We’re kicking off our annual Summer Series this year on Staten Island!

Get the 411 on African cultural realities through the eyes of several emerging film directors from the continent. Staten Island Arts Folklife is proud to partner with the African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) of New York to produce this special evening in honor of the Cultural Feedback Project Community Archive. The Cultural Feedback Project is thrilled to host a specially curated series that pays homage to “traditional culture and contemporary struggles” facing the African continent, as part of the exhibit’s programming. As a living and community-driven digital folklife archive, the Cultural Feedback Project seeks to tell the stories and showcase the cultural heritage of Staten Island’s three largest West African communities (Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia) from the inside out, in their own words and on their own terms. It also documents West African traditional arts for future generations. The films that make up Africa 411 each address ways in which traditional knowledge found in story telling and religious practice as well as daily life can be used to better understand and combat contemporary issues such as evolving gender roles, drug addiction, mental health, and the aftermath of political violence.

Special programming

Post-screening discussion with Filmmaker Ekwa Msangi and African Film Festival, Inc. director Mahen Bonetti

About our Summer Series

During this annual series, AFF presents free programs throughout NYC, in public venues and city parks, including screenings of African cinema and family-friendly events such as the annual Family Day Celebration on Governors Island. Learn More