21st ANNUAL AFRICAN DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2013

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Legends of Madagascar

[Film]

The New York African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) will showcase 73 films from 35 countries during its 21st edition including 35 World, US and NY Premieres that will screen in four venues between November 29 and December 15, 2013.

Danny Glover, Michael Beach, Alice Walker, Steven Spielberg, Graham Greene, Isaach De Bankolé and Isaiah Washington are some of the familiar faces to be featured in this year’s line-up.  Mr. Glover will appear in two significant films in his career: the highly spiritual and emotional Chasing Shakespeare by Norry Niven, the Opening Night Film of ADIFF 2013 which also features Graham Greene (The Green Mile, Dancing with Wolves), and the historic epic drama Tula, The Revolt by Jeroen Leinders, a film set in Curaçao in the Caribbean during slavery times. Both films will have their NY premiere in ADIFF 2013.

Mr. Glover and Steven Spielberg also appear in award-wining filmmaker Pratibha Parmar’s new documentary Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth, a jewel of a film that does justice to the life of an incredible human being.  Ms. Parmar will attend the NY Premiere Gala screening of her film.

Michael Beach (Third Watch, Broken City) stars in the independent drama Scrapper by Brady Hall as a man in conflict with the world in a world in conflict and who, through his characterization, humanizes those men and women who live on the fringes of society and we tend to ignore.  Isaach de Bankolé (Casino Royal, Manderlay) stars in Mother of George by Andrew Dosunmu and Isaiah Washington (Romeo Must Die, Grey’s Anatomy) stars in Blue Caprice, two Sundance favorites brought back to New York during the festival.

Legends of Madagascar by Haminiaina Ratovoarivony from Madagascar, Nishan by Yidnekachew Shumete Desalegn from Ethiopia, and The Miscreants by Mohcine Besri from Morocco, are three African dramas that are representative of what could be labeled the New African Cinema, a cinema that features fresh, young, original and independent African voices that address deep issues within their respective societies (corruption, social inequalities, history, religious fundamentalism) using a thrilling dynamic and suspenseful storytelling style.

ADIFF 2013 will also present the World Premiere of Raltat, a drama based on a true story focusing on a case of mistaken identity following 9/11; Raltat directed by African-American filmmaker Al Robbins moves between the USA and Morocco and is one of several films presented in ADIFF that reflect the collaboration between African-Americans and Africans such as Doctor Bello (ADIFF 2013) by Nigerian filmmaker Tony Abulu starring Isaiah Washington and Vivica A. Fox and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation directed by Charles Burnett.

Another remarkable fiction film to premiere in ADIFF 2013 is Papilio Buddha by NYU trained Indian director Jayan K. Cherian, the story of a group of displaced Dalits (untouchables) in the Western Ghats of India. The film brings into focus, an example of the epic land struggles, which are fought in various regions of the state and all over India, and the oppression of indigenous people by the powerful political and social establishments.

Several noteworthy documentaries that challenge the status quo will have their US and NY premieres in ADIFF 2013. Chief among them are Tango Negro: The African Roots of Tango by Angolan filmmaker Dom Pedro which explores Tango’s Africanness and the contribution of African cultures in the creation of the music of The Rio de la Plata; Jews of Egypt by Amir Ramses, a film banned in Egypt that explores how the Jews of Egypt turned in the eyes of Egyptians from partners in the same country to enemies; The film Fatal Assistance by Raoul Peck, an incisive reflection on the situation in Haiti after the earthquake, and The Stuart Hall Project  by John Akomfrah that takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride through the upheavals, struggles and turning points that made the 20th century, the century of campaigning, and of global political and cultural change as explained and analyzed by Stuart Hall himself.

Women filmmakers explore history from a journalistic to a personal perspective with revealing documentaries such as Spies of Mississippi by Dawn Porter, an explosive documentary based on a book by the same name that tells the story of a secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation and maintain white supremacy during the Civil Rights Movement;  Reflections Unheard: Black Women in Civil Rights by Nevline Nnaji which focuses on black women activists and their marginalization within the Black Power and Feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s, I Don’ Been Through The Snake’s Skin & Come Out Clean by Ada Babino, about the life, love and legacy of her Louisiana grandparents passed on through the generations and, the Gala Screening of Alice Walker, Beauty in Truth by Pratibha Parmar which offers a penetrating look at the life and work of this artist, human rights activist, and self-confessed renegade.

 

For more information about the 21st Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival, to receive the complete line up, screeners and high resolution images please contact Diarah N’Daw-Spech at (212) 864-1760/ fax (212) 316-6020 or e-mail [email protected]. Festival web site: www.nyadiff.org

 

 

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