September 30

Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela: A Son’s Tribute to Unsung Heroes
Director: Thomas Allen Harris
(73 minutes, 2005, in English)
    The film is Thomas Allen Harris’ bittersweet eulogy to his stepfather, Benjamin Pule Leinaeng (Lee) and to the thousands of other South Africans who went into exile to keep the freedom struggle alive during the harshest years of apartheid.
    Through the stories of 12 young comrades from Bloemfontein, this film shows how over 30 years the African National Congress (ANC) built a successful worldwide movement which eventually toppled the white supremacist regime. At the same time it provides a unique, intimate look at the painful trade-offs between public and private lives which almost all the political activists and their families experience.

Malick Sidibé: Portrait of the Artist as a Portraitist
Director: Susan Vogel
(8 minutes, 2005, Mali, in English)
    This short film looks at the work of the renowned African artist, Malick Sidibé, whose photographs have documented social and cultural changes in Mali over a forty-year period. In an interview, this self-taught photographer, now seventy years old, discusses his view of photography as a “social art form” and explains his documentary and portrait techniques.

This is Nollywood
Director: Franco Sacchi
(56 minutes, 2007, Nigeria/U.S.A., in English)
    First came Hollywood, then Bollywood and now Nollywood, Nigeria’s booming film industry, which released 2000 feature features in 2006 alone. Where else can you shoot a full-length dramatic film for $10,000 in 7 days? Until recently little known outside its own country, This is Nollywood explains why Nigerian video production is becoming recognized as a phenomenon with broad implications for the cultural and economic development of Africa.

Ndeysaan (The Price of Forgiveness)
Producer/Director: Mansour Sora Wade
(90 minutes, 2002, Senegal, in Lébou with English subtitles)
    Ndeysaan can be appreciated simply as a deeply moving, beautifully acted, visually stunning folk story of love, betrayal and redemption. But it can also be read as an attempt, conscious or unconscious, to reconcile or negotiate traditional and modern sensibilities, a film whose ambiguities are often as fascinating as its certainties.
    Set in a small village on the south coast of Senegal, Ndeysaan tells a story of love, betrayal, and redemption. A love triangle in a traditional fishing village between Mbanick, the son of the marabout, his close friend Yatma, the son of a wealthy, well-positioned patriarch and the woman they both love, Maxoye. Mansour Sora Wade writes: “my concern was to show that ordinary life and the supernatural can exist together without ostentation as was the case in my childhood, showing that belief and pragmatism co-exist naturally.” The film is based on the novel “Le prix du pardon” by Mbissane Ngom.

Mahaleo
Directors: César Paes and Raymond Rajaonarivelo
(102 minutes, 2004, France/Madagascar, in French and Malagasy with English subtitles)
    Few musical groups have expressed so eloquently or consistently the aspirations of their people as the Malagasy septet Mahaleo. This film celebrates this intimate relationship as the group prepares for its 30th anniversary concert in 2002.
    Mahaleo (meaning free, independent, in Malagasy) was born out of Madagascar’s 1972 rebellion against its neo-colonial regime. For 30 years, their music has embodied the Malagasy peoples’ struggle for pride and independence. Although internationally Acclaimed, the members of the group continue to work in professions serving the Malagasy people – two are doctors, one an elected official, one a sociologist, and another Leads an NGO. It is the Mahaleos’ daily contact with the joy and despair of their people, documented in this film, which doubtlessly accounts for the unprecedented popularity of their music.

O Herói (The Hero)
Director: Zézé Gamboa
(97 Minutes, 2005, Angola, in Portuguese with English subtitles)
    Luanda, capital of Angola, is a huge coastal city, trying to overcome the profound legacy of a civil war that lasted nearly 30 years.
    Vitorio has just been discharged after almost 20 years of fighting in the war. During his last military assignment he stepped on a land mine, losing his leg. After recuperating and finally obtaining a prosthesis, he finds himself alone, unemployed and homeless. To make matters worse, while sleeping on the street, someone steals his prosthesis and so begins his search through Luanda. Along the way, Vitorio meets Manu, a young orphan who lost his parents during the war; Judite, a bar prostitute who was separated from her young son; and Joana, a privileged - though socially conscious - school teacher. They have an impact on each other in unpredictable ways as they attempt to reconstruct their lives.

Arlit, Deuxième Paris
Producer/Director: Idrissou Mora Kpai
(78 minutes, 2004, Niger/France, in French, Bariba, Hausa and Tamashek with English subtitles)
    Arlit, Deuxième Paris is a case study in environmental racism set in a uranium mining town in the Sahara desert of Niger. Here European corporations extract nuclear power and profits leaving behind disease, contamination and unemployment.
    Arlit flourished during the oil crunch of the early 70’s its uranium mines employed 25,000 workers from around the world in high paying jobs. It had frequent international flights, electricity, and nightlife, earning it the nickname, “le deuxiéme Paris” (the second Paris). Then came the collapse in uranium prices and the Tuareg rebellion against the central government in Niamey. The Europeans companies abandoned the town, leaving behind the derelict machinery littering the desert that is so memorable an image in the film. Arlit demonstrates the ultimate futility of overseas investment in a commodity based industry as a strategy for development.
    What strikes one most about Arlit, however, is that it is a place of waiting. Everyone is there in the hope of going somewhere else. Only the nomadic Tuareg have found an occupation: smuggling desperate Africans on the dangerous journey across the desert to Algeria. From there they hope to pursue the uncertain life of undocumented immigrants in Europe.

A Good Man in Hell: General Roméo Dallaire and the Rwanda Genocide
Directed by Jerry Fowler and produced by the Committee on Conscience, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
(101 minutes, 2003, Rwanda/U.S.A., in English)
    In 1994, Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, commander of the United Nations Mission in Rwanda, warned of possible mass murder of the Tutsi minority by Hutu extremists. Unheeded by UN officials in New York, his warning became a reality; yet, as General Dallaire tried to save lives, the UN Security Council withdrew nearly all his troops.
    In a conversation with Ted Koppel at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 12, 2002, General Dallaire reflected on a genocide that he could not stop and that he cannot forget.
    This short film combines portions of that extraordinary program with background information on the Rwanda genocide in order to raise one of the central questions of our time. What is our moral responsibility when an entire group of people is threatened with annihilation?

Films screenings are at 7 pm in the Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue.
Admission is free and open to the public.