NYAFF30: Collective Forces (Shorts Program)

Co-presented by African Communities Together

Saturday, May 20 at 4:30PM

Tickets: $15 General Admission/$7 Reduced Price 

Shorts Program: Collective Forces

Three short films highlighting community efforts to act toward everyday challenges and take matters into their own hands.

Total Runtime: 102 min

Post-screening Q&A with Sifiso Mlungisi Khanyile and Florence Ayisi

The Reclaimers

Sifiso Mlungisi Khanyile, 2022, South Africa, 20m
English and Zulu English subtitles

This intimate portrait told in three acts follows the life and work of three of Johannesburg’s informal recyclers, or reclaimers, and their bid to gain recognition as formal laborers in the city. We tread on their heels as they navigate homelessness, the law, and survive the big city that is Johannesburg.

Plant Power (U.S. Premiere)

Florence Ayisi, 2023, UK, 39m

Plant Power is a collaborative documentary film co-created with a community of activists in Bristol, United Kingdom. The film is one of several documentaries produced as part of the Co-POWeR research project led by Black female professors exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black, Asian and minority ethnic families and communities.

What These Walls Won't Hold

Adamu Taye Chan, 2020, USA, 43min
Filmed during the coronavirus pandemic, Adamu Chan’s What These Walls Won't Hold is about the way the COVID-19 crisis brought into focus and catalyzed ongoing organizing efforts at San Quentin State Prison. Chan, who was incarcerated there, chronicles his journey home, interweaving his account with those of his loved ones both inside and outside the penitentiary walls. What emerges is a tender picture of a community thriving with relationships built on trust and an indomitable zeal to fight for a brighter and better future for those incarcerated. This film creates a blueprint for resistance and liberation that is for all and invites us to imagine the abolitionist world that awaits us at the end of our struggle.