VANCOUVER PAN-AFRICAN FILM & ARTS FESTIVAL KINSHIP DAY FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 24-26, 2008

2^ND ANNUAL VANCOUVER PAN-AFRICAN FILM & ARTS FESTIVAL (VPAFF) KINSHIP DAY FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 24-26, 2008. FULL PROGRAM AND TICKETS WWW.VPAFF.ORG

Vancouver, B.C. October 20, 2008..Nanaimo native Ebony Johnson has combined her award-winning talent - and personal tragedies - to communicate with a passion for her African roots, and to produce the second annual Vancouver Pan-African Film and Arts Festival to be held October 24 to 26 in Vancouver. With cutting-edge films, a moving concert of African music, panel discussions, workshops and dance, Ms. Johnson plans to make this year’s Festival the best yet. Advance Tickets online at www.vpaff.org

“With the Province of British Columbia and both the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby declaring October 24 to 26 as “Kinship Day”, and the generous support of our sponsors, my goal of building bridges between cultures is closer than ever” said Ms. Johnson, who also speaks French and Japanese and hosts her own world beat music show on-line Afrobeat. “The purpose of the VPAFF is to promote Canada’s cultural diversity and to build community through the arts”.

Last year’s inaugural VPAFF (held October 26 & 27) was a great success - and an historic event. It was endorsed by all levels of government, including Her Excellency the Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean. Moreover, the event attracted international attention to Vancouver, and included government delegates from Africa and the U.S., as well as distinguished guests, Ambassador Andrew Young and entourage, renowned American filmmaker Charles Burnett, and Government of Namibia officials.

The 2008 VPAFF runs from Friday October 24 (United Nations Day) through Sunday October 26. The program includes:

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24: Hosted by Jamaican-born and Canadian Raised Denis Simpson – award-winning actor

5:30 pm – to 10:30 pm – Gallery Gachet – 88 East Cordova Street, Vancouver

Star-Studded Opening Night & Fundraising Festivities: An exciting evening of fun, food, music, dance and film. Hollywood star and human rights activist Danny Glover is expected to introduce his new film, Poor Boy’s Game. Other entertainment includes Vancouver based DJ Diallo who will heat up the dance floor with the best of traditional, modern and everything between from across the African continent, and an invigorating Zulu dance inviting lively audience participation through call and response, led by famous African dancer/choreographer Bheki Ndlovu. Raffle items include, wine, gift baskets full of African products, pizza cooking stone and pizza wheel, and beautiful Zimbabwean sculpture donated by Stone Age Art and a two nights’ stay at the Tropicana Suite Hotel Vancouver and more. 5:30 PM to 10 pm, Gallery Gachet, 88 East Cordova St. Tickets $35 on-line: www.vpaff.com (Tix includes VIP Reception entry and Opening film)

SATURDAY OCTOBER 25: Harbour Centre SFU Downtown, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

11 am to 7 pm – Fletcher Challenge Theatre

Films: The festival premieres the screening of Jason E. Sims The Obama Exeprience, a brilliant 3D-Short animation inspired by the ground breaking efforts of the Barack Obama campaign, Senator Obama Goes to Africa – Directed by Bob Hercules and produced by Keith Walker. Narrated by Barack Obama, the documentary, this film chronicles his return to his paternal family's roots on an emotional journey to Africa. It’s Time African Women Join Hands against Domestic Violence, Produced and Directed by Steven Hunt, and co-presented with the Law Courts Educational Society of BC. From Under the Bushy Trees, directed by Moira Simpson and Jan Padgett, this is a feature length documentary that explores how to deliver aid to Africa with justice and dignity. Bavubuka All Stars, by Canadian Aaron Elton, a documentary promoting Africa’s next generation young positive musicians, and Dan Balluff’s Children of Congo: From War to Witches a must see film, showing individuals and organizations that are implementing positive change for the children and people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tickets on Sale: www.vpaff.org

SUNDAY OCTOBER 26: Harbour Centre SFU Downtown, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

11 am to 7 pm – Fletcher Challenge Theatre

• Music & Dance – All Aboard the VPAFF Express on Sunday at 11 am – 12:30 pm

Exciting workshop will include a solo performance by acclaimed South African dancer/choreographer Bheki Ndlovu as a warm-up to the simultaneous broadcast with South Africa. "In South Africa we have a lot of dances, especially now with some from other parts of Africa, and the music, interestingly, we still have music that inspires us to sing along, clap hands and dance traditional styles, which is the way we have celebrated life since the beginning of time”, said Bheki whose productions include Sarafina! Bafana and The Lion King. This 90-minute workshop of African song and dance goes from 11 am to 12:30 pm.

Simultaneous Broadcast with South Africa 11 am to 3 pm

• The Reel PanAfriCAN SoundsCAPE Videos: A ground-breaking inter-continental experience linking Vancouver audience members in ‘creative conversation’ with African film subjects in Africa! Stunning, Canada-South Africa co-production combining interactive film, music, dance and dialogue with participating audiences in both Canada and South Africa to explore issues of migration, multiculturalism and the role of the artist in promoting cross-cultural understanding. These films were made by artists who emigrated from other parts of Africa and who experienced severe animosity as they attempted to make a new home.

Using Internet video technology, this event links Vancouver audience members directly with people in Cape Town, South Africa in a creative conversation. This two-hour ground breaking event will be led on each side by a vibrant MC to create an interactive expression of African unity, understanding and international cooperation. Tickets on Sale now: www.vpaff.org

• Panel Discussion – 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

“Say NO to Stigma”: A discussion pressing issues of immigration, xenophobia, multiculturalism promoting cross-cultural understanding of refugee rights, resilience and reconciliation with panel members that include Dr. Catherine Murray (SFU), Moussa Magassa (Uvic), Rudolf Richards (Community Elder), Heiko Decosas (SFU), Addy Kgomo (Umoja Compassion Society), Arthur Martins-Aginam (SFU)

• 4:45 pm - Kinship Day Festival Closing Ceremony by Attorney General & Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism, Province of British Columbia

Closing Feature Film: God Grew Tired Of Us – 5:15 pm to 7:30 pm

The winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival – God Grew Tired of Us, the story features The Lost Boys of Sudan. This powerful documentary tells the story of four boys ages 3 to 13 orphaned by a civil war.

Fleeing their villages, they formed a surrogate family, protecting and providing for each other, traveling together for 5 years, over thousands of miles, against all odds reaching a UN refugee camp in Kenya. Eventually they were selected to settle in the United States by a humanitarian aid organization.

Tickets for the Vancouver Pan-African Arts, Culture & Film and Festival are on sale now at www.vpaff.org.

Sponsors include City Of Vancouver, Corus Entertainment TV Listings, Line One Computer Services, SFU Speaking of the World Series, International Development, Continuing Studies, Ethical Bean, the Law Courts Education Society of BC, CBC Radio and TV, Highlife World Records, Stone Age Art, Omni Television, Shaw Multicultural Television, Skytrain, Shea Butter Market, Coast Mountain Bus, The Beat 94.5 FM, Gallery Gachet, Jamaican Pizza Jerk, Tropicana Hotel and more. ($15)

Vancouver Pan African Film Festival (Canada), October 24-26!

http://www.vpaff.org

2nd ANNUAL VANCOUVER PAN-AFRICAN FILM & ARTS FESTIVAL (VPAFF)
OCTOBER 24 TO 26, 2008 PROGRAM ANNOUNCED

Vancouver, B.C. September 29, 2008 ... U. Ebony Johnson, a Nanaimo native has combined her award-winning talent - and personal tragedies - to communicate, with a passion for her African roots, and to produce the second annual Vancouver Pan-African Film and Arts Festival to be held October 24 to 26 in Vancouver. With cutting-edge films, a moving concert of African music, panel discussions, workshops and dance, Ms. Johnson plans to make this year's Festival the best yet. Actor and filmmaker Danny Glover will make a guest appearance.

"With the Province of British Columbia and both the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby declaring October 24 to 26 as "Kinship Day" and the generous support of our sponsors, my goal of breaking down barriers between cultures is closer than ever" said Ms. Johnson, who also speaks French and Japanese and hosts her own world beat music show on-line Afrobeat. "The purpose of the VPAFF is to promote Canada's cultural diversity and to build community through the arts".

Last year's inaugural VPAFF (held October 26 & 27) was a great success - and an historic event. It was endorsed by all levels of government, including Her Excellency the Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean. Moreover, the event attracted international attention to Vancouver, and included government delegates from Africa and the U.S., as well as distinguished guests, Ambassador Andrew Young and entourage, renowned American filmmaker Charles Burnett, and Government of Namibia officials.

The 2008 VPAFF runs from Friday October 24 (United Nations Day) through Sunday October 26. The program includes:

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24:

Opening Night Festivities. An exciting evening of fun, food, music, dance and film. Hollywood star and human rights activist Danny Glover is expected to introduce his new film, Poor Boy's Game. Other entertainment includes famous African dancer/choreographer Bheki Ndlovu and DJ Diallo.

Raffle items include trips, Translink passes, Whistler/Blackcomb tickets, shopping gift cards, a beautiful Zimbabwean sculpture donated by Stone Age Art and more. 5:30 PM to 10 pm, Gallery Gachet, 88 East Cordova St. Tickets $25 on-line via www.vpaff.com

SATURDAY OCTOBER 25: Harbour Centre Simon Fraser University, Downtown
11 am to 6 pm

* Films

- Senator Obama Goes to Africa – Directed by Bob Hercules and produced by Keith Walker.

- African Women Join Hands Against Domestic Violence, Produced and Directed by Steven Hunt

- Moving Pictures, Moving Lives

- The Reel PanAfriCAN SoundsCAPE Videos: Stunning, Canada-South Africa co-production combining interactive film, music, dance and dialogue with participating audiences in both Canada and South Africa to explore issues of migration, multiculturalism and the role of the artist in promoting cross-cultural understanding. Director Sarah Van Borek divides her time between Vancouver and Johannesburg on this unique project. Ebony Johnson is proud to present the Canadian premiere of these videos through the VPAFF platform she has founded.

* Paintings

- 7 intriguing new works on the topic of Kinship created specially for the festival by international artist Garett Campbell-Wilson.

* Music & Dance – All Aboard the VPAFF Express on Sunday at 11 am – 12:30 pm

SUNDAY OCTOBER 26

Simultaneous Broadcast With South Africa 11 am to 3 pm

o Using Internet video technology, this event links Vancouver audience members directly with people in Cape Town, South Africa in a creative conversation. First there is a two-hour workshop of African song and dance staged on both continents going from 11 am to 12:30 pm. At 1 pm five short films will be screened and seen by both Vancouver and Cape Town audiences. These films were made by artists who emigrated from other parts of Africa and who experienced severe animosity as they attempted to make a new home.
o This two-hour ground breaking event will be led on each side by a vibrant MC to create an interactive expression of African unity, understanding and international cooperation.

Panel Discussion 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Say NO To Stigma: a discussion of refugee rights, resilience and reconciliation with panel members that include academics, diplomats, educator, activist s and filmmakers.

Feature Film: God Grew Tired Of Us - 5 pm to 7 pm

The winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival – God Grew Tired of Us, the story features The Lost Boys of Sudan. This powerful documentary tells the story of four boys ages 3 to 13 orphaned by a civil war.

Fleeing their villages, they formed a surrogate family, protecting and providing for each other, traveling together for 5 years, over thousands of miles, against all odds reaching a UN refugee camp in Kenya. Eventually they were selected to settle in the United States by a humanitarian aid organization.

Tickets for the Vancouver Pan-African Film and Arts Festival are on sale now at www.vpaff.org.

Sponsors include: City Of Vancouver, Corus Entertainment TV Listings, Line One Computer Services, Simon Fraser University, Ethical Bean, the Law Courts Education Society of B.C.; Gallery Gachet, CBC Radio and TV, Omni Television, Shaw Multicultural Television, PublicityPlus and more.


FOR MORE INFORMATION: castyourself@vpaff.org, Festival Office 604-422-8438. www.vpaff.org

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

Underground Railroad Film Series: Stop #3

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

THIS IS NOLLYWOOD, Thursday, November 15, 2007 – location TBA. Please call (206)326-1088 or visit www.langstonblackfilmfest.org or http://lhaaffbside.blogspot.com/ for updated news about location. $5 suggested donation at the door.

56 minutes, 2007, Nigeria. Producer: Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo. Associate Producer: Aimee Corrigan; Director: Franco Sacchi

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

The Fall 2007 Underground Railroad Film Series begins with XALA by Ousmane Sembene , September 19

The Underground Railroad Film Series
A Cultural Journey to Freedom through the Lens of Black Cinema

presented by the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival

The Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center's African American Film Festival showcases films by filmmakers that explore the rich African American culture across the diaspora. “The Underground Railroad Film Series” uses the metaphor of the Underground Railroad to define the movable feast of provocative films shown in a "safe house" - an intimate place where dialogue can flourish and provide an opportunity for community engagement and self- reflection. Join us each month for an evening of thought-provoking film and discussion.

September Safe House Screening

XALA by Ousmane Sembene

Wednesday, September 19, 7:00 PM at Central Cinema (21st and Union Sts)

Suggested donation: $5.00 at the door

This bitingly funny 1974 satire portrays El Hadji, a prosperous, self-satisfied, politically crooked modern businessman who is struck down by the xala (pronounced 'ha-la') - a curse rendering its victim impotent. While he chases after traditional healers and soothsayers on a frantic, often hilarious search for a cure, his impotence becomes a mirror of the powerlessness of young African nations overdependent on technology. Unable to consummate his third (polygamous) marriage, and neglecting his business affairs and political activities as he seeks a cure, his social stature is stripped away, leaving him shamed and humiliated. And while humorous, there is a sympathy in his downfall at the hands of others who are even more corrupt than he is. Xala is a moving and comical look at a man caught up in the corruption of his country and the tribulations of a changing society. French and Wolof with English subtitles.

Join us for Xala and honor the memory of the great Senegalese filmmaker and author Ousmane Sembene, one of the leading figures in the history of post-colonial African literature and arts,who passed away in June 2007. Sembene is widely regarded as the primary force in the development of African cinema. Many of his novels are not available of English translations, but his films have been seen and acclaimed throughout the world. Sembene's novels and films, from his first, Borrom Sarret (1964) to his last, Moolade (2004), deal with the social and psychological effects of colonialism in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as class tension, the African bourgeoisie, and the lives of African women.

"Xala...is a brilliantly funny, ironic satire about post-colonial Senegal. It upset the government considerably -- 11 cuts were made before it was released in Dakar...No African director has criticised the pretensions and corruption of its rulers more severely than Sembene in Xala, or done it with such quiet hilarity...his most powerful critique of his own society."

~ Derek Malcolm, The Guardian
............
The original Underground Railroad was a person-to- person network. To find out the locations of each Underground Railroad Film Series screening, join our mailing list!
For information & updates, call 206.326.1088 www.langstonblackfilmfest.org

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.

SWAHILINI (April 28, 2:30 pm African Film Marathon)

About SWAHILINI (Seattle premiere, April 28 at 2:30 pm)

An African musical and social documentary by Pierre Klochendler

SWAHILINI renders through songs the daily life of Daddy, street songster in Dar es Salaam's most dangerous slum. A social, musical, testament to the sad glory of poverty outlasting misery in a world of double negation – what Daddy lacks is no more than a measure of what he needs...

The calling card of this young Congolese musician; an illegal migrant in Tanzania, stranded in Dar es Salaam’s biggest squatter camp, Manzese, a forbidding place known locally as ‘The Hyena’s Den’ – its name conjuring up an old-style Sicilian atmosphere. This squalid squatter camp has the raw grey face of salvaged scrap where nothing is lost, nothing created, dangerous – Hatari!

Through its non-descript alleys the author follows the fortunes of this street artist, as he seeks to make his way to the recording studio. Daddy Maisha is a GRIO, a songster of Swahili life in the urban slums of modern Africa, a repository of the culture of the dispossessed, a coryphaeus of those who own nothing, who envy those who have almost nothing.

Born out of mutual trust, – both moral and practical: a first film for a first album, “Swahilini” and “Fleur Rose” –, “Swahilini” tells the improbable friendship between Daddy and Pierre, the “first white man of Manzese”, who lived in Manzese, who filmed and directed the account of daily life in Manzese.

Manzese is an urban fabric in rags, dressed in non urbane relations; where friendship and protection are traded in the margins of Law – Sheria.

The street code: a rite of passage, a right of passage that the camera must negotiate through the daily interaction filmed over one year between the people of Manzese and the white man – Mzungu.

Daddy is Pierre’s protector, his African eyes and ears.

Temporary by nature and definition, this squatter camp exudes an overwhelming sense of oppressive everlastingness, the hand-me-down poverty of a contemporary urban slum. Manzese – where the living have no distinguishable past, but a very lively place - humanity in constant flow, in transit, on the run, clandestine.

Clandestine too, “the white man of Manzese”, whom its people nickname Mzungu kachoka, “the weary white man near his end”, because his plastic flip-flop sandals lead him where litter carves out the abject geology of its forlorn terrain.

Daddy Maisha introduces Pierre to the people of this makeshift world; in humility, they open their doors – and their hearts. They speak, they rap the pulse of daily life, they rap the word of God, they audition in the streets, and they dance a Capella their passion for music, their faith in the feisty street tunes of freedom of those who have nothing to lose. But, the bare threads of their lives are no musical score; it is a pitiful predicament of their destitution.

Tuned in to their beat, “Swahilini” is both musical and social testament to the sad glory of the human condition trapped below the ‘poverty line’; through Daddy Maisha’s story and of his music, it is also testament to the simplicity of living Lumpen poverty, in accordance with the popular Kiswahili saying “the poor man’s wealth is in the strength of his own labor.” It is a world of double negation: what the people of Manzese lack is no more than a measure of what they need. This is a place where misery and poverty are in constant struggle, where the poor seek to outlast misery.

At once personal and general, at once fictitious and realistic, it is a multi-voiced reflection on the practical conditions which define what it means to survive, to sustain body and soul, on less than a dollar a day:

Their water and their food, their lust for money and the money of love, their friends and their family, their roots and their memories, their futureless future, their confrontation with the stranger in their midst, with the ‘White world’ beyond.

Through the voice of this songster on a tin-roof, “Swahilini” offers an intimate encounter with the Africa-of-the-disinherited – a sentimental and a movingly lyrical look at the dreams of men and women who are only what they have, who live for having, and not for being.

- description by Pierre Klochendler

Comments from the Curator:

The film reveals modern Africa as a complex place -- unromanticized, with people speaking honestly about their view of colonialism, daily life, and the all-encompassing need for money. Daddy Maisha records AIDS awareness songs and is connected to his community of Manzese, greeting men and women alike with a familiar 'soul shake'. He prays before beginning the recording of his first album, "Fleur Rose".

Contradictions and ironies abound. At a flea market, a Muslim woman tries on a bra over her hijab. The derelict building where unemployed young men hang out to smoke dope, gamble, and dream of emigrating to Europe or North America to make money, bears graffiti such as 'Nas', the name of an American rapper, and 'Tesco', the name of a British retail chain, on its walls. A plastic bucket, beaten with two Afro combs, becomes a percussion instrument.

The traditional walls between filmmaker and subjects are removed as Tanzanians speak directly about inequalities of wealth and power and the damage of colonialism to the heart and psyche. "I 'm not afraid of you or Osama," declares one young flaneur.

Poverty and struggle are presented honestly and directly. A man who earns $4 USD/ day by hauling 476 pound sacks greets the filmmaker with a not-quite-teasing shout of , "Hey, white man, give me my wage!" Again and again, the cyncism, belief that all Whites are wealthy, and a hard-eyed pragmatism reveal themselves. Neighbors ask Maisha, "Why are you working? A White man is looking after you."

Daddy Maisha records AIDS awareness songs and is connected to his community of Manzese, greeting men and women alike with a familiar 'soul shake'. He prays before beginning the recording of his first album, "Fleur Rose".

A limited number of copies of Daddy Maisha’s CD are available for sale ($20) at the merchandise table in the festival lobby. All sale proceeds will go directly to Daddy Maisha.

Other films screening during the program include:

THE SWENKAS

Among the laborers working in Johannesburg are a group of men who transform themselves every Saturday night into Swenkas. They wear finely tailored Western suits and participate in a competition that is part fashion show, part beauty contest, part talent. Director: Jeppe Rønde.2004. 72 min.

SUFFERING & SMILING

Political dissident, musician, and cultural figure Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Relatives and fellow musicians give accounts of how Nigeria's government harassed Kuti. Includes an account of how his son, Femi Kuti, has become a musician and dissident in his own right. Director: Dan Ollman.2007. 60 min.

General admission to the program, which includes all 3 films, is $7.00.