African Film Series

African Film Series
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This is a past event

The University of Aberdeen's Centre for Sustainable International Development presents a series of African Films.

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Join us every Tuesday at 6pm in MacRobert 0.51.  Admission free.

23rd September - Cry Freedom

Directed by the late, great Richard Attenborough, this film follows white liberal newspaper editor Donald Woods in the late 1970s in South Africa where he meets and later befriends a black activist, Steve Biko.  When Steve Biko dies in police custody, Donald Woods writes a book about him. The only way to get it published is for Woods himself to illegally escape the country.   The film is based on a real life story.

30th September - Half a Yellow Sun

Based on the novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, this film tells the story of sisters Olanna and Kainene who return home to 1960s Nigeria, where they soon diverge on different paths. As civil war breaks out, political events loom larger than their differences as they join the fight to establish an independent republic.

7th October - Neria

Perhaps Africa's most widely known film, Neria portrays the problems African women face when widowed. Patrick and Neria, through their hard work and resourcefulness, have built a comfortable life for themselves. When Patrick dies tragically, Neria's nightmare begins. Taking advantage of tradition to suit his own needs, her brother-in-law helps himself to her property. Neria fights back.

14th October - Yesterday

After falling ill, Yesterday learns that she is HIV positive. With her husband in denial and young daughter to tend to, Yesterday's one goal is to live long enough to see her child go to school. It was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 77th Academy Awards.

21st October - Moolaadé

This film is made by the legendary Senegalese film-maker Ousmane Sembene and is set in a remote village Djerrisso in Burkina Faso.  The film depicts daily village life and is set in an environment complete with man-high anthills and a mosque made from clay.  The main theme of the film is female genital cutting (also referred to as mutilation) a traditional practice within the community although it is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.  The topic is dealt with very sensitively and placed in the context of age, gender, and power relations, as well as traditional and religious beliefs.

28th October - Welcome to Lagos

Welcome to Lagos is an observational documentary series which explores life at the sharp end of one of the most extreme urban environments in the world: Lagos, Nigeria – a megacity of 16 million people. More than half of the world's population live in cities, and this documentary shows what life is really like in some of the toughest parts of the world's fastest growing city. This screening of the second part of the documentary focuses on ‘Lagos’ Venice’: Makoko. 

4th November - Sometimes in April

Debra Winger, Oris Erhuero and Idris Elba star in this drama which portrays the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The story centres on two brothers: Honoré Butera, working for Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, and Augustin Muganza, a captain in the Rwandan army (who was married to a Tutsi woman, Jeanne, and had three children with her: Anne-Marie, Yves-André, and Marcus), who bear witness to the killing of close to 800,000 people in 100 days while becoming divided by politics and losing some of their own family. The film depicts the attitudes and circumstances leading up to the outbreak of brutal violence, the intertwining stories of people struggling to survive the genocide, and the aftermath as the people try to find justice and reconciliation.

 

11th November - Black Gold

One local Niger Delta community's struggle against their own government and a multi-national oil corporation who has plundered their land and destroyed the environment.

18th November - Constant Gardener

Based on a novel by John le Carre, this film refers to the case of Kano drug trials. It is set in Kenya and centres around the story of Justin Quayle, a British High Commission official working in Kenya and his wife Tessa an ‘advocate’, activist, and community volunteer amongst people living in a slum in Nairobi. Tessa is found dead in what initially appears to be a random attack by a local rebel groups. During his mourning, Justin Quayle begins to investigate the work of his late wife in order to find the truth about her work and their relationship. As Justin delves deeper he finds that Tessa was investigating the trial of a new drug (Dypraxa) on people living with HIV within the slum. 

 

25th November - Darwin’s Nightmare

This is a documentary film made by Hubert Sauper sometimes using a hidden camera and provides a snap shot of the lives of Tanzanians as well as revealing the inadequacies and the inequalities of current international trade agreements and the lack of governance at local, national and international level.

 

Hosted by
Centre for Sustainable International Development
Venue
MacRobert Building, Room 0.51
Contact

Centre for Sustainable International Development
MacRobert Building
King's College
Aberdeen AB24 3FX

Tel: 01224 274873