January 22

Nowhere in Africa
Director: Caroline Link
(141 minutes, 2002, Germany, in German and Swahili with English subtitles)
    A love story spanning two continents, Nowhere in Africa is the extraordinary true tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence in Germany, Walter Redlich, his wife Jettel and their five-year-old daughter Regina each deal with the harsh realities of their new life in different ways. Attorney Walter is resigned to working the farm as a caretaker; pampered Jettel resists adjustment at every turn; while the shy yet curious Regina immediately embraces the country – learning the local language and customs, and finding a friend in Owuor, the farm’s cook. As the war rages on the other side of the world, the trio’s relationships to their strange environment become increasingly complicated as Jettel grows more self-assured and Walter more haunted by the life they left behind. As they eventually learn to cherish their life in Africa, they also endeavor to find a way back to each other.

Have You Heard From Johannesburg? Apartheid and the Club of the West
Director: Connie Field
(89 minutes, 2007, in English)
    Have You Heard from Johannesburg? will be six stories spanning almost half a century that chronicle the history of a global movement that took on South Africa’s apartheid regime. This was not just a political battle; it was economic, cultural, moral, and spiritual. Thousands died, but in the end apartheid was defeated because of non-violent pressures in a stunning victory celebrated around the world. “Apartheid and the Club of the West” traces much of the complex and fascinating drama of the anti-apartheid movement in the super-power called the United States, one of South Africa’s most important allies. It is a key battleground, with African Americans virtually always at the center of the struggle. The campaigns take place in boardrooms, universities, embassies, and finally in the U.S. Congress itself – where a stunning victory is won against the formidable opposition of President Ronald Reagan. African Americans, for the first time in history, have turned the tide and altered the direction of U.S. foreign policy.

Ezra
Director: Newton I. Aduaka
(110 minutes, 2007, Nigeria/France/Austria, in English)
    Ezra is the first film to give an African perspective on the disturbing phenomenon of abducting child soldiers into the continent’s recent civil wars. It stands out among other African films because it is a complex psychological study, not just of the brutalizing, healing and reintegration into society of one of thousands of traumatized former child soldiers, but also as a key for reconstructing these societies themselves. Ezra is structured around the week-long questioning of a 16 year old boy, Ezra, before a version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created in Sierra Leone in 2002 in the wake of its decade long civil war.

God Sleeps in Rwanda
Directors: Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman
(28 minutes, 2004, Rwanda/US, in Kinyarwanda with English subtitles)
    Uncovering amazing stories of hope in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, Academy Award-Nominee God Sleeps in Rwanda captures the spirit of five courageous women as they rebuild their lives, redefine women’s roles in Rwandan society and bring hope to a wounded nation. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide left the country nearly 70 percent female, handing Rwanda’s women an extraordinary burden and an unprecedented opportunity. Girls are attending school in record numbers, and women now make up a large part of the country’s leadership.

The Future of Mud: A Tale of Houses and Lives in Djenne
Director: Susan Vogel
(58 minutes, 2006, Mali, in Bamana, French, and English with English subtitles)
    Through the story of a mason in Djenne, Komusa Tenapo, and his family, this documentary examines an African tradition of mud architecture in Mali. The environmental genius of these ancient construction techniques – thick walls with tiny windows that keep the interiors cool despite the stifling heat – is expressed in strikingly beautiful designs that have won the town of Djenne designation as a World Heritage site.

On the Rumba River
Director: Jacques Sarasin
(86 minutes, 2006, Democratic Republic of Congo, in Lingala with English subtitles)
    In the Democratic Republic of the Congo today, nearly sixty years after his first hit record, Wendo Kolosoy, affectionately known as “Papa Wendo,” remains a well-known and beloved musician. Renowned for his development of Congolese rumba – a popular musical style that blends rumba, beguine, waltz, tango, and cha cha cha – Wendo is still active, now in his 80’s, continuing to perform and to record albums of his distinctive songs and dance music. On the Rumba River introduces us to this legendary musician, along with veteran members of his band, the Victoria Bakolo Miziki Players, who recount their own musical experiences and attest to their personal and professional respect for Wendo. The film also treats us to musical performances by the group, in rehearsals, impromptu jam sessions, and lively public performances.

Black Gold: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Directors: Marc Francis and Nick Francis
(77 minutes, 2006, UK, in English)
    Black Gold asks us “to wake up and smell the coffee,” to face the unjust conditions under which our favorite drink is produced and to decide what we can do about it. The film traces the tangled trail from the two billion cups of coffee consumed each day back to the coffee farmers who produce the beans. In particular, it follows Tadesse Meskela as he tries to get a living wage for the 70,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers he represents. In the process Black Gold provides the most in-depth study of any commodity on film today and offers a compelling introduction to the “fair trade” movement galvanizing consumers around the globe. After oil, coffee is the most actively traded commodity in the world with $80 billion dollars in retail sales. But farmers make as little as three cents for every cup of coffee sold in the U.S. or Europe. Most of the rest of the money goes to the middlemen, especially the four giant food conglomerates which control the coffee market. Black Gold explains how international commodities markets are rigged against the nations of the global South.

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