Jacques Rivette – The Night Watchman (Jacques Rivette - Le veilleur)

FILM-ON-FILM Programmed by Miriam Bale

Dir. Claire Denis in collaboration with Serge Daney, 1990, France, 125 mins.

In this superb introduction to Rivette's work, commissioned for the magnificent Cinéma, de notre temps series, Denis (his one-time assistant director) & the great film critic Daney question him in a variety of quintessentially Parisian locales. Interspersed with clips from his films, the eloquent filmmaker discusses mise en scène, art & ethics, the early days of the French New Wave & working with actors. This exploration takes place in two parts "The Day" & "The Night" revealing a multifaceted, fascinating & articulate artist. With cinematography by Denis regular Agnès Godard & featuring actors Bulle Ogier, Jean Babilée & Jean-François Stévenin.

Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

Co-Presented by Yatt Ndindory Video

Dir. Peter Bate, 2003, 84 min.

 A harrowing investigation of how King Leopold II of Belgium acquired Congo as a colony and exploited it by reign of terror.

Dan Rather Reports: All Mine

Produced by Andrew Glazer, HD.Net, 2009, 32 min.

When and American company bought a massive copper mine from the government of DR Congo, it also took control of part of the impoverished country's economic future. Critics say the contract for the billion-dollar mine left the war torn African nation with little in return, and the US government played a part in what many are describing as a modern day land grab. Featuring Professor Peter Rosenblum (Columbia Univ. Law School).

 Discussion with Professor Peter Rosenblum and Jason Stearns (former UN investigator) to follow screening

Pièces d’Identités

Co-Presented by Friends of the Congo

Dir. Mweze Ngangura, 1998, 93min.

A Congolese king arrives in Brussels in search of his long-lost daughter. What masquerades as a simple fable raises some of the most troubling issues of identity facing people of African descent in the ever-widening Diaspora of the late 20th century

 Discussion with Professor Joseph Mwantuali (Hamilton College) and author Yaa-Lengi Ngemi

Docwatchers Presents: An Evening of 100% Free Harlem Made Shorts

A Harlem Mother

Ivana Todorovic, 2009, 11 min.

This documentary short packs a whopper of a punch, one mother's tragedy leads to a coalition of mothers taking action.

 Reprogram

Shani Peters, 2008, 20 min.

Through both manual and digital collage, Peters combines mediated visuals of black political icons and fictional media characters within a single video and inserts conversations initiated by these icons of a racially divided past into a contemporary pop culture discussion.

 Bronx Princess

Yoni Brook and Musa Syeed, 2008, 38 min.

Bronx Princess follows headstrong 17-year-old teenager Rocky's journey as she leaves behind her mother in New York City to reunite with her father, a chief in Ghana, West Africa. Filmed over the tumultuous summer between high-school and college, Bronx Princess tells Rocky's coming-of-age story. By confronting her immigrant parents' ideas of adulthood, Rocky reconciles her African heritage with her dream of independence.

 The directors of all three films will be available for Q&A following the screening.

Rollin' with the Nines

Dir. Julian Gilbey (2006), 96 min.

 Rollin' With the Nines is a gritty urban action film made by and about West Indians living in England. Too Fine and his friends Finny, Pushy and Rage hope to set up a successful urban underground garage act and escape the lives they're trying to leave behind. Things go tragically wrong and 90 minutes of murder, money, drugs and payback ensue. 

Life & Debt

Dir. Stephanie Black (2001), 86 min.

 Life and Debt is a feature-length documentary which addresses the impact of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and current globalization policies on a developing country such as Jamaica.Utilizing excerpts from the award-winning non-fiction text "A Small Place" by Jamaica Kincaid, Life & Debt is a woven tapestry of sequences focusing on the stories of individual Jamaicans whose strategies for survival and parameters of day-to-day existence are determined by the U.S. and other foreign economic agendas. By combining traditional documentary telling with a stylized narrative framework, the complexity of international lending, structural adjustment policies and free trade will be understood in the context of the day-to-day realities of the people whose lives they impact.

Yole!Africa Program

Co-Presented by Yole!Africa, Congo Global Action Network, ENOUGH Project

Short films by Petna Katondolo made in conjunction with Yole!Africa, a local community arts organization based in Goma, DR Congo.

 Q&A with director Petna Katondolo, moderated by Nita Evele (Congo Global Action) + reception to follow screening.

Lumumba

Co-Presented by Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Museum for African Art, Zeitgeist Films

Dir. Raoul Peck, 2000, 100min.

The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba.

 Discussion with author Yaa-Lengi Ngemi, activist Kambale Musavuli, and art critic/educator Lubangi Muniania to follow screening + opening night reception featuring poetry by Omekongo Dibinga.

Soul Power

Dir. Jeffrey Levi-Hinte, 2009, 93min.

 Soul Power documents the Zaire 74 music festival that accompanied the "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight boxing championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in October 1974.

 Panel discussion with Maurice Carney (Friends of the Congo), Lubangi Muniania (Tabilulu Productions), Yaa-Lengi Ngemi (author and historian) and Ken Braun (Sterns Music USA, compiler of Franco Phonic).