11th African Diaspora International Film Festival - Chicago Releases 2013 Lineup; Opening Night Film "AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE"

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The Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival - Chicago (ADIFF- Chicago) will celebrate its 11th anniversary in Chicago from June 13 to June 20, 2013. The festival will kick off with the Chicago Premiere of Opening Night Film African Independence, written, directed and produced by scholar, filmmaker and PBS History Detectives host, Professor Tukufu Zuberi. 

7th Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) in Jersey City Official Lineup

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The 7th Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) in Jersey City, New Jersey, will be held this year at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, presenting an exciting selection of films from around the world including Ghana, Brazil and the U.S., to coincide with the Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend, January 14 - 16.

Opening Night Film: WHITE BOY BROWN
Jersey City Premiere
USA, 2009, 88 min, drama, English, Sean Sawyer dir.
Armed with only a very important letter, Curtis Brown, a young black man embarks on the most difficult journey of his life, a journey that will force him to confront his own demons of hatred and prejudice, while rediscovering a love, long lost for his adopted white brother Johnny. Through a series of flashbacks and stories, Curtis learns of the life of a brother he once knew, a life of a brother who, although being white, experienced the same racism he himself experienced, ultimately binding the two together.

NO TIME TO DIE
Jersey City Premiere
Ghana/West Germany, 2006, 95 minutes, Comedy (English), King Ampaw, Director
A hearse driver meets and falls in love with a young, beautiful dancer who is planning an elaborate homegoing celebration for her mother. This comedy follows the hearse driver as he does everything to win the affection of the young woman.

SHADOWS OF THE LYNCHING TREE
Jersey City Premiere
USA, 2009, 60 minutes, Documentary (English), Carvin Eison, Director
The shrouded history of lynching in America is the subject of a powerful new documentary from producer/director Carvin Eison. During the late 19th and much of the 20th century, countless numbers of African-Americans were murdered at the end of a rope. In the age of Obama, have we reconciled this misshapen history or does its legacy live on? “Let sleeping dogs lie…” is a way of saying leave that certain thing alone, it could hurt you. Shadows of the Lynching Tree kicks the sleeping dog and awakens a troublesome past. The dog is awake, will we finally confront the beast or does it return to an uneasy slumber?”

YOUSSOU N'DOUR: RETURN TO GO
Senegal/Switzerland/Luxembourg, 2006, 108 minutes, Musical Documentary (English and French with English subtitles), Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, Director
A musical road movie, Youssou N'Dour: Return to Gorée follows Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour's historical journey tracing the trail left by slaves and the jazz music they created. Youssou N'Dour's challenge is to bring back to Africa a jazz repertoire of his own songs to perform a concert in Gorée, the island that today symbolizes the slave trade and stands to honor its victims.

AFRICAN LEADERS PROGRAM
FRANTZ FANON: HIS LIFE, HIS STRUGGLE, HIS WORK
Jersey City Premiere
Martinique/France/Algeria/Tunisia, 2001, 52 minutes, Documentary (French with English subtitles), Cheikh Djemai, Director
Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist, originally from Martinique, who became a spokesman for the Algerian revolution against French colonialism. Embittered by his experience with racism in the French Army, he gravitated to radical politics, Sartrean existentialism and the philosophy of black consciousness known as negritude. His 1952 book, Black Skin, White Masks, offers a penetrating analysis of racism and of the ways in which it is internalized by its victims. While secretly aiding the rebels of the Algerian anti-colonial war as a doctor in Algeria, Fanon cared for victims and perpetrators alike, producing case notes that shed invaluable light on the psychic traumas of colonial war. Expelled from Algeria in 1956, Fanon moved to Tunis where he wrote for El Moudjahid, the rebel newspaper, founded Africa's first psychiatric clinic, and wrote several influential books on decolonization. The film traces the short and intense life of one of the great thinkers of the 20th century.

AMILCAR CABRAL
Jersey City Premiere
Cape Verde/Portugal, 2001, 52 minutes, Historical Documentary (Portuguese with English subtitles), Ana Ramos Lisboa, Director
Amilcar Cabral was the leader of the Liberation Movement of Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau and the founder of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). He was born in Guinea in 1924 and assassinated in Conakry in 1973. Regarded as a true icon of African history, this documentary provides considerable background to this revolutionary giant and reveals Cabral in several dimensions: as a man, a father, politician, humanist and poet. The documentary is skillfully produced and uses a wealth of rare archive footage, balanced inclusion of varied testimonies of important African personalities and the credible recreation of notable episodes of Cabral's life.

ALEIJADINHO: PASSION, GLORY AND TORMENT
Brazil, 2001, 100 minutes, Drama (Portuguese with English subtitles), Geraldo Santos Pereira, Director
Set in 19th century Brazil at a time when slavery was still at the foundation of the Latin American economy, this fascinating historical drama is loosely based on the life of sculptor Antonio Francisco Lisboa ("Aleijadinho"), one of Latin America’s greatest sculptors.

African Diaspora International Film Festival Kicks Off Its Second Week In New York City

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The African Diaspora International Film Festival kicks off its second week on Saturday, December 4. Set in New York City, the festival presents the diversity of the Black experience through a wide selection of thought provoking films and documentaries.

One hundred and six films make up the festival this year, with 25 US premieres and 39 New York premieres. Over the next two weeks, the African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) has partnered with local organizations and businesses to bring stories from around the world to the New York audience. Women, Latinos, dancers, lovers; the 2010 selection has a little bit of something for everyone. "ADIFF is a bridge," say the Spechs, curators of ADIFF, "between diverse communities looking for works that cannot be found under the same roof in other festivals."

Women Indies Night on December 4, sponsored by New York Women in Films and Television, will present four works about women by women. The selection includes a short fiction "Riches," by this year's resident filmmaker Ingrid Sinclair. The film depicts the story of Mollie, a single mother who escapes apartheid South Africa, to find herself rejected in her new home of Zimbabwe because of her progressive ideas. "Riches" is one of six works by the filmmaker showing this year at the festival.

Latin America is featured with "Chance," a hilarious comedy from Panama, which premieres on December 5. "Chance" is the story of Tona and Paquita, the housekeepers for a bourgeois family. Tired of being mistreated, Tona and Paquita take their bosses hostage to get what they are due: seven weeks back pay.

The highlight of this second half is no doubt the William Greaves Fundraiser, scheduled for December 9. ADIFF will host the event at the Schomburg Center in Harlem in honor of the celebrated African-American independent filmmaker. The funds will go towards Greaves' upcoming film "Once Upon a Time in Harlem" which explores the cultural life of Harlem. The evening will include never before seen footage of this work and a conversation with Greaves' family and friends.

These are just a few of the events brought to you this year. The selection also includes "Sheherazade: Tell me a Story," a drama which explores the sexual, social and political repression women face in Egyptian society, and "Josephine Baker: Black Diva in a White Man's World."

The African Diaspora International Film Festival runs from November 26 to December 14 in New York City.

SOURCE African Diaspora International Film Festival