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| Image from the film "Cosmic Africa". Photo courtesy of the African Film Festival, Inc. |
For over a decade, the New York African Film Festival, Inc. has been introducing African cinema to ever-growing appreciative audiences in the United States. Over a two-week period in April, the Festival features films by African filmmakers and documentaries on cultural and human rights issues with an African context. The African Film Festival, Inc., a non-profit arts organization headed by founder-Director Mahen Bonetti, promotes understanding of the diversity of African cultures and contributes to giving African filmmakers around the world a recognized presence in New York.
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| Photo courtesy of the African Film Festival, Inc. | Since its first celebration in 1993, the African Film Festival (AFF) has explored a range of subjects, from transformations of rural/urban identity to African women to retrospectives of established African filmmakers. The 2004 Festival opened with two films about the struggle against corruption: "Critical Assignment" (2003), one of Africa's first big-budget pictures; and "Agogo Eewo/Taboo Gong" (2002), the award-winning film by Tunde Kelani.
The tension between rural tradition and urban appreciation is the hallmark of African cinema. Filmmakers draw from folklore, myth, fantasy and magic to communicate a distinctly African sensibility that blends aesthetic experimentation, humour and biting social critique. The AFF seeks to nurture appreciation of African cinema through affordable screenings in public and educational settings. During the summer in New York City, the Outdoor Screenings bring films directly to neighbourhoods with limited cultural resources, as well as to community-based cultural institutions and parks. These screenings serve as an education outreach programme for young audiences who often are unable to attend the Festival. AFF has contributed to international cross-cultural projects and film festivals worldwide.
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| Photo courtesy of the African Film Festival, Inc. | It has created on its web site an online archive with brief descriptions of African films. The AFF Archive is a library of screenings going back to the Festival's inauguration in 1993. The website further offers year-round event information, review articles, production notes, interviews and essays related to African media, culture and history. Perhaps the most valuable educational resource AFF has produced is the anthology Through African Eyes: Dialogues with the Directors, available on its web site. The anthology surveys filmmaking in Africa through twenty candid conversations with celebrated filmmakers, ranging from pioneers to the new generation experimenting with digital media.
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