DATE CHANGE & LOCATION ANNOUNCEMENT! "This is Nollywood"

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Underground Railroad Film Series presents

THIS IS NOLLYWOOD
56 minutes, 2007, Nigeria. Producer: Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo
Friday, November 16, 2007 at the Harry Thomas Community Center at Lee House in the New Holly neighborhood, South Seattle, 7315 – 39th Avenue South . $5.00 suggested donation . Street parking is available. There may also be free after-hours parking in the health center parking lot.

First came Hollywood, then Bollywood and now Nollywood, Nigeria’s booming film industry, which released 2000 feature features in 2006 alone. Where else can you shoot a full-length dramatic film for $10,000 in 7 days? Until recently little known outside its own country, THIS IS NOLLYWOOD explains why Nigerian video production is becoming recognized as a phenomenon with broad implications for the cultural and economic development of Africa.

The industry is wholly self-sustaining, receiving no foreign or government assistance. Directors of these films are proud to admit that their intended audience is the average Nigerian not international film festivals. There are an amazing 55,000,000 video players in Nigeria reaching 90% of the population.

Before the rise of Nollywood, Nigerians saw mostly American Westerns, Hong Kong Kung Fu movies and Bollywood musicals. In contrast, Nollywood appeals to a hunger for indigenous stories with characters and situations audiences can easily relate to. The popularity of these films has spread across English-speaking Africa and their stars have become celebrities from Zambia to Ghana. Nollywood also provides a vital, constantly up-dated link between the vast Nigerian diaspora and their home culture. Thousands of Nigerian films are already available to immigrants to the United States both on DVD and over the internet.

The Nollywood phenomenon is doubtless an expression of the resourcefulness and vigor of Nigerian society. But it also raises questions about the potential social impact of commercial cinema, especially in the developing world. Does Nollywood in fact depict daily Nigerian life any more accurately or incisively than Hollywood portrays American society? Does it dare expose the kleptocracy which for forty years has kept its citizens impoverished by pocketing the nation’s immense oil wealth? As for cultural preservation, Nollywood narratives seem more influenced by international genres like the action thriller and the soap opera than Yoruba drama or Ibo folk tales. Can we reasonably hope that a cinematic Chinua Achebe or Wole Soyinka will emerge out of the frenetic deal-making of Lagos? Superstar Saint Obi optimistically predicts that “I believe very soon we are not only going to have better movies, we’ll have that original Nigerian movie.” For the time being, hard-pressed Nigerians are at least getting their own version of the vicarious excitement and undemanding escapism, which have become the prime commodities of the Information Age. For us, these films may give clearer insights into the apprehensions and aspirations of the average Nigerian than any documentary or political drama.

This documentary film is a partial but intensely focused image from a dense picture—the current cinematic phenomenon in Nigeria which its title proclaims. With an admirable sense of humor, it captures the gritty and confounding optimism that keeps Nigeria going, against all rational expectations. In its innovative approach to narrative and the contingencies of production characteristic of the industry, This is Nollywood becomes the drama it seeks to document, without losing direction.

Akin Adesokan, Indiana University


This is Nollywood captures the problems and dynamism of making movies in Nigeria while giving a vibrant introduction to this fast growing movie industry. Dealing with rainstorms, missing stars, and power cuts, we see the pressure on Nigerian moviemakers and the guerilla filmmaking they have invented to cope. As the director Bond Emeruwa says, “In Nollywood we don’t count the walls, we have learned ways to climb them”.

Brian Larkin, Barnard College; Columbia University

American Ethnic Cleansing Explored in “Banished”, November 2nd

Groups Work Together to Host Seattle Premiere of Critically Acclaimed Film

Seattle, WA – Filmmaker Marco Williams will be on hand to discuss his widely acclaimed documentary, “Banished” as part of the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Underground Railroad Film Series in partnership with the Seattle Office of Civil Rights and the Seattle Art Museum. The film will screen for the community Friday, November 2^nd at 1PM at the Seattle Art Museum and 7pm at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center. Williams will also participate as guest speaker in the Seattle Race Conference held on Saturday, November 3 at the Seattle Center. Both events are open to the public.

BANISHED chronicles both the history and legacy of three southern Counties who practiced violent eviction of Black communities, burning their homes, lynching the men and appropriating their land.

New York Times writer Manhola Dargis describes this infamous period in history as a time when “Reconstruction died, and Jim Crow moved right in.” Director Marco Williams’ film patiently addresses this American tragedy with an unflinching and thoughtful investigation of racism, responsibility and land ownership.

The film not only reflects on the past, but also explores the impact on the descendants of these communities whose combination of silence and shame beg the questions of history, memory and contemporary justice। Throughout the film, Williams searches the recollections of current and past residents whose stories reveal the resident’s myopic sensibility, which keeps these towns mostly white today. Williams’ film delves into the impact of these violent expulsions and reframes the notion of reparations, providing thoughtful context to this complex subject.

The three counties studied, Forsyth County (Georgia), Pierce City (Missouri) and Harrison (Arkansas) remain virtually all white and their victims’ descendants remain uncompensated.
Filmmaker Marco Williams interviews both groups. Described as handsome, soft-spoken, articulate and unfailingly polite, critics site Williams as the perfect foil for drawing out KKK members and guilty liberals alike. He takes an incendiary subject and through force of personality weaves a thoughtful investigation of racism, responsibility and real estate.

Williams will be on hand Friday evening to introduce the film. The screening will be followed with discussion hosted by the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival and partners at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center. On Saturday, Williams will participate in the Seattle Race Conference, bringing excerpts of the film and inviting the conference's 300 participants to reflect on the work. Williams and co producers Working Films and the Center for Investigative Reporting have launched a national outreach program to discuss the issues raised in the film.

The Race Conference keynote will be presented by Dr. James Gregory, Director of the University of Washington Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project with presentation titled, "Remembering Segregated Seattle and the Civil Rights Movements that Changed Our City. This screening, community discussion and connection to the Seattle Race Conference will provide a powerful platform for Seattle and King County audiences to address our history and provide context for the issues of racism faced yet today across the country and in our own back yard.

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival and Underground Railroad Film Series are programs of Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. The Seattle Race Conference is presented by a coalition of community groups in partnership with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights and the Seattle Center. The Seattle Art Museum is the Pacific Northwest’s premiere venue for art, with more than 23,000 objects from across cultures, exploring the connections between past and present, connecting people to art.

Screening Date/Time/Location

Date: Friday, November 2, 2007

Time: 1PM City of Seattle Staff & 7PM Public Screening Doors at 6:30 ($5 suggested donation)

Location: 1PM Seattle Art Museum ; 7PM Rainier Valley Cultural Center

For info on the Langston Hughes Underground Railroad Film Series- www.langstonblackfilmfest.org

To register for the Race Conference visit www.seattleraceconference.org

For info on SAM, visit www.seattleartmuseum.org

Film Facts:

(USA 2007) 87 Minutes Official Website www.banishedthefilm.com

Director/Producer : Marco Williams

Co-Producer: Maia Harris

Editors: Kathryn Barnier, Sandra Christie

Camera: Stephen McCarthy

Sound: J.T. Takagi

Music Composed by: David Murray

Awards:

BANISHED won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Miami International Film Festival, the Spectrum Award at the Full Frame Film Festival, and the Nashville Film Festival's Best Documentary Award.

Reviews-

“Williams plays on a distinctly American sense of decency by appealing to his audience's notion of property rather than justice: "We wanted to reintroduce the thought of reparation or reconciliation around an idea that's perhaps more tangible to people than solely reparation for slavery."” Charlie Olsky, Indie Wire

“Williams's very presence in the all-white communities he documents is a canny litmus test ... It doesn't matter that Williams is Harvard-educated, or that he's articulate and hip. As our director sits at a kitchen table in Harrison, Arkansas, listening to the local Klan leader matter-of-factly disclose his disdain for blacks, it's painfully clear that in many small (and large) towns throughout America, the legacy of banishment remains: Black people are not only unwelcome, but unsafe. Just ask the Jena 6.” Lisa Katzman, Village Voice

“It’s stunning how loudly the dead can speak, and with such eloquence.”
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“Goes the extra mile by confronting the descendants of the perpetrators.”
– Time Out NY

“With a forceful and disturbing, and at the same time emotionally resonant sense of investigative inquiry, Williams fearlessly burrows into the depths of this hidden history with brave, unrelenting determination. A rare treasure in the annals of cinema.”
– Prairie Miller, WBAI Radio

“Investigates the distressing and awkward situation that arises when African-American families
return to land where their ancestors were forced to retreat in the face of domineering racism.
Rather than following an activist agenda, Williams’s intelligent personal narrative raises
monumental questions surrounding ownership and retribution.”
– Eric Kohn, New York Press

“A deft drilling down into a little-known or consciously forgotten-about piece of American history.
An important film that renegotiates the issue of reparations.”
– Williams Cole, The Brooklyn Rail

KILLER OF SHEEP special theatrical run - partnership with the NW Film Forum

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival is pleased to partner with the Northwest Film Forum for a special anniversary presentation of African American filmmaker Charles Burnett's classic film, KILLER OF SHEEP.

Special thanks to our June 23rd guest panelists, who conducted a lively and interesting post-screening discussion:

• Dr. Angela Gilliam - anthropologist, author, and professor at Evergreen State College
• Eddie Hill - filmmaker and producer
• Sandra D. Jackson-Dumont - Deputy Director of Education and Public Programs, Seattle Art Museum

JUNE 29-JULY 1, Fri - Sun at 9:15 PM and JULY 2, 3, 5 (Mon, Tues, Thurs) at 7 & 9:15 PM

30th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING / NEW 35MM PRINT

NWFF and Langston Hughes African American Film Festival present

KILLER OF SHEEP

(Charles Burnett, USA, 1977, 35mm, 96min)

At last, one of the most important independent and African-American films of the 20th Century has found a distributor. This underground gem, by director Charles Burnett, was placed among the first fifty films entered in the National Film Registry and declared a national treasure. In 2002, the National Society of Film Critics selected the film as one of the "100 Essential Films" of all time. Due to music licensing complications, the film was rarely screened and even then on worn 16mm prints. KILLER OF SHEEP has now been fully restored for its 30th anniversary. Witness its frank, neo-realistic depiction of black life in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood in the mid-70s as the film follows Stan from his job at a slaughterhouse to his life at home. Constantly frustrated by money troubles, he manages to find solace in simple pleasures fixing up an old car, slow dancing with his wife in the kitchen, or quietly holding his daughter.

"The highest example of contemporary black life put on cinema." -Armond White, Film Comment

"The film of the season, if not the year, is a Southern California slice-of-life from 1977 that hasn't aged a day... A stirring and sophisticated evocation of working-class Watts." -Nathan Lee, The Village Voice

"Free of ghetto cliches that fill the movies made by people who have never lived in one, KILLER OF SHEEP is a strongly individual portrait of black, working class America." -Seattle P-I

"Burnett uses the film language of experimental documentaries for his urban pastoral--an episodic series of scenes that are sweet, sardonic, deeply sad, and very funny." -Seattle Weekly

You may watch a video of the discussion panel here. Special thanks to Paul Jackson, videographer for this event!

On another note...our belated, but deeply sincere, thanks to everyone who attended this year's LHAAFF! We appreciate our audiences and look forward to welcoming you in 2008 for our 5th anniversary. We're planning more workshops for aspiring and experienced filmmakers, more repeat screenings of hard-to-find films, and a special 5th anniversary opening night event. Ticket and pass prices will remain affordable. We want the LHAAFF to remain an accessible, welcoming community events. Thank you, audiences and friends, for your support and enthusiasm!

Join us again at the the NW Film Forum in August 2007 for THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT, a gripping documentary about the death penalty, justice, and perceptions of race and crime in America.

UPDATE: Corrected bio for S. Pearl Sharp, April 29 guest filmmaker

The LHAAFF regrets that an incorrect bio was published in the print version of the program book. Guest filmmaker S. Pearl Sharp will present her acclaimed documentary THE HEALING PASSAGE: VOICES FROM THE WATER on Sunday, April 29 at 1:00 PM. Admission is $7.00. A correct version of the bio follows:

S. Pearl Sharp's work focuses on cultural arts, health and Black history. An
independent filmmaker, she created the semi-animated film short Picking Tribes, with watercolors by artist Carlos Spivey; Life Is A Saxophone, on poet Kamau Daa'ood; a controversial women's health video, It's O.K. To Peek, produced with Arabella Chavers-Julien; and Back Inside Herself, a poetic short. S. Pearl wrote and directed numerous arts documentaries for the City of Los Angeles' CH 35, with Exec. Producer Rosie Lee Hooks, including Central Avenue Live!, L.A. to L.A., Spirits of the Ancestors and Fertile Ground: Stories From the Watts Towers Arts Center. She is Supervising Producer for five new short films addressing gang violence, sponsored by the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC). Sharp’s most recent work is The Healing Passage/Voices From The Water, an award-winning, feature length documentary that addresses the present-day residuals of the trans-Atlantic slave trade through the work of cultural artists.

S. Pearl writes "soft songs, hard poems and 3rd eye music." Her essays and
commentaries are heard on NPR radio, and she is the current Poet Laureate
of the Watts Towers Arts Center. Her published literary works include Black Women For Beginners (Writers and Readers), the plays Dearly Beloved and The Sistuhs, four volumes of poetry and a spoken word CD, On The Sharp Side. She worked with esteemed actress Beah Richards on There's A Brown Girl In The Ring, a collection of the actress' essays, later adapting them to stage.

Based in Los Angeles, S. Pearl is both a practitioner and student of holistic healing. www.aSharpShow.com

...

About the film:

How do we heal from the residuals of The Middle Passage?Cultural artists, along with historians and healers, look at present day behavior that is connected to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. For more than 300 years Africans were carried from their homeland, across the Atlantic Ocean ("The Middle Passage"), into chattel slavery in the Americas and the Caribbean. The residual impact of this African Holocaust still reverberates in the world today through psychological trauma, genetic memory, personal and community consciousness. The artists use music, dolls, dance, altars, spoken word, visual art and ritual to create paths to healing.
With commentary by historian Dr. Yosef A. A. ben-Jochannan (Dr. Ben), Goree Island curator Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye, health professionals Lola Kemp and Dr. Olivia Cousins, and Maafa Conference founder Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood. And the artistry of actress CCH Pounder, Brother Yusef the Bluesman, bassist Nedra Wheeler, writer/singer Shonda Buchannan (Nyesha Khalfani), doll maker Angela Briggs, visual artists Ra6 and Abbey Onikoyi and others.

AFROPUNK director James Spooner returns to Seattle tonight, April 28!

Don't miss tonight's rare opportunity! The LHAAFF welcomes back AFROPUNK director, James Spooner, with this special presentation of a festival version of his forthcoming feature, WHITE LIES, BLACK SHEEP about a young Black man and his struggles with identity and integration in Manhattan's club/punk scene. Post-screening Q&A with director James Spooner. Admission is $7.

UPDATE: Sunday, April 29 closing event

Due to insurance coverage restrictions, we regret that we are unable to have live horses at the April 29 closing reception at 5:00 p.m. April 29. However, we DO have our special guests, members of the Northwest Black Horsemen, who are traveling from around Washington State to join us at 4:00 PM for the screening of the inspiring documentary, THE FEDERATION OF BLACK COWBOYS. The Horsemen will demonstrate bullwhip and lasso techniques, all skills that were part of daily life in cattle drives and ranch work in the old West. Many of the horsemen have performed in rodeos and all have been involved with horseback riding for many years. Ask questions, see the demonstrations, and learn more about the historic role of African Americans in the West!

The film start time has changed from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM. A festive reception with delicious food from Seattle's own Jones Barbeque follows. Admission: $10 (includes food).

Welcoming all to the 2007 Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, Seattle

Dear friends of the LHAAFF,

I extend a sincere welcome to all as the 2007 Langston Hughes African American Film Festival begins its fourth year. We appreciate the support of our community partners, sponsors, volunteers, and of course you, the audience.

It is with respect and pleasure that the LHAAFF Advisory Committee dedicates this year’s event to the memory of the late James Brown and Octavia Butler, who passed to the realm of the ancestors this past year. These creative giants each held a unique and compelling place of honor in their respective fields. Each produced work with a powerful cross-generational influence. The alchemy of Brown’s powerful stage persona and skills as a singer, bandleader, songwriter, and dancer combined to make a unique style. Even his recorded music could make you feel as though you didn’t want to stop dancing. Octavia Butler’s speculative/science fiction novels immerse the reader in the alternate world she creates. Familiar themes like time travel, telekinesis, vampires and alternate, sometimes dystopian futures for the Earth go in surprising new directions in Butler’s engaging storytelling. She is fondly remembered for her friendship and mentorship of emerging writers. Her characters and intellectually challenging storylines can make you want to stay up past your bedtime or miss your bus stop. We are hoping that you will have a similar “can’t put it down” reaction to the diverse variety of films on this year’s schedule; that you won’t stop dancing, but will enjoy as many films and workshops as possible this year.

There is work by filmmakers from a wide variety of ethnic and national backgrounds: African American, Black British, European American, French-Israeli, Ghanian-American, Jewish, African/Native American, South African, and South African/South Asian. Each day, stories from around the African diaspora express the complexity of Black life in fictional narrative and documentary forms.

To paraphrase the old saying, being Black ain’t easy, but it sure is interesting. Saddle up with the Black cowboys of Brooklyn. Explore the idea of Blackness in alternative, “what-if” scenarios of the present and the future (THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR, INVISIBLE UNIVERSE). Experience the musical and political scene of modern Nigeria with Fela Kuti’s son Femi.

At a Tanzanian flea market, a Muslim woman tries on a bra over her hijab, before one young man, a group of several planning to migrate and seek work in Europe or Canada, declares to the camera and by extension, the industrialized world, "I 'm not afraid of you or Osama." (SWAHILINI).

Hear from Black women and men working together to reduce violence, sexual and otherwise, in our communities (NO!, PEACE PROCESS). Ask yourself how the Middle Passage has lingering effects on your own life (THE HEALING PASSAGE). Look deeply into what was good and bad about Blaxploitation (MACKED, HAMMERED, SLAUGHTERED AND SHAFTED, surely one of the best film titles ever).

Part of the LHAAFF mission is a commitment to presenting independently produced work, and we are honored to have several films by talented local filmmakers. Please take the opportunity to meet them, participate in post-screening talkback sessions, and be a voice of appreciation and support.

Thank you for your support of the LHAAFF.

Zola M.

Curator