[Afrika Eye Film Festival 2011] HERE IT IS: THE FULL WORKS

[Afrika Eye film festival: African films from an African perspective]

ALL FILMS AT WATERSHED, 1 Canon's Rd, Bristol BS1 5TX  0117 927 5100 

TICKETS: Watershed Box Office www.watershed.co.uk

DATES: 28 - 30 OCTOBER 2011

SYNOPSES from website 'synopses' tab (for those who didn't find it).

 Fri 28 Oct 20.30 Sing Your Song dir Susanne Rostock US  

Wonderfully archived, and told with a remarkable sense of intimacy, visual style, and musical panache, Susanne Rostock’s inspiring biographical documentary, SING YOUR SONG, surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. From his rise to fame as a singer, inspired by Paul Robeson, and his experiences touring a segregated country, to his provocative crossover into Hollywood, Belafonte’s groundbreaking career impacted many democracy and social-justice movements. Rostock reveals Belafonte as a tenacious hands-on activist, who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took action to counter gang violence, prisons, and the incarceration of youth. Because of his beliefs, Belafonte drew unwarranted invasions by the FBI into both his personal life and career. But an indomitable sense of optimism motivates his path even today as, at the age of 84, he continues to ask, "What do we do now?" £7.20 / £5.60 Tickets include priority admission to party

Fri 28 Oct 22.30  Party with HASSAN ERRAJI

Blind musician Hassan Erraji plays oud, violin, and percussion. Born in the village of Tazart, south of Marrakech, Hassan was introduced at an early age to the traditional music of the Atlas Mountains, practised and taught by ear and passed on from generation to generation.

Now living in Leeds, Erraji has worked with the groups Arabesque and Belcikal to create a variety of innovative sounds that draw from jazz, electronic, classical, and arabic sources. Fresh from a storming gig at WOMAD, this is music to dance and trance to.

 ''…He made his first instrument from a tin can and a piece of wood with bicycle brake cables for strings and losing his sight at the age of six only made his passion for the universe of sounds deeper. ''

listen

3 – 24 Oct  Video Workshop (full) with LOVEWORKS

Afrika Eye are supporting Firstborn Creatives to run a video workshop with Loveworks, a local Bristol organisation that offers practical and emotional support for vulnerable young people in and around Bristol. Loveworks provide a self referring mentoring service and also run cutting edge creative projects that serve as a means to engage hard to reach young people. The video workshop is producing a piece ready for the EYEFULL competition. Working title is 'From Africa to Urban' , and it looks at the history of urban music.  
loveworks newsletter

Sat 29 Oct 11.00 MWE BANA BANDI Half term event for children.

dir Kristina Tuura/Paivi Takala 29’ Finland/Zambia 1998

Children’s film and music workshop The film follows two school boys in the Zambian village of Wapamesa on a typical day during the harvest. Music is an integral part of the day, where most things come from the children's imagination: guitars are made from reeds and shakers from corn cobs. Everyday events are deeply and sensitively expressed through their singing as they tell the story of daily life in the village plus Q & A with of one of the directors. In the workshop that follows, children will learn how to make music using everyday objects. £4.60/£3.60 Workshop free. Book workshop place when you buy ticket – limited workshop places. Adults only when accompanied by a child. For children under 10

Sat 29 Oct 15.00  EYEFULL

90’ of shorts by and about Africans. Prize for best Bristol based entry.

Programme announced week before festival £4.60 / £3.60

Enter and send your DVDs to 17 Cotham Side, Bristol BS6 5TP by 30 Sep 

Sat 29 Oct 17.00 AN AFRICAN ELECTION dir Jarreth Merz 89’ US/Ghana 2010

Edge of seat tension as parties slog it out in run up to Ghana’s 2008 general election. Will dirty tricks win the day or will the process be held to be free and fair? AN AFRICAN ELECTION is filled with big personalities, colourful speech-making and high-stakes intrigue. Following the steps that lead to the election, the re-vote and the run-off in this young democracy, Merz addresses many of the problems of contemporary politics in a two-party state, from poisonous rhetoric to corruption of the vote. Parallels with the US are strictly coincidental. £7.20 / £5.60

 JARRETH MERZ

Jarreth Merz is a Swiss born actor of African descent, who is also director and producer. He grew up in Ghana, Germany and Switzerland and speaks five languages fluently. He studied directing in New York and co-founded The Cell Film Production company in 2005 and Urban Republic Films in 2006. Projects include: ‘Abeka Junction’, a mystery thriller/family drama set in Africa, and ‘Spurlos’, a mystery thriller/family drama set in Switzerland, and based on a true story.

watch trailer

Sat 29 Oct 19.00  AFRICA RISING: LORD PAUL BOATENG speaks on challenges and opportunities for democracy in North and sub-Saharan Africa. Paul Boateng is a British Labour Party politician, who was the MP for Brent South from 1987 to 2005,  becoming the UK's first black Cabinet Minister in May 2002, when he was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Following his departure from the House of Commons, he served as the British High Commissioner to South Africa from March 2005 to May 2009. He was introduced as a member of the House of Lords on 1 July 2010. Hosted in conjunction with Bristol Festival of Ideas. £4.60 / £3.60

watch Paul Boateng on Africa and digital technology

Sat 29 Oct 20.30  ROBERT MUGABE … WHAT HAPPENED? dir Simon Bright 82’ Zimbabwe 2011

SNEAK WORLD PREVIEW Mugabe’s been in the news but here’s a chance to watch the life and times behind the Shakespearean rise and fall of the man who built a successful African country, and then destroyed it. Damned as a terrorist, knighted by Queen Elizabeth then suspended from the Commonwealth, Mugabe remains in power after 30 years. The film explores what happened, through interviews with some of his closest comrades and draws from a unique collection of Southern African archives that powerfully evokes his reign. £7.20 / £5.60

Plus Q and A with Bristol-based director Simon Bright, who once supported Mugabe and was later arrested by him.  
watch trailer

SIMON BRIGHT

Simon Bright is a Zimbabwean director and producer. Together with Ingrid Sinclair, he established Zimmedia, making films to combat the political and military propaganda of South Africa. He produced two fiction films selected for Cannes, ‘Flame’ and ‘Bintou’. His documentary MBIRA MUSIC won a prize at Fespaco. His work celebrates the diversity of African culture, history and environment. He sees making film as a way of exploring the inner workings of culture and politics – as an excuse to be where you are not supposed to be and to ask questions that have not been asked.

Sun 30 Oct 13.00  UTOPIA IN ETHIOPIA PRESENTATION dir Paulina Tervo UK/Ethiopia 2011

Tervo has been working with rural Ethiopians who have established a democratic village, where religion is openly questioned and men and women have equal rights. Although the villagers receive death threats, they carry on undaunted. They have recently participated in "The Awra Amba Story", a multi-platform, multimedia project that explores the life and philosophy of the village through a variety of approaches and media formats including a web documentary and interactive exhibition. Paulina will present the work-in-progress and discuss the emerging media and social change with Mandy Rose of UWE’s Digital Cultures Research Centre. £4.60/£3.60

PAULINA TERVO

Paulina is a documentary filmmaker with several years of directing, producing, writing and filming experience. She is passionate about human rights and social and development issues, and has recently started making films about these topics. She has professional working experience of the NGO sector, as well as a wide social network within broadcasting. 

Website 

 

 

Sun 30 Oct 14.30  THE SATANIC ANGELS dir Ahmed Boulane 84’ Morocco 2007

14 young hard-rockers are arrested for Satanism and ‘shaking the foundations of Islam’. Imprisoned for up to a year after a surrealistic trial, their case becomes a cause celebre, attracting partisans from all social strata. Basing his script on real events, Ahmed Boulane fearlessly places blame at all levels of society, using the sheer absurdity of the charges to highlight the increasing grip of fundamentalism on an ostensibly secular state.

£4.60  / £3.60

 

AHMED BOULANE

Ahmed Boulane was  born in the former pirates' republic of Sale, Morocco. He was an actor with the Moroccan National Theater Company and the national Moroccan radio theater troupe from 1974 to 1977. In 1996 he created his production company, Boulane-O'Bryne Production (B'OB Prod), to produce ‘Voyage dans le Passé’ and ‘Ali, Rabiaa et les autres’, two films that earned him critical acclaim.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Sun 30 Oct 16.30  NO MORE FEAR dir Mourad Ben Cheick 74’ Tunisia 2011   

The first feature-length documentary about the Tunisian revolution, NO MORE FEAR was selected for a special screening at Cannes this year. The film brings together news footage of the demonstrations with a variety of players in the revolution, providing a diverse picture of the groundswell that rose up to topple the dictatorial regime. While first time filmmaker, Ben Cheikh, focuses largely on the educated middle class, interviews with people on the street make clear the cross-class alliances that brought down authoritarian President Ben Ali after 23 increasingly repressive years. Passionate, raw, immediate, NO MORE FEAR depicts a revolution spearheaded by the young, who overcame the population's long-ingrained fear and rallied the nation via social network websites like Facebook, YouTube and blogs. £7.20 / £5.60                          

Sun 30 Oct 18.45  VIVA RIVA dir Djo Tunda wa Munga 96’ Democratic Republic of Congo 2010 

Riva is a small time operation who returns to Kinshasa with a fortune in hijacked petrol. With wads of cash and out for a good time, Riva is soon entranced by the beautiful nightclub siren Nora, the kept woman of a local gangster. Into the mix comes Riva’s Angolan crime lord ex-boss, relentlessly seeking his stolen shipment of gasoline. Riva is the perfect embodiment of director Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s portrayal of Kinshasa as a seductively vibrant, lawless, fuel-starved sprawl of shantytown, gated villas, bordellos and nightclubs.   £7.20 / £5.60

watch trailer 

 



DJO TUNDA WA MUNGA

Djo Tunda Wa Munga was born in 1972 in Kinshasa, DRC. At the age of 10 he left for Belgium and after completing school, he studied art and, later, at the National Film School of Belgium. During this time he directed his first short films, after which he soon returned to the DRC to work on documentary projects produced for the BBC, ARTE and Danish TV. He directed a number of documentaries for the local market and went on to create the country’s first film production company, Suka Productions!

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Posted By Afrika Eye film festival: African films from an African perspective to Afrika Eye Film Festival 2011 on 9/22/2011 02:03:00 AM