premiere
In this animated short, an unlikely hero’s journey into his own memories becomes a vehicle for reconciliation and healing for himself and his sibling.

Buzz
Mohamed Fawi, 2022, Sudan, 20m
English and Arabic with English subtitles
North American Premiere
While her situation is deteriorating, a sick mother watches her son and daughter going through her tragedy and their new reality.

Hématome
Babetida Sadjo, 2022, Belgium, 19m
French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Twenty-five years later, Judith finally dares to break her silence and seek justice for the rape that she suffered as a child. She bitterly discovers that a trial will not take place. Thirsting for justice, she confronts the pedophile who shattered her life.

He’s Dead Now
Tarek El Sherbeny, 2022, Egypt, 12m
Arabic with English subtitles
New York Premiere
Hazem is distraught after his family secrets are made public when his mother decides to expose his late father’s sexual affairs during his funeral rites.

The Truth About Alvert, the Last Dodo
Nathan Clement, 2022, Réunion/Switzerland, 17m
Réunion Creole with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
On Réunion Island, little Lunet and his grandfather Dadabé set off on a quest to turn a chicken into a dodo bird whose magic feathers might save the child’s sick mother.

Yuri
Baky Dia, 2022, France, 12m
French with English subtitles
Chris Dolo is a technical engineer for Aqua-Space, a company involved in several controversies about the privatization of drinking water and the lack of it everywhere. He is also the father of Yuri Dolo, an 11-year-old genius with a passion for astrophysics who dreams of another life in the stars. As the two characters go about their daily lives, affected by the absence of a maternal figure, a supernatural presence seems to be watching them.

Grief Is the Glitch
Julia Mallory, 2022, USA, 3m
New York Premiere
Grief Is the Glitch is a visual and sonic meditation on the disorienting experience of loss. Mallory moves through an encounter with an oracle-like figure to archival footage of her late son, Julian, as he reflects on the impact of young lives lost to violence.

Ààrẹ
Taoheed Bayo and Mark Odumuyiwa, 2022, USA, 4m
Yoruba with English subtitles
Ààrẹ is a movement and dance performance piece that serves as archival preservation of cultural heritage and a symbolic representation of personal identity in a commemorative manner. Ààrẹ also includes the study of ewi (poems), oriki (panegyric), and the recitations of the late Adebayo Faleti in Tunde Kelani movies, among other Yoruba relevancies.
Co-presented by 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair
Tuesday, May 16 at 6:00pm (Q&A with Iyabo Kwayana, Babetida Sadjo, Tarek El Sherbeny, Julia Mallory, Taoheed Bayo, and Mark Odumuyiwa)

Master Class with Moussa Sène Absa

Acclaimed Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Sène Absa will be presenting a masterclass on Saturday, May 13 in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater. The class probes the impact of migration on familial and community bonds and takes particular care to examine the perspectives of the mothers of migrants, who often provide the fare for passage. Within a global context, this masterclass will assess African cinema’s response to the question of “Who truly is welcome at havens’ shores?”
Saturday, May 13 at 11:30am, Amphitheater

Free Keynote Talks

Safi Faye Memorial Talk: Women of African Cinema

Safi Faye is best known as the first woman from Sub-Saharan Africa to ever direct a commercial feature film—1976’s Kaddu Beykat—but the Senegalese pioneer’s legacy and groundbreaking influence extend far beyond that landmark. Introduced to the world of cinema via an acting role in Jean Rouch’s Petit à petit (1971), Faye went on to create a monumental body of work that includes award-winning shorts and features, including Selbe: One Among Many (1983), and Mossane, which won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. Through both documentary and fiction modes, Faye sought to capture the agency, subjectivity, and beauty of African women, and bring to vivid life the everyday realities of rural Senegal. In honor of Faye’s recent passing on February 22, 2023, this conversation will bring together the directors Nuotama Bodomo, Jessica Beshir, Akosua Adoma Owusu, and Johanna Makabi to reflect on Faye’s legacy and what it means for feminist African cinema today. The conversation will be moderated by scholar and critic Yasmina Price.
Saturday, May 6th at 4pm, Amphitheater

In Conversation with Souleymane Cissé and Moussa Sène Absa

One of the living greats of cinema, Souleymane Cissé is known for catapulting African film to the world stage with Yeelen, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 1987 and became the first African movie to be awarded at the festival. Over a long career, the Malian filmmaker, now 82, has pioneered an original, uncompromising style of realism and incisive social critique through films like Den Muso (1975), the first feature to made in the Malian language of Bambara; Baara (1977) which won the Etalon de Yennenga at FESPACO; and Waati, which was screened in Competition at Cannes in 1995. A beacon of inspiration for artists worldwide, Cissé has also dedicated his career to supporting African filmmaking through initiatives such as the Union of West African Cinema and Audiovisual Designers, which he founded.

In conjunction with retrospective screenings of Yeelen and Den Muso at this year’s festival, NYAFF30 is pleased to host a special conversation featuring Cissé and renowned Senegalese filmmaker and multi-disciplinary artist, Moussa Sène Absa whose acclaimed feature film, Xalé opens this year’s festival. The conversation will be moderated by Film Comment co-deputy editor Devika Girish.
Friday, May 12th, 7:30pm, Francesca Beale Theater

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Maysles Cinema: May 19 – 21, 2023
343 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY

Maysles Opening Night
Sisterhood
Mohamed Sessy Kamara, 2022, Sierra Leone, 72m
Krio and Fula with English subtitles
New York Premiere

Husinatu and Hassanatu, twin sisters living in Sierra Leone, decide to move together to the Middle East to find better lives for themselves, their children, and their parents. Despite Husinatu’s frustrating experiences in the Middle East in the past, both sisters are determined to achieve their goals. Faced with the coronavirus crisis, they search for money in order to obtain new passports, visas, and travel arrangements through legal and illegal migration agents. The decision to migrate creates a conflict with their parents. Their father has always been supportive, but their mother, who wants them to get married and build a life in their own country, tries to stop them. But the twins don’t want a man controlling them and seek independence as they are convinced that a better life is not in their home country. This is a film about family relations, the search for independence, and a better future in opposition to family traditions.

Preceded by
Le père du marié / The Father of the Groom
Laurence Gavron, 2022, Senegal, 15m
Wolof and French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Pap Ndiaye, a boatman from the village of Djiffer in the Saloum region of Senegal, is an old friend of director Laurence Gavron. He is getting ready for the traditional Serer wedding of his oldest son, which has all of its own rules and customs. Praise singers, a traditional healer, the bride first hidden and then discovered in the evening light—it’s the most beautiful party he could have dreamed of to honor his wife, his children, and his son’s in-laws. More than anything, this is a film about friendship.
Friday, May 19 at 7:00pm
Sunday, May 21 at 12:30pm (Q&A with Sessy Kamara)

Nayola
José Miguel Ribeiro, 2022, Portugal/Belgium/France/Netherlands, 83m
Portuguese and Kimbundu with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere

Angola. Three generations of women in a 25-year-long civil war: Lelena (the grandmother), Nayola (the daughter), and Yara (the granddaughter). Past and present interlace. Nayola goes in search of her missing husband at the height of the war. Decades later, the country is finally at peace, but Nayola has not returned. Yara has become a rebellious teenager and a provocative rapper who uses her music to promote social change. Lelena tries to keep Yara in check out of concern that the police will show up and arrest her. One night, a masked intruder breaks into their house, armed with a machete, in an encounter like nothing they could have imagined.

Preceded by
Bazigaga
Jo Ingabire Moys, 2022, Réunion/France, 27m
Kinyarwanda with English subtitles
New York Premiere
1994, Rwanda. As the civil war rages, Bazigaga takes in a father and daughter hunted by the militia.
Saturday, May 20 at 2:00pm

Return to Chibok
Branwen Okpako, 2023, Nigeria, 74m
English and Hausa with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere

Based on Helon Habila’s novel, The Chibok Girls, an account of his visit to Chibok two years after 279 girls were abducted from their boarding school there, this film re-enacts his journey. It is a film about listening, speaking, writing, and reading. All these methods of communication are employed by the film’s participants, who are for the most part non-actors. In addition to a real-time interactive score, participation from the audience is encouraged.

Preceded by
Apostles of Cinema
Darragh Amelia, Gertrude Malizana, Jesse Gerard Mpango, and Cece Mlay, 2022, Tanzania, 16m
Swahili with English subtitles
New York Premiere
Apostles of Cinema (or Tenzi za Sinema) follows Frank, DJ Black, and Rehema—three devoted film workers in Tanzania—as they reintroduce a classic piece of the country’s film history to their audiences of working-class cinephiles. We join them, alongside Maangamizi: The Ancient One (2001), on a journey through the labyrinth of informal libraries, studios, and cinemas that exist to keep film and film culture alive. A testament to the profound cultural value of film when made truly accessible.
Saturday, May 20 at 7:00pm (Q&A with Branwen Okpako)

Maaté, Africa’s Mom
Christian Dehugo, 2022, Guinea/Burkina Faso/France, 84m
French and Dioula. with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere

The Ivorian-Guinean artist Maaté Keita, a member of the famous trio “Les Go de Koteba,” which was formed in the early 1990s in the Ivory Coast, shares the ups and downs of the journey that led her to become a West African cultural icon. This film follows her ongoing efforts to use dance, theater, and music as a form of protest and free expression. Taking viewers on an emotional journey across several nations, we learn about the powerful influence of African music, dance, and customs.

Preceded by
Uptown Oasis
Ian Phillips, 2022, USA, 7m
New York Premiere
In 2004, Abdi Abajabal came to the United States from Ethiopia. In 2012, he decided to start a health juice shop in Harlem with only five hundred dollars to his name. Ten years later, he is still going.
Sunday, May 21 at 2:30pm (Q&A with Christian Dehugo and Ian Phillips)

Walls of Knowledge
Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Sy, 2021, Senegal, 54m
Fula, Wolof and French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere

Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest universities. Léocadie, Demba, M’bar, and Mamy discuss their daily challenges and disappointments that, though difficult, do not derail their aspirations in this temple of knowledge, where more than 80,000 students study and live. Their dorms have turned into sites of resistance and survival techniques. The majority of the students are from underprivileged backgrounds, and the educational and social environment on campus reflects this through protest movements in a variety of sectors, most notably education.

Preceded by
Tramadol
Adoum Moussa and Morgane Wirtz, 2022, Tunisia/Belgium, 31m
Hausa, French, English and Tamashek with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
A motorbike is speeding through Niger. On board is Moussa, a young Tuareg, and hidden in his vehicle are fifty tablets of tramadol, one of the most popular narcotics in West Africa. Following Moussa, we meet the smugglers and users of this opioid.
Sunday, May 21 at 4:30pm (Q&A with Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Sy)

Lobola, A Bride’s True Price?
Sihle Hlophe, 2022, South Africa, 95m
English, SiSwati, isiZulu, SeSotho, isiXhosa and XiTsonga with English subtitles
New York Premiere

When an opinionated filmmaker agrees to marry her long-term boyfriend, she must decide if she will break with tradition and reject “lobola,” a Bantu cultural practice that involves the prospective groom paying a “bride price” to the family of the bride-to-be, or not.
Co-presented by POV
Sunday, May 21 at 7:00pm (Q&A with Sihle Hlophe)

Shorts Program: Collective Forces

Total Runtime = 102m
Three short films highlighting community efforts to act toward everyday challenges and take matters into their own hands.

The Reclaimers
Sifiso Mlungisi Khanyile, 2022, South Africa, 20m
English and Zulu English subtitles
This intimate portrait told in three acts follows the life and work of three of Johannesburg’s informal recyclers, or reclaimers, and their bid to gain recognition as formal laborers in the city. We tread on their heels as they navigate homelessness, the law, and survive the big city that is Johannesburg.

Plant Power
Florence Ayisi, 2023, UK, 39m
U.S. Premiere
Bristol, UK. Judith and Amrish, re-discover the healing power of plants during the COVID-19 lockdown, a time marked by fear, death, upheavals, isolation, and loneliness. Judith is passionate about green spaces for communal welfare while Amrish is keen on cultivating the Bayan tree. Through their experiences, nature, and its relationship to human wellbeing glow.

What These Walls Won’t Hold
Adamu Taye Chan, 2020, USA, 43m
New York Premiere
Filmed during the coronavirus pandemic, Adamu Chan’s What These Walls Won’t Hold is about the way the COVID-19 crisis brought into focus and catalyzed ongoing organizing efforts at San Quentin State Prison. Chan, who was incarcerated there, chronicles his journey home, interweaving his account with those of his loved ones both inside and outside the penitentiary walls. What emerges is a tender picture of a community thriving with relationships built on trust and an indomitable zeal to fight for a brighter and better future for those incarcerated. This film creates a blueprint for resistance and liberation that is for all and invites us to imagine the abolitionist world that awaits us at the end of our struggle.
Co-presented by African Communities Together
Saturday, May 20  at 4:30pm (Q&A with Sifiso Mlungisi Khanyile, Florence Ayisi and Adamu Taye Chan)

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Brooklyn Academy of Music: May 26 – June 1, 2023
BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY)

BAM FilmAfrica Opening Night
Ama: An African Voyage of Discovery (Restored – Director’s Cut)
Nii Kwate Owoo and Kwesi Owusu, 1991, Ghana/UK, 100m
World Premiere

A young Ghanaian girl living in England finds a golden floppy disk and learns its contents at the office where her mother cleans. The disk, through magical realism and by way of ancestors, helps her rediscover her African identity, becoming a prophetic device warning of the dangers of forgetting one’s heritage.
Co-presented by African Chophouse
Friday, May 26 at 7:00pm (Q&A with lead actress, Georgina Ackerman)
Monday, May 29 at 4:00pm

Certain Winds from the South
Eric Gyamfi, 2023, Ghana, 40m
English, Dagbanli, Twi, Arabic with English subtitles
North American Premiere

One fateful evening, a man named Issah tells his mother-in-law, M’ma Asana, that he intends to journey to southern Ghana in search of greener pastures. Adapting Ama Ata Aidoo’s short story, director Eric Gyamfi uncovers a vicious cycle of inequality that threatens these characters’ already precarious future.

Preceded by
Atopias: The Homeless Wanderer
Daniela Yohannes and Julien Béramis, 2023, Guadeloupe/Martinique, 26m
U.S. Premiere
The Homeless Wanderer is the second part of Daniela Yohannes’ Atopias trilogy, which grapples with geographies of migration, generational memory, and trauma. Yohannes does double duty, playing a woman trekking the Caribbean’s harsh natural landscapes in search of a transformational portal.
Saturday, May 27 at 6:30pm (Q&A with Certain Winds from the South set desiger, Courage Dzidula Kpodo)

Juwaa
Nganji Mutiri, 2021, Belgium/Democratic Republic of the Congo, 76m
French and Swahili with English subtitles
Years after a traumatic night, a son and a mother slowly reveal all the layers redefining what they mean to each other. A subtlety powerful drama.
Monday, May 29 at 6:30pm
Wednesday, May 31 at 7:45pm (Q&A with lead actress, Babetida Sadjo)

The Last Shelter
Ousmane Samassékou, 2021, France/Mali/South Africa, 85m
Moré, Bambara, and French with English subtitles

The House of Migrants in Gao, Mali, is a refuge at the southern edge of the Sahara desert. It welcomes those in transit towards Algeria in the north, or on their way back after a failed attempt to make it to Europe. When Esther and Kady, two teenage girls from Burkina Faso, arrive to regain the strength to continue their journey, they form a friendship with Natacha, a migrant woman in her forties whose memory has faded over the years, along with her hopes of regaining her home. The trio finds a semblance of family life, sharing moments of joy, hope, and tenderness. But the girls can’t shake the dream of a future abroad, even when their journey collides with the ones who came back, burdened by failure and trauma.
Saturday, May 27 at 2:00pm

Heritage Africa
Kwaw Ansah, 1989, Ghana, 110m

Kwesi Atta Bosomefi prefers to be called Quincy Arthur Bosomfield. A perfect product of colonial education, he has embraced English culture and become a district commissioner. In the process, he has abandoned his African heritage and all that has real meaning to him. Only a series of humiliating encounters and frightening dreams can help him recover his true identity.
Saturday, May 27 at 4:00pm
Tuesday, May 30 at 8:00pm

Tug of War / Vuta n’ kuvute
Amil Shivji, 2021, Tanzania/South Africa/Germany/Qatar, 92m
English and Swahili with English subtitles

A coming-of-age political love story set in the final years of British colonial Zanzibar. Denge, a young freedom fighter meets Yasmin, an Indian-Zanzibari woman in the middle of the night as she is on her way to be married. Passion and revolution escalate.
Saturday, May 27 at 8:15pm
Tuesday, May 30 at 4:00pm

Things Fall Apart
Hans Jürgen Pohland, 1971, Nigeria, 91m

When Obi Okonkwo completes his studies in England and returns to Nigeria, he finds himself in a country marked by rapid industrialization and deep political change. Navigating romantic love and the expectations and disappointments of modern Nigeria, he experiences rampant corruption, the dominance of Europeans, and conflicts between modern and traditional values. Adapted from the novels Things Fall Apart (1958) and No Longer at Ease (1960)—two parts of Chinua Achebe’s so-called African Trilogy—this rarely seen and recently recovered feature film was produced by Nigerian filmmaker Francis Oladele and directed by Berlin-based filmmaker Hans Jürgen Pohland.
Co-presented by Alfreda’s Cinema
Sunday, May 28 at 6:00pm
Tuesday, May 30 at 6:00pm

Mami Wata
C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, 2023, Nigeria, 107m
West African Pidgin, English and Fon with English subtitles

In Iyi village, villagers worship the mermaid deity Mami Wata and turn to their healer Mama Efe, the intermediary between them and Mami Wata, as well as Mama Efe’s daughter Zinwe and her protegee Prisca. When their children begin to die and disappear, local resident Jabi casts doubt on the population, while Zinwe flees, driven by her own anguish. Soon, the arrival of rebellious warlord Jasper tips the scales in Jabi’s favor. With the village under new control, Prisca and Zinwe must plot to save their people and restore Mami Wata’s glory to Iyi.
Co-presented by Nollybabes
Sunday, May 28 at 8:30pm (Q&A with cinematographer, Lílis Soares)
Thursday, June 1 at 6:00pm

The Pan-African Festival of Algiers
William Klein, 1969, Algeria, 120m
English and French with English subtitles

This documentary explores both the politics and music of the First Pan-African Cultural Festival. Third-world solidarity was much in fashion in 1969, when the festival was held. Many of the interviewees hold forth about colonialism and neocolonialism and the need for exploited countries to stick together. Held in Algeria, the filmmakers were able to interview Eldridge Cleaver and other Black Panthers during their exile there. Among the film’s musical highlights is a performance by Miriam Makeba, followed by an interview with her.
Co-presented by Africa Is a Country
Thursday, June 1 at 8:15pm (Q&A with writer and historian of Algerian cinema, Ahmed Bedjaou)

Animated films by Cilia Sawadogo

Total Runtime = 57m
Short animated films for all ages by Canadian-Burkinabé-German filmmaker, Cilia Sawadogo.

The Tree of Spirits
Cilia Sawadogo, 2005, Burkina Faso/Canada, 45m
French with English subtitles
In the desert savannah, Kodou and Tano meet Ayoka, the caretaker of a century-old tree that a contractor wants to cut down. Kodou, guided by Ayoka, seeks his ancestors to ask for their help. Tano stays at the tree to protect it. But the ancestors can only advise him; the children must find the solution themselves. They discover that the gigantic baobab is a door between two worlds. The spirit of the rain, trapped by the spirit of the drought, can’t come back to Earth. Without the sacred baobab, the road to Earth will remain closed forever, and nature’s balance will be shattered.

Christopher Changes His Name
Cilia Sawadogo, 2000, Canada, 6m
English
Christopher, a little boy who doesn’t want to be called Christopher anymore. Such a common name! When Aunty Gail from Trinidad tells him a story about a tiger, Christopher changes his name to Tiger. But then he finds a better name. When he has trouble cashing a birthday check, he realizes maybe he should stick with his original name…or maybe not?

The Cora Player
Cilia Sawadogo, 1996, Canada, 7m
English and French with English subtitles
A girl confronts the wrath of her father when she challenges tradition by falling in love with a boy from the griot caste.
Sunday, May 28 at 2:00pm

Shorts Program: Ghana New Wave

Total Runtime = 101m
A selection of bold contemporary short films from Ghana.

Yaa
Amartei Armar, 2022, Ghana/France, 20m
Twi with English subtitles
New York Premiere
Three defining moments in Ghana’s history are reflected in the experiences of three generations of women, whose souls are unknowingly connected through space, time, and ancestral heritage. As each of them discovers where they are, seeks to find meaning in their lives, and questions what the future holds, one thing is for sure: hope must prevail.

Textures
Adebayo Mikael Calandra Achode, 2022, Ghana/UK, 12m
New York Premiere
Yaa and Nana have returned to Ghana to make their dreams come true. When an unexpected argument breaks in the middle of the night, all certainties are called in question.

Moon Over Aburi
Sheila Nortley and Anniwaa Buachie, 2022, Ghana/UK, 20m
New York Premiere
Two strangers, a man and a woman, each unfold a shared story. For one, a mission; the other, a secret. Through each of their experiences, we see how societal pressures continue to ripple through childhood and beyond.

Confirmation
Nana Duffuor, 2023, Ghana/USA, 12m
U.S. Premiere
Amid rising social and political pressure in Ghana, a God-fearing mother wrestles with her son’s sexual identity.

The Golden Seeds
David Boanuh, 2022, Ghana, 19m
New York Premiere
A story of hope, dreams, and hardships: the cocoa industry, as told by the farmers themselves. Utilizing a unique, West African viewpoint, Ghanaian filmmaker David Boanuh provides insight into their stories.

Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl
Claudia Owusu and Ife Oluwamuyide, 2022, Ghana/USA, 18m
Set in the sister cities of Accra, Ghana, and Columbus, Ohio,Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl is a rhythmic love letter to Black girlhood across the African diaspora. Through the lens of the Ghanaian traditional jumping and clapping game, Ampe, the film takes us on a journey of sisterhood, loyalty, and nostalgia in a space created for us by us.
Sunday, May 28 at 3:30pm (Q&A with Ife Oluwamuyide, Nana Duffuor, and Sheila Nortley)

Shorts Program: FilmAfrica Shorts

Total Runtime = 117m
Short films from Africa and the diaspora including a selection from African Film Festival’s National Traveling Series.

Frieda
Tisa Chigaga, 2022, USA, 8m
English and Bemba with English subtitles
An older undocumented migrant is summarily dismissed from her housekeeping position. Cast into desperate uncertainty, she roams the city in despair. 

Mma Moeketsi 
Reabetswe Moeti, 2018, South Africa, 25m
Sotho with English subtitles
Based on true events, this film recounts a 2012 massacre in which a group of South African mineworkers went on a wage increase strike that led to what would become a national tragedy that saw 34 miners being brutally killed by the police.

Botlhale / Intelligent
Reabetswe Moeti, 2022, South Africa, 35m
Setswana with English subtitles
Botlhale, who’s mentally ill, makes new friends and finds love when he’s institutionalized. The friends plan an escape to Chicken Heart, a fast food joint, where they’ll live out their fantasies of being high society people, but their escape day collides with the shutting down of their home, where their lives come face to face with tragedy and death.

Detroit We Dey
Ozi Uduma, 2023, USA, 10m
New York Premiere
Detroit We Dey examines the history of Detroit social clubs founded by a community of Igbo-Nigerians in the 70s and 80s, and questions how the next generation will carry its traditions into the future.

Mr. Bold
Aiman Morounfolu Mimiko, 2023, Nigeria, 14m
New York Premiere
A young Nigerian boy attempts to connect with his older brother by desecrating his neighborhood mosque.

‎Egúngún / Masquerade
Olive Nwosu, 2021, Nigeria/UK, 14m
English and Yoruba with English subtitles
Salewa must return home for her mother’s funeral, to Lagos, a place where she once had to hide herself. At the funeral, she runs into an important person in her past, as she’s forced to go in search of her own peace. Egúngún (Masquerade) is a meditation on home, on memory, and identity – on the many versions of ourselves that haunt us.

Precious Hair & Beauty
John Ogunmuyiwa, 2021, UK, 11m
An ode to the mundanity and madness of the high street, told through the window of an African hair salon.
Co-presented by Be Reel Black Cinema Club
Monday, May 29 at 8:30pm (Q&A with Ozi Uduma, Tisa Chigaga, Aiman Morounfolu Mimiko, and producer Kaelo Iyizoba)
Wednesday, May 31 at 5:30pm

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AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL, INC.
Since 1990, African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) has bridged the divide between postcolonial Africa and the American public through the powerful medium of film and video. AFF’s unique place in the international arts community is distinguished not only by leadership in festival management, but also by a comprehensive approach to the advocacy of African film and culture. AFF established the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) in 1993 with Film at Lincoln Center. The New York African Film Festival is presented annually by the African Film Festival, Inc. and Film at Lincoln Center, in association with Brooklyn Academy of Music and Maysles Cinema. AFF also produces a series of local, national, and international programs throughout the year. More information about AFF can be found on the web at www.africanfilmny.org. You can follow AFF at @africanfilmfest on Twitter and Instagram.

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Film at Lincoln Center is dedicated to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema and enriching film culture.

Film at Lincoln Center fulfills its mission through the programming of festivals, series, retrospectives, and new releases; the publication of Film Comment; and the presentation of podcasts, talks, special events, and artist initiatives. Since its founding in 1969, this nonprofit organization has brought the celebration of American and international film to the world-renowned Lincoln Center arts complex, making the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broad audience and ensuring that it remains an essential art form for years to come.

Film at Lincoln Center receives generous, year-round support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter and Instagram.

MAYSLES CINEMA
Maysles Cinema, at Maysles Documentary Center (MDC), founded by the late documentary filmmaker and pioneer Albert Maysles (1926-2015) in 2008, is dedicated to the exhibition and discussion of documentary films. The Cinema is committed to a democratic experience, one where filmmakers are asked to attend the screenings of their work, and audiences have the opportunity to actively engage the films, subjects in the films, experts, and each other in post-screening forums. Coupled with its scheduled programming, Maysles encourages the programming participation of local social and cultural organizations to deepen community involvement and provide exposure for under-represented social issues and overlooked artists and their work. For more information, visit maysles.org.

BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC
BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer Brooklyn audiences an alternative to the standard multiplex, screening independent films that might otherwise not play in the borough and making BAM the only performing arts center in the country with two mainstage theaters and a multiplex cinema. In July 1999, beginning with a series celebrating the work of Spike Lee, BAMcinématek was born as Brooklyn’s only daily year-round repertory film program. BAMcinématek presents classic films, premieres, festivals, and retrospectives, often with special appearances by filmmakers, actors, and critics. For more information, visit bam.org.

For press inquiries regarding African Film Festival, Inc., please contact:
Cheryl Duncan, Cheryl Duncan & Company Inc., cheryl@cdcprnews.com
African Film Festival, Inc., press@africanfilmny.org

For press inquiries regarding Film at Lincoln Center, please contact:
John Kwiatkowski, Film at Lincoln Center, JKwiatkowski@filmlinc.org
Eva Tooley, Film at Lincoln Center, ETooley@filmlinc.org
Rogers & Cowan PMK, filmatlincolncenterpr@rogersandcowanpmk.com