Boston African Film Festival

This Is Nollywood
by Franco Sacchi (2007, 56 min.)
Friday, February 1, 6 pm
Satday, February 9, 10:30 am
This is Nollywood explores Nigeria's up-and-coming film industry, where shooting is cheap and media forces are promising. Director Franco Sacchi will be in attendance at the February 1 showing.

Clouds over Conakry
by Cheick F. Camara (Guinea, 2007, 115 min.)
Friday, February 1, 7:45 pm
Satday, February 2, 2:15 pm
Clouds over Conakry follows young BB as he struggles against his destiny of inheriting his father's leadership position in his village and his own desire to be an artist and unite with his love, Kesso.

A Love during the War
by Osvalde Lewat-Hallade (Cameroon, 2005, 63 min.)
Saturday, February 2, 12:45 pm
Friday, February 8, 6 pm
Winner of spéciale du jury, Vues d’Afrique and FESPACO 2005, A Love during the War examines rape as the weapon of war it has become in Africa by following the story of Aziza, who reunites with her husband in Kinshasa, DRC, 6 years after the Congo-Kinshasa war broke out in 1996. Disturbed by the violations of women she witnessed during the war, Aziza feels compelled to act.

Ezra
by Newtown Aduaka (Nigeria, 2007, 110 min.)
Saturday, February 2, 10:30 am
Sunday, February 24, Noon
Ezra is a child soldier recruited into Sierra Leone's civil war. The film documents his questioning in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, and serves as a larger commentary on the increasingly common practice of forcing children to fight. This film received the Grand Prize at the 2007 Festival Panafricain du Cinema à Ouagadougou (FESPACO), Africa’s largest and most prestigious film event, and was also selected to screen at International Critics Week at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Testing Hope: Grade 12 in the New South Africa
by Molly Blank (2007, 40 min.)
Friday, February 9, Noon
This documentary tracks four South African students who entered school in 1994, after apartheid ended and Nelson Mandela was elected president. In the face of widespread poverty and unemployment, these students struggle to pass their matriculation ("matric") exams and move toward a better life. Discussion with consultant and producer Elizabeth O’Brien follows screening.

Forgiveness
by Ian Gabriel (South Africa, 2005, 118 min.)
Friday, February 9, 1:15 pm
Friday, February 15, 5:45 pm
The Truth and Reconciliation Committee is important, but does not represent the ultimate in forgiveness. Tertius Coetzee, a former policeman, tortured and murdered ANC activist Daniel Grootboom. Although given amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Coetzee knows true forgiveness can only come from his victim's family.

Have You Heard from Johannesburg?
Apartheid and the Club of the West
by Connie Field (2007, 89 min.)
Sunday, February 10, 10:30 am
Wednesday, February 20, 4:45 pm
A combination of six documentaries, this collection explores the widespread and difficult movement against apartheid in South Africa. The struggle spreads throughout the globe and over several decades, starting the the first meeting of the UN, and ending with Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from prison.

Juju Factory
Saturday, February 16, Noon
by Balufu Bakupu-Kanyinda (Democratic Republic of Congo, 2006, 97 min.)
An editor's desire for a travel book conflicts with a writer's desire to create a personalized history of Matonge, a Congolese neighborhood in Brussels. Only "juju," or strength and confidence, helps this writer accurately chronicle the stories he hears.

Les Saignettes
by Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroon, 2005, 92 min.)
Thursday, February 21, 6 pm
Sunday, February 24, 2 pm
Africa's first science fiction film, Les Saignettes has caused intense debate in the film community. Femme fatales Majolie and Chouchou work to eliminate corrupt, oversexed men from their country in an innovative take on sci fi traditions.

Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man
by Robin Shuffield (France, 2006, 52 min.)
Menged
by Daniel Taye Workou (Ethiopia, 2006, 32 min.)
Saturday, February 23, 10:30 am
Friday, February 29, 2:15 pm
Though knowledge about him is decreasing, Thomas Sankara has often been called the “African Che,” a legendary martyr like Patrice Lumumba or Amilcar Cabral. Leader of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987, Sakara worked to fight corruption and prioritize African self-reliance over dependence on Western neo-liberal development tactics. Adapted from a traditional Ethiopian Folk Tale, Menged is a parable about today’s Ethiopia: a country in transition between modernism and traditional belief.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Saturday, February 23, Noon
Thursday, February 29, 4 pm
"Mama Put" by Seke Somolu (Nigeria, 2006, 30 min.): The power of food to transform, rescue, and wreak havoc is eloquently demonstrated in this Nigerian film about a street food vendor struggling to bring up her family.
"Moekgo and the Stickfighter (Sekalli le Meokgo)" by Teboho Mahlatsi (South Africa, 2006, 19 min.): A haunting tale spiced with magical realism, this is the story of Kgotso, a recluse stick fighter, who lives a solitary life high up in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho. This story of unrequited love and sacrifice captures both the cruelty and the beauty of African magical beliefs.
"Growing Stronger" by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe, 2005, 30 min.): After living a high profile life as a model and wife to the coach of the Zimbabwe national football team, Tendayi Westerhof stunned the nation by becoming the first high profile person to go public about her HIV positive status in 2002. Copresented by Pathfinder International.

Some descriptions adapted from festival press materials.