The 2015 African Diaspora International Film Festival taking place from November 27 through December 13, in Manhattan, will showcase a selection of films coming from the Caribbean and about Caribbean people out of the Caribbean.
The Black British Film Program is comprised of a selection of four films about the presence of Black people in the UK with a very strong Caribbean flavor in front and behind the camera.
Let The Music Talk by Yvonne Deutchmann is a 1981 musical documentary never screened in the USA before. It tells the story of black music in Britain, from the calypso of Lord Kitchener arriving on the SS Windrush in 1948, gospel choirs, griots from Grenada, steel pans in schools and at the Notting Hill Carnival, jazz, Afro-rock, soul-funk with the Real Thing, reggae with Misty in Roots and Eddy Grant.
The Story of Lovers Rock by Menelik Shabazz – a favorite of ADIFF – tells the story of Lovers Rock as a musical genre and gives a voice to the Caribbean descendant people who created that music and culture in the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJof_zx2Uk
Honeytrap by Rebecca Johnson plays out as a tragedy. It tells a story of fifteen-year-old Layla (Jessica Sula – Skins), a beautiful and naive Trinidadian girl who, freshly arrived from her native land, quickly embarks on a journey of love, sex, hip hop and violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTyYCB_OyL0
“Second Coming” by Debbie Tucker Green is an emotional and intimate drama about a woman in a London family who faces a dilemma with her husband (Idris Elba) and the tensions and communication issues associated with her situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LdB5mYbGz8
Other films in the festival have a Caribbean flavor including NY Premiere and festival Centerpiece “Cu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary” by Japanese filmmaker Shinishi Takahashi. Separated by an ocean, two Cuban jazz musicians continue to perform in spite of the difficulties they face. César López is recognized as Cuba’s premier saxophonist, having founded his landmark jazz band, the Havana Ensemble, in his native country. The gifted young pianist Axel Tosca lives in New York City, the leader of (U)NITY, a band which fuses Afro-Cuban culture with modern jazz and hip-hop. With this documentary for all music lovers, first-time filmmaker Shinichi Takahashi explores the African roots of Cuban jazz and documents what happens when expats return to the source of their inspiration. The screening will be followed by a concert with Axel Tosca and his band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOO4ag_4EU
Shot in Haiti and Bangladesh, “A Journey of a Thousand Miles” tells us a story of two countries that are embarked in a mutual discovery of sorts. A contingent of Muslim, Bangladeshi policewomen is deployed in Haiti to serve as UN Peacekeepers to maintain peace after the 2010 earthquake. We then learn, as the camera follows three of these Muslims women, about life in Haiti and Bangladesh and the challenges faced by the population in both countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAR3SXSme6c
“Black / Nwa,” a “Hood” film set in Montreal, Canada that chronicles the lives of four people – including several youths of Haitian descent – living in a neighborhood plagued by poverty and violence, aspiring to freedom and happiness.
“Sand Dollars” (pictured in main image above) by Laura Amelia Guzman and Israel Cardenas is a film from the Dominican Republic submitted to the Oscar competition in the foreign film category. “Sand Dollars” is the story of Noeli (Yanet Mojica) whose love affair with Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) a woman double her age, is a rare subject in films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HeEPnn7ioECu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary
Cu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary
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“Sand Dollars” “Honeytrap” “Second Coming” Among Films with Caribbean Flavor at African Diaspora International Film Festival
The 2015 African Diaspora International Film Festival taking place from November 27 through December 13, in Manhattan, will showcase a selection of films coming from the Caribbean and about Caribbean people out of the Caribbean.
The Black British Film Program is comprised of a selection of four films about the presence of Black people in the UK with a very strong Caribbean flavor in front and behind the camera.
Let The Music Talk by Yvonne Deutchmann is a 1981 musical documentary never screened in the USA before. It tells the story of black music in Britain, from the calypso of Lord Kitchener arriving on the SS Windrush in 1948, gospel choirs, griots from Grenada, steel pans in schools and at the Notting Hill Carnival, jazz, Afro-rock, soul-funk with the Real Thing, reggae with Misty in Roots and Eddy Grant.
The Story of Lovers Rock by Menelik Shabazz – a favorite of ADIFF – tells the story of Lovers Rock as a musical genre and gives a voice to the Caribbean descendant people who created that music and culture in the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJof_zx2Uk
Honeytrap by Rebecca Johnson plays out as a tragedy. It tells a story of fifteen-year-old Layla (Jessica Sula – Skins), a beautiful and naive Trinidadian girl who, freshly arrived from her native land, quickly embarks on a journey of love, sex, hip hop and violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTyYCB_OyL0
“Second Coming” by Debbie Tucker Green is an emotional and intimate drama about a woman in a London family who faces a dilemma with her husband (Idris Elba) and the tensions and communication issues associated with her situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LdB5mYbGz8
Other films in the festival have a Caribbean flavor including NY Premiere and festival Centerpiece “Cu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary” by Japanese filmmaker Shinishi Takahashi. Separated by an ocean, two Cuban jazz musicians continue to perform in spite of the difficulties they face. César López is recognized as Cuba’s premier saxophonist, having founded his landmark jazz band, the Havana Ensemble, in his native country. The gifted young pianist Axel Tosca lives in New York City, the leader of (U)NITY, a band which fuses Afro-Cuban culture with modern jazz and hip-hop. With this documentary for all music lovers, first-time filmmaker Shinichi Takahashi explores the African roots of Cuban jazz and documents what happens when expats return to the source of their inspiration. The screening will be followed by a concert with Axel Tosca and his band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOO4ag_4EU
Shot in Haiti and Bangladesh, “A Journey of a Thousand Miles” tells us a story of two countries that are embarked in a mutual discovery of sorts. A contingent of Muslim, Bangladeshi policewomen is deployed in Haiti to serve as UN Peacekeepers to maintain peace after the 2010 earthquake. We then learn, as the camera follows three of these Muslims women, about life in Haiti and Bangladesh and the challenges faced by the population in both countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAR3SXSme6c
“Black / Nwa,” a “Hood” film set in Montreal, Canada that chronicles the lives of four people – including several youths of Haitian descent – living in a neighborhood plagued by poverty and violence, aspiring to freedom and happiness.
“Sand Dollars” (pictured in main image above) by Laura Amelia Guzman and Israel Cardenas is a film from the Dominican Republic submitted to the Oscar competition in the foreign film category. “Sand Dollars” is the story of Noeli (Yanet Mojica) whose love affair with Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) a woman double her age, is a rare subject in films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HeEPnn7ioE
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Films Starring Idris Elba, Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Connelly Among Lineup for African Diaspora International Film Festival
Idris Elba, Anthony Mackie, Geraldine Chaplin, Epatha Merkerson, Jennifer Connelly, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sonia Sanchez, Rusty Cundieff, Stanley Nelson, and Thierry Michel are some of the names that lead the 23rd African Diaspora International Film Festival.
ADIFF 2015 has selected a total of 57 films from 27 countries. The lineup is rich in topics and themes presenting from different perspectives the human experience of people of color. Chelsea Bow Tie Cinemas, Teachers College, Columbia University and Mist Harlem will host this event from November 27 through December 13. With a world premiere, 9 US premieres and 16 NY premieres, ADIFF is more independent than ever with its rich and eclectic selection of films that cover many parts of the world.
Making their world and US debut in ADIFF 2015 are Opening Night film “The Man Who Mends Women, The Wrath of Hippocrates” by Thierry Michel which tells the story of Dr. Denis Mukwege, a man who has dedicated his life to assist women subjected to rape in his native DRC and World Premiere “Julien’s Bed” by Kirk Shannon-Butts, a visually imaginative film with a poetic story line about an African-American in Paris trying to reconnect with his lover. “Julien’s Bed” will screen in the first ever ADIFF LGBT Evening program with the South-African film “While You Were Not Looking” by Catherine Stewart. This beautifully shot drama explores gay life in South Africa with courage and imagination as the issue of class and the building of the New South Africa are very much at the center of the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3v_E75-T2M
The Black British program highlight will be the NY Premiere presentation of TIFF’s official selection “Second Coming” by Debbie Tucker Green starring Idris Elba as a man who enjoys a peaceful life in a marriage that is about to change due to unexpected circumstances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qp1_Ay41-A
The Talking about Chicago program will feature the two NY Premieres “70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green” by Ronit Bezale and “Takin’ Place” by Cyrus Dowlatshahi, two documentaries about Chicago’s South Side and its inhabitants that expose an alternative reality to that traditionally presented in the media.
Among the films that explore historical themes will be the US Premiere of “If Only I Were That Warrior” by Valerio Ciriaci – ADIFF 2015 Gala Screening – which moves in and out of Ethiopia, Italy and the United States to tell us a story of unpunished war crimes, colonial wars and African history. “Invisible Heroes: African Americans In The Spanish Civil War,” by Alfonso Domingo and Jordi Torrent that introduces us to the remarkable story of African Americans who fought as volunteers in Spain for democracy and for civil rights that were denied to them in their own country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaNg8QnN2rY
Twenty one of the films in ADIFF 2015 are directed by women including “White Lies” by Dana Rotberg – New Zealand’s entry in the 2014 Oscar competition for best foreign-language- and “Asni: Courage & Glamour in Ethiopia” by Rachel Samuel to be presented in the Ethiopia: Past & Present program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prcx70v-H6w
Two films will explore the role of women in the armed forces: the drama “Stand Down Soldier” by Jeryl Prescott Sale, the story of Sergeant Stacy Armstrong who returns home from three deployments suffering with PTSD, which undermines her 20 year marriage and the stability of her family life. The documentary “A Journey Of A Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers” by Geeta Gandbhir and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy follows three women in an all female, predominantly Muslim unit of police officers sent to post-earthquake Haiti as UN Peacekeepers for one year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAR3SXSme6c
The Urban experience is global. “Fevers/Fièvres” by Hicham Ayouch – one of leading films in ADIFF’s Urban film selection and winner of the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, FESPACO 2015 – is a French drama with a strong social commentary that follows Benjamin , a young boy who is at war with the world and himself. Canadian thriller “Noir/Black /Nwa” by Yves Christian Fournier depicts stories of young people living in a Montreal ghetto fighting to survive like Dickens, a 16 year-old Haitian who wants to be part of the street gang controlled by his older brother. Other urban films are “Honeytrap” from the UK by Rebecca Johnson, “Impunity” from South Africa by Jyoti Mistry, “License to Operate” from the USA by James Lipetzky, and “Hear Me Move” from South Africa by Scottnes L. Smith.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YUJsgnVOzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tffnzrVga3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIkzA4U7UbE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM9mLW7lv2c
Two North African films will have their US premiere in ADIFF: comedy-drama “The Blind Orchestra” by Mohamed Mouftakir, a humorous yet critical look at the life of a group of musicians in Morocco during the early years of the reign of Hassan II and “Private Revolutions” by Alexandra Schneider, a documentary that is a reflection on the life of young Egyptian women after the Spring revolution presented in the Egypt: Before & After the Spring Revolution program to be hosted by Egyptian journalist Barbara Nimri Aziz.
ADIFF 2015 has some delightful encores to offer including titles that had a very short theatrical release and keep audiences talking like “Shelter” – starring Anthony Mackie and Jennifer Connelly- by Paul Bettany, “Tango Negro: The African Roots of Tango” by Dom Pedro, “The Pirogue” by Drissa Touré, “Sand Dollars” -Dominican Republic submission to the Oscars in the Foreign Language category- by Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán and “Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution” -Oscar contender in the Best Documentary Feature category- by Stanley Nelson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwB0-YGivtc
Other important films that will premiere in the festival are “We, Strking” by Denis Gheerbrant about African women on strike against a hotel chain in Paris, Slamdance fest favorite “Dennis Rodman’s Big Bang In Pyongyang” by Colin Offland, and family friendly comedy-drama “White Water” by Rusty Cundieff about a black child obsessed with the idea of drinking water from the Whites Only fountain during the days of Segregation in the South.
ADIFF’s New York Premiere Centerpiece screening of “Cu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary” by Shinichi Takahashi will be followed with a live concert performance with Afro-Cuban pianist Axel Tosca and his band (U)NITY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOO4ag_4EU
ADIFF will have the honor to host writer/poet/activist/professor Sonia Sanchez for ADIFF’s Closing Night screening of the new documentary celebrating her life and legacy: “BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez” (pictured above) by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Schmidt Gordon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7cP6g6VBAY
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New York Films to Shine at 2015 African Diaspora International Film Festival
The 2015 African Diaspora International Film Festival is to be held in Manhattan, New York City from November 27 to December 13 at MIST Harlem, Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas and Teachers College, Columbia University with the presentation of more than 50 films, including 26 US and NY Premieres. As part of its 23rd edition, the festival will screen a selection of films Made in New York and/or directed by New York based filmmakers.
ADIFF 2015 FILMS MADE IN NEW YORK
“The Bicycle” by James Richards is a Queens set family film that takes a child and an adult on a journey through the many worlds that make up their community thus connecting them in a way neither could have imagined.
“Cu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary” by Shinichi Takahashi follows the gifted young Cuban pianist Axel Tosca who lives in New York City, and performs as the leader of (U)NITY, a band which fuses Afro-Cuban culture with modern jazz and hip-hop.
“Shelter” by Paul Bettany and starring Jennifer Connelly and Anthony McKie tackles drug addiction and homelessness in the streets of Manhattan.
“The Challenger” by Kent Moran, featuring Michael Clarke Duncan in his last role, is a boxing drama set in the Bronx.
“Lift Every Voice” by Dallas Alexis is about a teacher who was able to get her students motivated and interested into the New York State/City High School Regents Exams by incorporating RAP and HIP-HOP into her lectures.
ADIFF 2015 FILMS MADE BY NEW YORK BASED FILMMAKERS
Stanley Nelson will present his latest documentary “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” (pictured above) about the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party during the 1960s and beyond
Sabrina Schmidt Gordon will present her documentary “BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez” about the legendary poet, playwright, activist and seminal figure in the 1960s Black Arts Movement
Carol Bash will present her documentary “Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings The Band” about the pianist and composer who helped shape the sound of 20th century America with her innovative style.
Jordi Torrens will present “Invisible Heroes: African American in the Spanish Civil War” which tells the remarkable story of African Americans who fought as volunteers in Spain for democracy and for civil rights that were denied to them in their own country
Melissa Lefkowitz and Dorian Carli-Jones will present their film “China Remix” a short documentary that explores the Chinese city Guangzhou’s burgeoning African entertainment industry.
Geeta Gandbhir will present her documentary ”A Journey Of A Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers” which follows three women in an all female, predominantly Muslim unit of police officers sent to post-earthquake Haiti as UN Peacekeepers for one year.
James Richards, director of “The Bicycle” and Dallas Alexis, director of “Lift Every Voice” are also New York based filmmakers.