SHORTS PROGRAMS

Shorts Program 1: Quartier Lointains: Justice
Total runtime: 87m
The following selection was curated by the traveling shorts program Quartiers Lointains, which highlights films from distant quarters throughout Africa.

80
Muhannad Lamin, Libya, 2012, 6m
Lamin’s 80 depicts a man on the two most important days of his life: the day he gets caught and imprisoned and the day he escapes. U.S. Premiere

The Aftermath of the Inauguration of the Public Toilet at Kilometer 375
Omar El Zohairy, Egypt, 2014, 18m
Aftermath is an adaptation of Death of a Government Clerk, a short story by Anton Chekhov that takes a metaphorical approach to the idea of fear. U.S. Premiere

Kanye Kanye
Miklas Manneke, South Africa, 2013, 26m
In a South African township, where an argument over whether red or green apples are better causes the greatest divide in the town’s history, a young man, Thomas, falls in love with Thandi, who falls into the opposite camp. U.S. Premiere

Madama Esther
Luck Razanajaona, Madagascar, 2013, 15m
After getting fired, Mrs. Esther, a housekeeper in her fifties, may no longer be able to bring her grandson to the sea. So to make extra money, she agrees to harbor clandestine cockfights in her yard. U.S. Premiere

A Place for Myself
Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, Rwanda, 2016, 22m
Five-year-old albino girl Elikia is made to feel unwanted by her classmates and neighbors. But her mother encourages her to embrace her differences. Together, they stand up for themselves and fight back against discrimination. U.S. Premiere

Shorts Program 2: Shorts from Senegal
Total runtime: 101m

Marabout
Alassane Sy, Senegal, 2016, 18m
Wolof and French with English subtitles
Marabout is the story of a police detective in Dakar who pursues a group of street kids after they steal from him, only to learn about the dangers they are exposed to in their daily lives. U.S. Premiere

Boxing Girl
Iman Djionne, Senegal, 2016, 26m
Wolof and French with English subtitles
Boxing Girl is a coming-of-age tale about a bored 17-year-old hairdresser who finds red boxing gloves after getting hit by a motorbike in Dakar. As soon as she puts them on, she gets mysteriously carried all over the city. U.S. Premiere

Dem! Dem!
Pape Bouname Lopy, Marc Recchia, Christophe Rolin, Senegal, 2016, 26m
Wolof and French with English subtitles
A Senegalese fisherman finds a Belgian passport on a beach in Dakar and decides to use it. He soon crosses paths with N’Zibou, a wise man who measures the clouds and questions the man about his search for identity.

Maman(s)
Maïmouna Doucouré, Senegal/France, 2016, 20m
French with English subtitles
The lives of eight-year-old Aida and her family, who live in an apartment in the Parisian suburbs, are turned upside down when the girl’s father returns from their home country of Senegal—and he is not alone.

Samedi Cinema
Mamadou Dia, USA, 2017, 11m
Wolof and French with English subtitles
Two young Senegalese boys’ friendship is tested after they are determined to see one last film at the town movie theater before it closes.

Shorts Program 3: New York Shorts
Total runtime: 89m

Adam & Howa
Sarra Idris, Sudan, 2015, 8m
A couple’s story becomes a metaphor for the relationship between the Sudanese diaspora who fled the country after political turmoil and those who were left behind. U.S. Premiere

Farewell Meu Amor
Ekwa Msangi, Tanzania/USA, 2016, 10m
On the morning of the long-awaited reunion with his exiled family, a man is faced with the heartbreak of a different type—of parting from his lover. U.S. Premiere

My Third Eye
Nova Scott-James, USA, 2016, 4m
This silent meditation on the relationship between a little girl and the male family member sexually abusing her examines the pain of intergenerational black familial trauma, but also the gift of spiritual independence. U.S. Premiere

Rest in Power, Malik Carmichael
S. Ajay Ram, USA, 2014, 11m
In this experimental short, eulogizing the life of 16-year-old Malik, a hypothetical teenager from the west side of Harlem, documentary-style interviews with Malik’s friends and family piece together the exceptional existence and senseless death of a black boy genius. New York Premiere

Sketch
Mariama Diallo, USA, 2017, 24m
A police sketch artist believes he has stumbled upon the suspect from one of his drawings and that he must do the right thing. New York Premiere

Ududeagu
Akwaeke Emezi, Nigeria, 2014, 2m
Igbo with English subtitles
This contemporary visual folktale is rooted in concepts of loss, leaving, and loneliness. Emezi collaborated with her father to translate the voiceover, originally written in English, into Igbo, and narrated it herself as an exercise in engaging with the lost fluency of her language. U.S. Premiere

Ṣoju
Oluwaseun Babalola, USA/Botswana/Nigeria/Sierra Leone, 2016, 30m
In this documentary, surfers, metal heads, and guerilla filmmakers explore their identities and culture in Sierra Leone, Botswana, and Nigeria. New York Premiere

FREE EXHIBITION AND TOWN HALL EVENT

Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater, 144 West 65th Street

Digital Art Exhibition
Afro Promo #1 (Kinglady) + Afripedia – Dance Battle 360° + Body Mechanics
In Afro Promo #1 (Kinglady), performance artist and choreographer Nora Chipaumire explores the influence of comic book heroes on the American immigrant experience to unpack aspects of African masculinity and explore the creation of a Black, African, male-female superhero. This will be accompanied by a new, interactive piece from the Afripedia collective titled Afripedia – Dance Battle 360°, a virtual reality showcase of contemporary African street dance culture, an immersive experience that allows anyone, anywhere to experience dance from the continent firsthand; and Body Mechanics, a short experimental dance film by Brooklyn-based artist Keisha Knight remixing archival films by Thomas Edison to explore early cinema’s fascination with the exotic and the electric.

Town Hall Event
Art and Activism: Personal Journeys
Join us for a panel featuring the most illustrious interdisciplinary artists from the international African diaspora, who will discuss the visual and social themes underscoring the festival. Guests include Zimbabwe-born, Brooklyn-based choreographer Nora Chipaumire (via Skype); Ethiopian and Eritrean film producers Teddy Goitom and Senay Berhe, who produced Afripedia; Darlene and Lizzy Okpo, designers of William Okpo; and Raquel Cepeda, filmmaker and author of Bird of Paradise.