Africa in the World

The African terrain, regarded as the origin of human development, is now contested, caught between the demands of global capitalism and those of local traditions. As the Continent modernizes, its cinema portrays tensions generated by the evolution of new cities, new migrations and new selves. Displaced populations – pushed by environmental degradation, war and global economic forces – are forced to forge new lives in increasingly dense cities (Lagos, Nigeria, for example, has 10 times the density of New York City), or in unfamiliar cities and towns abroad. In the new habitats, Africans form new neighborhoods, which become refashioned and updated African villages where Western popular culture mingles with ancient myths.

African migrants journey to Europe and the Americas, leaving behind the security and emotional comforts of their smaller, familiar communities to seek economic opportunity, or to flee civil wars. Their perceptions and cultures change their host countries, even as they themselves are changed. African and African Diaspora filmmakers reveal these global upheavals. Their examination produces work that ranges from political dramas of the pro-independence movements to social comedies of postcolonial city life, both at home and abroad. The Festival will explore these themes in two sections:

Spotlight of Southern Africa – featuring films from Zimbabwe and South Africa, that deal with historical and current issues facing the region, including the migration of Africans to post-apartheid South Africa and the effects of the AIDS crisis on young women.

African is… – Contemporary films by second-generation African immigrants, particularly those in Britain and France, who are making films about their struggle to belong to two worlds: the culture of their adopted home and that of their ancestral home.

These films explore how new immigrants maintain and transform African culture, how urban spaces are reshaped, and how these migrations challenge traditional notions of nationality and citizenship. Furthermore, they disrupt notions of a unified national cinema. Praised as some of the most rigorous, controversial and artistically experimental work of recent years, many of these filmmakers have made “arthouse” hits in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

Filmmakers to be included are Joe Ramaka (Senegal), Mansour Sora Wade (Senegal), Fanta Nacro (Burkina Faso), John Akomfrah (UK/Ghana), Alain Gomis (France/Senegal), Akin Omotoso (Nigeria/South Africa), Manu Kurewa (UK/Zimbabwe), Gahite Fofana (France/Guinea) and others.

AFF will hold a panel discussion in association with New York University’s Institute for African American Affairs & Africana Studies Department at the King Juan Carlos Center at 6pm. on April 12th. The 8th New York African Film Festival is presented by African Film Festival Inc., The FilmSociety of Lincoln Center, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.