DocWatchers and the Maysles Cinema Present: The New York African Film Festival
/Friday, April 29th, 7:30pm
Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children
Xoliswa Sithole, 2010, 90 min., South Africa
The story of three children trying to survive in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
Followed by Q&A with Peabody Award Winning Filmmaker, Xoliswa Sithole and Reception
Saturday, April 30, 3:30pm
All I Wanna Do
Michelle Medina, 2010, 59 min., Morocco
Forty-eight year-old Simohamed, who works as a parking guard, and his 17-year-old son Ayoub, get the opportunity to pursue their dreams of being Hip Hop artists.
Jazz Mama
Petna Katondolo, 2010, 30 min., Congo
How do you talk about rape in a place where basic human rights are systematically violated? Katondolo skirts the boundaries of reality and fiction, offering a compelling portrait of Conoglese women who stand strong in their communities and denounce the violence they experience.
A Blues for Tiro
Steve Kwena Mokwena, 2007, 48 min., South Africa
A poetic tribute to an extraordinary black consciousness activist and inspirational leader, who was murdered in 1974.
Saturday, April 30, 7:30pm
Ladies In Waiting
Dieudo Hamadi & Divita Wa Lusula, 2010, 24 min., Congo
In a maternity ward in the Congo, new mothers are "held hostage" until they are are able to settle their medical bills.
Shouting Silent
Xoliswa Sithole, 2002, 50 min., South Africa
An adult orphan who lost her mother to HIV/AIDS journeys back home in search of other young women who have also lost their mothers to HIV/AIDS and are now struggling to raise themselves (and, in many cases, their siblings) on their own.
Followed by Q&A with Peabody Award Winning Filmmaker, Xoliswa Sithole and Reception
Sunday, May 1, 3:00pm
Alex’s Wedding
Jean-Marie Teno, 2003, 45 min., Cameroon
Three people's lives are about to change dramatically. Alex goes to his in-laws' to bring home his second wife. His childhood sweetheart and first wife, Elise, reluctantly accompanies him.
North-South.com
Francois Ducat, 2007, 53 min., Cameroon
In a country where nearly half the population lives under the poverty threshold, many young women surf the internet hoping to “escape” by marrying a rich, white foreigner.
Sunday, May 1st, 5:00pm
Zero Tolerance
Dieudo Hamadi, 2010, 18 min., Congo
The systematic use of rape casts a dark shadow on the Congolese society. Ordinary men are guilty of violently exploiting women, and are unable explain what came over them.
Driving with Fanon
Steve Kwena Mokwena, 2010, 70 min., Sierra Leone
Avant-garde filmmaker, Kwena Mokwena travels through Freetown, Sierra Leone with the ghost of Frantz Fanon, engaging a new generation into conversation about the radical black scholar, psychiatrist and revolutionary thinker.
