Highlights from the African Diaspora International Film Festival New York City November 28 to December 14 2014

From a media release:

Highlights from the African Diaspora International Film Festival New York City
November 28 to December 14, 2014

Check out all the films
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Various locations in Manhattan, NYC including  The Thalia Cinema at Symphony Space, Quad Cinema, The Cowin Center and Chapel at Teachers College, Columbia University and the Riverside Theater.

NEW YORK CITY - The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) is proud of its 22-year history of firsts in presenting, interpreting and educating about films from throughout the world that depict the lives of people from Africa and the African Diaspora. The festival features world and US premieres, recent popular titles, classic movies, foreign and independent releases. Post-screening question-and-answer sessions and panel discussions that include filmmakers, critics, academics, and audiences present the most current discourse on filmmaking in Africa and the African Diaspora.

The festival begins every year on the last Friday of the month of November during the Thanksgiving weekend and runs for eighteen days. ADIFF 22nd anniversary will be celebrated from Friday, November 28 through Sunday, December 14, 2014.

Highlights:

ADIFF NY 2014 presents: Gloria Rolando - An Afro-Cuban Filmmaker

Gloria Rolando was born in Cuba  where she developed a career in making films about the Afro-Cuban experience. Her films span across 35 years at the ICAIC, the Cuban national film institute.

Gloria Rolando is currently on a national tour in the USA and is getting great acclaim for her work everywhere. Gloria will be in NY for ADIFF from NOV. 28 to NOV. 30 to present 5 of her films films as part of ADIFF's special program BLACKS IN LATIN AMERICA sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture.

Come join us Nov. 28 to Nov. 30 and meet this exceptional filmmaker!
Films to screen in New York are:
Her classic Oggun: An Eternal Presence (Oggun: Presencia Eternal)
Her trilogy: 1912, Breaking the Silence: Part 1, 2 & 3  (1912: Voces para un Silencio)
Her most recent work: Reshipment (Re-embarque)

SCREENINGS
1912, Breaking the Silence: Part 1, 2 & 3 (1912: Voces para un Siliencio)
NY Premiere
Part 1: Chap 1 & 2: Sat, Nov. 29 @ 6PM - The Chapel
Part 2: Chap 3 + Q&A: Sat, Nov 29 @ 8PM - The Chapel


1912, Breaking the Silence is a project dedicated to the history of the Party of the Independents of Color (PIC), a political party established in Cuba in 1908 to represents the interest of  Afro-Cubans.

This three parts documentary seeks to cover some antecedents in the history of Afro-Cubans' struggle for self-determination, a necessary recapitulation which goes step by step down the path of resistance taken by the Black movement in Cuba since colonial times, the struggle for independence and the situation of Black Cubans once the island of Cuba achieved its independence in 1902. References are made to significant, Black leaders in Cuba from the nineteenth century, such as Juan Gualberto Gomez and Martin Morua Delgado, Antonio Maceo and Quintin Banderas.

Through the voices, opinions, and commentaries of historians and Cuban cultural icons accompanied by images of documents, photos, and clippings from the press of that era, two main issues are explored : 1) what did the Afro-Cubans do before the founding of the PIC? 2) Was the creation of a political party to represents Afro-Cubans necessary?

Directed by Gloria V. Rolando Casamayor, 45, 58, 56 minutes, Cuba, documentary, Spanish with English subt.
1912: Breaking the Silence, Chapter 1



Oggun: An Eternal Presence  (Oggun: Presencia Eterna) + Q&A
Fri, Nov. 28 @ 4PM - The Chapel


Gloria Rolando relates the patakin or mythical story of Oggun, the tireless warrior who, enamored of his mother, decided as punishment to imprison himself in the mountains. Only Ochun, goddess of love, succeeded in captivating him when she let fall a few drops of honey on the lips of the god of metal, war, progress, and civilization. Oggun is the first effort of the team later to be known as Images of the Caribbean, now chartered as an independent video group. Directed by Gloria Rolando, 1992, Cuba, Documentary, Spanish, 52 min, Spanish, English subtitles

Reshipment (Re-embarque) + Q&A and cocktail after the screening
NY Premiere
AN EVENING WITH GLORIA ROLANDO
Sun, Nov. 30 @ 6M - The Chapel


This is a documentary on Haitians immigrants in Cuba who were sent back in the beginning of the last century when the sugar market crashed and they became unwanted. Directed by Gloria Rolando, 2014, Cuba/Haiti, Documentary, 58 min, Spanish, English subt.

Abayomi Interviews AfroCubana Filmmaker Gloria Rolando



Bound: Africans vs. African-AmericansNY PREMIERE
Fri, Dec. 12 @ 7PM - The Chapel
GALA SCREENING


African vs African Americans is a hard-hitting documentary that addresses the little known tension that exists between Africans and African Americans. The film opens with personal testimonials that expose this rift then walks us through the corridors of African colonialism and African American enslavement, laying bare their effects and how these have divided and bound Africans and African Americans.

Directed by Peres Owino, 2014, 90 min., United States, documentary, English.
Conversation with director Peres Owino & Catered Reception



ADIFF NY 2014 CENTERPIECE
Between Friends
NY Premiere


Launching of the SOUTH AFRICA: 20 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY program presented in collaboration with the South African Department of Arts and Culture, the NFVF and the Kwazulu-Natal Film Commission.

VIP RECEPTION: Tue, Dec. 2  @ 6PM - Riverside Theater
CENTERPIECE SCREENING: Tue, Dec. 2  @ 7:30PM - Riverside Theater

Keynote speaker: Dr. Molefi Kete Asante
Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Temple University, founder of the PhD program in African-American Studies, and President of the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies.

Between Friends
After 7 years, college friends reunite at an up-market game lodge in South Africa. Long buried secrets shared by old friends are eventually exposed, causing tensions to arise in current relationships. A stylish, funny tale of the new South Africa. Stars Thapelo Mokoena, Lihle Dhlomo, Mandisa Nduna, Dunisani Mbebe, Amanda Du Pont, Siyabonga Twala and Morne Du toit.

Directed by Zuko Nodada, 2014, 93 min, South Africa, Romantic comedy, English, Zulu with English subt.
Q&A after the screening.

ADIFF 2014 OPENING NIGHT:
Friday, November 28, 2014
SUPREMACY
7:30PM @ Symphony Space


Joe Anderson (Across the Universe) and Danny Glover star in Supremacy, a racially charged psychological thriller. Supremacy follows a high-ranking white supremacist (Anderson) who murders a cop and hides out with his accomplice by taking a black family hostage. Glover plays the patriarch of the house, an ex-con who must rely on his wits and understanding of the supremacist̢۪s racist mind to keep his family safe.

Supremacy, which made its world premiere in June 2014 at the LA Film Festival, also stars Dawn Olivieri, Derek Luke, Evan Ross, Lela Rochon, Robin Bobeau, and Anson Mount. Based on real events, Supremacy is a shocking, complex, real-life horror story.

(Deadline.com) (USA, 2014, 97 min, Deon Taylor, dir., Drama)

Comments

  1. Fantastic blog side and your video;) I think that African versus African Americans is a hard-hitting narrative that addresses the minimal known strain that exists in the middle of Africans and African Americans. The film opens with individual testimonials that uncover this break then strolls us through the hallways of African expansionism and African American subjugation, exposing their effects and how these have partitioned and bound Africans and African Americans. Thanks all!!!
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    Nancy

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