Untitled Document

Blueprint (2006) 75min
Mon, Feb 25 at 9:30pm*
*Q&A with filmmakers
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Directed by Kirk Shannon-Butts, US
Opposites do indeed attract for two New York African-American college students in this unpredictable, accomplished gay romance. After meeting at a Harlem coffeehouse over a conversation about hip-hop’s merits (or lack thereof), straight-laced Los Angeles transplant Keith and outgoing, street-smart urbanite Nathan set out on an amorous motorcycle road trip into the woods. With fresh, intelligent storytelling and skillfully drawn young African-American characters, Blueprint lays out a type of queer relationship that’s rarely depicted in film. Q&A with filmmakers.

African Diaspora Film Festival – www.NYADFF.org
BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave)
Tickets: $11 per screening for adults, for seniors 65 and over,
children under twelve, and $7.50 for students 25 and under with valid I.D.
Monday–Thursday, except holidays; $7 BAM Cinema Club members
Tickets available by phone at 718.777.FILM
Call 718.636.4100 or visit BAM.org

Youssou N’Dour: Return to Gorée (2006) 108min

Sun, Feb 24 at 9:15pm
Tue, Feb 26 at 6:50pm
Thu, Feb 28 at 9:15pm
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Directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, Senegal/Luxembourg/Switzerland
Youssou N’Dour, the internationally renowned Senegalese singer, gives a Jazz concert on the island of Gorée in honor of those who started their journey in life as slaves in the New World and created, against all odds, one of the most important and celebrated musical expressions in the world. In English and French with English subtitles.

African Americans in Exile Program 97min
Sun, Feb 24 at 6:50pm
Wed, Feb 27 at 7pm
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Black as Ink (1997) 52min France
Directed by Jacques Goldstein and Blaise N’Djehoya
This thought-provoking film details the migration of African-American writers to France at the end of WWII— writers such as Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Chester Himes, and Gordon Parks. In English and French with English subtitles.

Josephine Baker: Black Diva in a White Man’s World (2006) 45min Germany

Directed by Annette von Wangenheim
A tender, revealing portrait of one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, this film focuses on Josephine Baker’s life and work from a black perspective. It portrays Baker as a resistance fighter, an ambulance driver during WWII, and an outspoken activist in the worldwide Black Consciousness movement of the 20th century. In English, French, and German with English subtitles.

“…a terrific array of old footage that shows Baker first as a scampy young comedic dancer, delighting Paris with her rapidly gyrating hips, rolling eyes, and charming grin, then as a soignée chanteuse.”—The Village Voice on Josephine Baker: Black Diva in a White Man’s World.

The President Has AIDS? (2006) 110min
Sun, Feb 24 at 4:30pm
Thu, Feb 28 at 6:50pm
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Directed by Arnold Antonin, Haiti
Jimmy Jean-Louis— featured among the cast of the television phenomenon Heroes—stars as President, musician extraordinaire in denial, in this Haitian comedy-drama about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In Creole and French with English subtitles.

Iron Ladies of Liberia (2007) 77min
Sun, Feb 24 at 2pm
Thu, Feb 28 at 4:30pm
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Directed by Siatta Scott Johnson and Daniel Junge, US
After nearly two decades of civil war, Liberia is a nation ready for change. Follow Liberia’s newly elected president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first freely elected female head of state in Africa, and other extraordinary women she placed in leadership positions, as they strive to improve the daily life of their people, renegotiate the debt, face internal corruption, and multiple other social, economic and political crises during their first year in office. In French with English subtitles.

Made in Jamaica (2006) 110min
Sat, Feb 23 at 9:30pm
Tue, Feb 26 at 9:30pm
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Directed by Jerome Laperrousaz, Jamaica/France/US
This thrilling musical documentary presents an overview of the reggae music movement from past and present. Touching on issues including ghetto violence; the history of slavery and colonization; the legacy of Bob Marley; the Rasta movement; and sex, women, and their role in reggae, Made in Jamaica explores the multifaceted reality of reggae music. Features interviews and performances with artists Capleton, Elephant Man, Bunny Wailer, Toots & the Maytals, Bounty Killer, Gregory Isaacs, Tanya Stephens, Beres Hammond, and more.

“Throughout, Lapperousaz and the featured performers repeatedly define reggae by cutting straight to its emotional core, and pay unbridled tribute to the culture and nation that produced it.”—All Movie Guide

A Winter Tale (2007) 100min
Sat, Feb 23 at 6:50pm*
Mon, Feb 25 at 6:50pm*
*Q&A with filmmakers
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Directed by Frances-Anne Solomon, Canada
Set against the backdrop of a multicultural community’s unrealized hopes and dreams, A Winter Tale is bitter and tragic, yet funny and hopeful. The film tells a uniquely Canadian story featuring the city of Toronto as a central character, while also revealing the universal story of Black men looking to assert their humanity. Q&A with filmmakers.

“The story’s fiction, but it could be ripped from the headlines, and the ensemble acting… is pitch perfect. See this.”—The Gazette (Montreal)

No Time To Die (2006) 95min
Sat, Feb 23 at 4:30pm
Mon, Feb 25 at 4:30pm
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Directed by King Ampaw, Ghana/Germany
In this beguiling, comical love story by renowned Ghanaian filmmaker Ampaw, a hearse driver will do anything to win a lady's affections—from offering to convoy dead bodies of her relations to showering her with gifts of grasscutter meat and driving out to Kokrobite Beach to see her. However, the suitor faces very stiff opposition from his father-in-law to be, who vows that his daughter will not marry a hearse driver.

“Ampaw’s picaresque celebration of funereal courtship proves a delight, as universally accessible as it is casually steeped in Ashanti tradition.”—Variety

Cuba, An African Odyssey (2007) 118min
Sat, Feb 23 at 2pm
Wed, Feb 27 at 4:30pm
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Directed by Jihan el Tahri, France
This enthralling documentary describes the intensive Cuban support for African liberation movements. Beginning with Che Guevara’s mission into the Congo after the assassination of Lumumba and Cuba’s support of Amílcar Cabral’s decolonization movement in Guinea-Bissau, the film traces the pivotal role played by Cuba’s international policy in helping independence struggles on the Africa continent. In French, English, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish with English subtitles.

THE BEST OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA FILM FESTIVAL

Feb 23—28