25th Annual Pan African Film Festival - Los Angeles - Part 2

Among the films that played recently at the 25th Annual Pan African Film Festival - Los Angeles, held at the Cinemark 15 Baldwin Hills Theater at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, I was able to view and review the following:

 White Colour Black [2016] (written and directed by Joseph A. Adesunloye) tells the story of a Senegal-born photographer named Leke (played by Dudley O'Shaughnessy) who begins the story living a quite dissolute / hedonistic lifestyle in London among the glamour / fashion model set.  Then he gets word that his father had died back in Senegal and decides, reluctantly, that _for this_ (his father's funeral) he has to go back.  Complicating things are (1) that the two, Leke and his father, had last parted not on good terms, and (2) Leke had seemed to acquire something of a drug habit up there in London.  So it takes him a while (at least a few days) after arriving from London in Senegal's capital of Dakar before he gets around to heading out to the seaside town where his father's family was from.  TO SOME EXTENT, the beginning of the film feels almost like a take on Apocalypse Now [1979] -- "Saigon [Dakar], damn Saigon [Dakar], I'm only in Saigon [Dakar]..." 'Cept when Leke finally makes it out to the lovely seaside town where his dad's family's from, it turns out to NOT really be "The Apocalypse."  SURE he finds that he has to "make amends" and not only to his uncle Dabo (played wonderfully by Wale Ojo), the keeper of Leke's father's legacy, but TO THE ENTIRE VILLAGE that simply does not understand _how_ he could have missed his father's funeral.  But, after initially stumbling, he finds a way ... and the film becomes a LOVELY tribute to the enduring power and beauty of both Family and Reconciliation -- 3 Stars



The Last Disciples [2016] (written and directed by the Isabelle Brothers) well produced, MTV "Reality Show"-like modern-day adaptation of several Biblical stories -- notably of Cain and Abel, Noah and Job.  The language is often quite offensive (so it would not be for kids).  However, for teenagers who've already "heard the bad words" as well as college-aged young adults, I do think that the film offers a quite captivating approach to comtemporizing the stories of the Bible -- the story of Job, for instance, is really presented in "Entertainment Tonight " / "reality show" like format.  What's also remarkable is that the Isabelle Brothers made this film working out of their hometown of Huntsville, Alabama.  As such, they provide a tantalizing glimpse of a decentralized future of video / cinematographic storytelling, one which won't necessarily need to be centered in major cities like New York or Los Angeles. -- 3 Stars

Rebecca [2016] (written and directed by Shirley Frimpong-Mansa) is a very simple film GHANA-originating film that's presented then in a quite interesting format -- in English _with_ English subtitles.   First about the story, then a few words about the format.

The story's about a couple, Clifford (played by Joseph Benjamin) a rich Ghana-descended businessman who flew back "home" from the U.K. to get himself a wife through an arranged / brokered marriage, and then Rebecca (played wonderfully by Yvonne Okoro) the village woman who he basically bought for himself.  The two find themselves "stuck in their car," which had broken down on the road somewhere in the hinterlands of Ghana between Rebecca's village and the airport from where they would fly then (back) to the U.K.

So at the beginning of the story Clifford's clearly "in charge."  After all, he was "the one with the money" who flew out to again effectively "buy" Rebecca.  But, sitting there on the clearly not well traveled road, awaiting someone to pass by to give them assistance, power and the initiative begin to clearly swing back to Rebecca.  After all, they find themselves "stuck" in _her country_, SHE knows what's going on, HE doesn't have a clue ...  As simple as the story is -- nominally about a couple stuck in the car at the side of a largely abondoned road -- it leaves Viewers with _a lot_ to talk / reflect about.

Now about the film's format.  THE Los Angeles based DISTRIBUTOR of the film was present at the end of the screening to take questions.  He said that the format -- English with English subtitles -- was intentional, noting that there are over 2 billion people across the world for whom English is a second language.  The format English, with English subtitled may irritate many (younger) North Americans for whom English is their native language (and they are still NOT "hard of hearing").  However, he said that EVEN IN THE UNITED STATES about 35% of the potential viewing public would appreciate those subtitles.  Who would they be?  Immigrants AND older people.  Then outside of the United States, this format would allow those 2 billion people to practice their English.

Again both the story and the film's viewing format offered much to think about -- 3 Stars

AfroLatinos: An Untaught History [2016] (directed by Renzo Devia) is a DOCUMENTARY that given the size of the audience present at its screening at the PAFF-LA has an audience.   For all the problems that African Americans have had in the United States to (re)discover their voice / identity, this _excellent_ documentary (which will actually be exploded into a seven part documentary series) notes that across ALL OF LATIN AMERICA over 150 million Afro-Latinos have yet to really do so.  Almost everywhere, again ACROSS ALL OF LATIN AMERICA, almost EVERY _African descended / imported characteristic_ from curlier hair, to darker skin, to African-descended languages, dialects or accents to African-descended religions / religious conceptions are MARGINALIZED / LOOKED-DOWN UPON by the wider culture.  And yet, ALL OF THESE CHARACTERISTICS have SELF-EVIDENTLY CLEAR / INTRINSIC BEAUTY.

What's going on?  What happened?  While taking some time to explain some of the history of Afro-Latino marginalization in Latin America, the great and truly _beautiful_ strength of this Documentary is that it's A CELEBRATION OF AFRO-LATINOS and all that they can and at times already offer the larger society / world.  For instance, modern West Africans travel to Latin America, notably to Brazil, Suriname and coastal Colombia to _learn_ African languages / dialects and about African religions / religious conceptions now largely lost in their native West Africa.   Then the mixing of the cultures and races produces some truly fascinating and beautiful conceptions in both fashion and the arts.  All in all, this really promises to be A GREAT / FASCINATING DOCUMENTARY SERIES -- 4 Stars

The Healing Passage: Voices from the Water [2004] (written and directed by S. Pearl Sharp) is a remarkable DOCUMENTARY that presents AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS, POETS and PHILOSOPHERS grappling with the MEANING and LOSS resulting form the FORCED TRANSPORT OF 10-12 MILLION AFRICANS AS SLAVES FROM WEST AFRICA to THE AMERICAS (and the DEATHS OF MILLIONS of OTHERS in transport) during the Era of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Imagine simply THE BONES of MILLIONS OF BODIES spread along the bottom of the Mid-Atlantic between Africa and the Americas.

Neither is it simply an issue of simply Blacks coming to terms with the Horror and Magnitude of this Tragedy: One of the more striking moments in the film involved a twenty-something young woman from an old Massachusetts family that made its fortune (presumably) in 18th early 19th century through the Slave Trade.  She and several of her relatives when back to Senegal to partly atone for their ancestors' part in this horror.  Truly a beautiful and again _very_ powerful / thought-provoking film -- 4 Stars

Nawara [2015] (written and directed by Hala Khalil) is a striking EGYPTIAN film about the tragedy of the by now quite defunct Arab Spring.

Taking place during the 2011 Protests on Tahrir Square which eventually brought down the Regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the film's about an ever-smiling 20-something  Muslim domestic worker named Nawara (played magnificently by Menna Shalabi) living seemingly on one side of Cairo and -- three buses later -- working completely on the other side (Note that while stationed in Chicago, I knew of Latina domestic workers who made similarly crazy daily commutes from South Chicago all the way to the wealthy suburbs of the North Shore). 

It was clear that Mubarak was on the way out.  The news on both State TV and Radio were now suddenly (but consistently) about the corruption of the Mubarak Regime.  Nawara and her family were excited by the promise that so much looted wealth will be returned to Egypt that EACH EGYPTIAN would receive some 200,000 Egyptian pounds in compensation.  Among other things, Nawara and her largely unemployed / working odd-jobs electrician boyfriend Ali (played by Ameer Salah Eldin) would FINALLY be able to get married.  But of course such a prospect -- that so much wealth could possibly be returned back to the county -- was horribly ... naive.  How could ever smiling, ever optimistic, but POOR Nawara possibly hope that "things would turn out well" for her and her kind?  All in all an excellent film _personalizing_ the supreme tragedy of the betrayal of the Arab Spring -- 4 Stars


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25th Annual Pan African Film Festival - Los Angeles - Part 1

Among the films that played recently at the 25th Annual Pan African Film Festival - Los Angeles, held at the Cinemark 15 Baldwin Hills Theater at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, I was able to view and review the following:

The Voice of the Kora [2015] (directed and produced by Claudine Pommier) proved to be a lovely / fascinating CANADIAN documentary about a traditional West African stringed instrument called the kora which is mostly commonly played, sitting down like a harp but nevertheless contains characteristics of the lute / guitar and drum. The traditional "acoustic" kora, _like_ the lute / guitar contains a resonating / amplifying sound box, but _unlike_ the lute / guitar and more like a drum said amplifying sound box is not made of wood but rather of stretched animal / cow skin).  The result is a versatile stringed instrument with a characteristic sound that would fascinate many music lovers as well as music technologists.

Indeed, one of the joys of attending Film Festivals such as this one has been the opportunity to attend screenings of various music themed documentaries where one can learn about some aspect of often beautiful regional music that one might not have known before.  In years past, I've attended excellent screenings of documentaries on traditional music from Cuba and the Andes.  This one is about traditional music from West Africa using this particular particular instrument, and then about many of the interesting fusions and developments that this instrument has undergone as musicians / music technologists from the world over have discovered its possibilities / sound.  Yes, there's a Colorado based hipster who builds "Electric Koras" now ;-) -- 3 1/2 Stars.

'76 (directed by Izu Ojukwu) is a fairly _gripping_ NIGERIAN HISTORICAL DRAMA / THRILLER about a group of relatively low-level Nigerian military officers and their families stationed at a fairly "random" (though "near to the action") Nigerian military base at the time of an aborted (failed) military coup in 1976.

If you've EVER wondered what it would be like to be (or find oneself to be) involved in something like this then this would be an excellent film to look up.  (Basically, being / finding oneself involved in such a high stakes endeavor is NOT for the fainthearted ;-).

To the filmmakers' credit, they make it clear that "the Coup" was BUT ONE of _many other things_ going on in the lives of the quite "small fish" officers involved:

Captain Joseph Dewa (played by Ramsey Nouah), the film's central protagonist, has a pregnant wife named Suzy (played by Rita Dominic).  Their marriage was a sort of "modern Nigerian" one, that is, they married across traditional tribal loyalties, so neither is particularly liked / trusted by each others' in-laws.  In particular, her "always asking for money brother" is, well, an annoyance that most Viewers would understand.  Then, next to the Dewa's on-base home, lives a fellow junior officer with a fairly loud recently "picked-up" "off-base" live-in girlfriend who clearly likes her newly achieved status -- she "bagged" a (junior) officer (and "who knows how far HE can rise ...") -- but also, as yet, doesn't know the first thing of "on-base residential etiquette," to say nothing of having compassion for the expecting couple in "all windows open" hot / steamy coastal Nigeria living next door.  Captain Dewa also has an old "from the OTS" army buddy who "just shows up" in these days (because he's involved, somehow, in the coming Coup).  And in the midst of all these competing forces and distractions, the still late 20-something / early 30-something Captain Joseph Dewa comes to realize that he has to choose sides in a coming conflict that he did not ask for, but carried the risk, no matter which way he chose, to end "with a bullet in his head."  Ay, one thinks, of course, "choose wisely" but ... -- 4 Stars.

 

Scent of Oak (orig. Roble de Olor) [2002 [IMDb] [FA.es]* (directed and cowritten by Rigoberto López [IMDb] [FA.es]* along with Eugenio Hernández [IMDb]) is a CUBAN HISTORICAL DRAMA of the class of the similarly quite excellent film Belle [2013], that is, though inspired by actual historical persons / events, nevertheless an imaginative (re)construction (due to the paucity of historical material.

The current film, set in the early 19th century about a great love between Cornelius Souchay (played by Jorge Perugorría [IMDb] [FA.es]*) a rich German born immigrant to Cuba and Ursula Lambert (played by Lia Chapman [IMDb] [FA.es]*) a quite well educated (dark skinned) immigrant / refugee from Haiti after the 1803 Revolution there who together setup a highly successful coffee plantation in Western Cuba, is based at least _in part_ on historical fact: The two really did exist, they really did operate a successful coffee plantation in Western Cuba and Cornelius Souchay really did put in his will the request that an all black chamber ensemble play at his funeral.  Hence, it is clear that Cornelius Souchay and Ursula Lambert did have a quite unique love for the time and they also understood their African descended compatriots (probably still at least nominally slaves) to have talents / capacities that other landed Cuban aristocrats of the time would probably have not believed them to have.  Yet as in the above mentioned film Belle [2013], much of the rest of the story was constructed around the quite meager historical points given above.  Yet such it often is when it comes to the personal histories of non-aristocratic women, let alone slaves / former slaves.  As in the case of Belle [2013] and the current film here, there are truly _tantalizing_ glimpses of _great stories_ present, but alas they remain glimpses.  What to do?  I do believe that the makers of Belle [2013] as well as the film here, did do their subjects justice.  The most likely alternative would be to not tell these stories at all and that would definitely not do these people justice either.

In any case, I did like this film, even if it came from (still) Communist Cuba.  I would note also that the Catholic Church plays a role in this film, and (IMHO) a surprisingly _positive one_.  For a film coming from a Communist country, I was honestly surprised by this.  The film's director Rigoberto López [IMDb] [FA.es]* was present at the end of the screening for Q&A and in said Q&A I did ask him about this (because it did surprised me).  He answered that Cuba is not necessarily what Westerners might think it to be.  And I would note that the film was made in the years following (Saint) John Paul II's historic visit to Cuba in 1998 after which there was a clear improvement in the Communist Regime's treatment of the Catholic Church / Christianity in general (For one, following Pope John Paul II's visit, Christmas (!) was reinstated as an official holiday in Cuba after its observance was officially "abolished" by the Communist Party in 1969 ...).  In any case the Catholic Church was presented quite fairly / surprisingly positively throughout the film.  All in all -- 3 1/2 Stars.

Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in It (orig. Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai) [2015] (written and directed by Christopher Kirkley) is a fascinating music themed film from NIGER what's been billed as a "West African tribute to the African American superstar Prince."  Set in the dusty streets / surroundings of the South Saharan Niger-ian town of Agadez, it's about the South Sahara's _youth oriented_ music scene (!).  Indeed, the film stars Mdou Moctar a young Taureg speaking Central African superstar from  Abalak in southern Niger.

Now honestly, one of the first things that came to my mind, as I watched this movie was "OMG ... 1/2 the guys in this film look like they're from AL QUEDA / ISIS (!)"  But the ever smiling (when he's not wearing his head scarf) sings not about Jihad but simply about life and love and loss, LIKE ANY SENSITIVE MUSICIAN OR POET from ANYWHERE and ANY TIME.  Honestly, this VERY LITTLE FILM could do MORE FOR PROMOTING PEACE AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING than just about any film that I've seen since I've begun my blog five years ago.  Outstanding, and honestly beautiful job! - 4+ Stars

Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution [2013] (written and directed by Bruce and Luke Paddington) is a SURPRISING and remarkably _well done_ documentary about what would for most people otherwise be a true footnote in Cold War / World History -- the rise and fall of the Revolutionary Government of Maurice Bishop in the tiny Caribbean island nation of Grenada.  

I went to the film in most part out of simple curiosity.  I certainly knew of the 1983 U.S. Invasion of Grenada, which I always understood to have been a perhaps inevitable / necessary Cold War chess move on the part of the Reagan Administration, but also one motivated in good part by cynicism / a perceived need "to change the story" (a few days earlier, two Shiite suicide bombers had breached the U.S. Marine Compound in Beirut Lebanon killing 241 U.S. Marines, 58 French Peacekeepers and six civilians.  Since there was no ready way to retaliate in Lebanon, the invasion of the tiny but annoying / Marxist aligned nation of Grenada offered a simpler "change the story" alternative).

HOWEVER, as this documentary pointed out, the _deteriorating situation_ in Grenada was far more chaotic than perhaps perceived in the U.S. at the time AND I HONESTLY LEFT THE THEATER WITH THE MORE-OR-LESS CERTAINTY THAT THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION ACTUALLY DID THE RIGHT THING IN GRENADA.

What happened then in the lead-up the U.S. invasion?  That's then what the documentary is about, and to its credit, it seems to be REMARKABLY HONEST:

Basically, the always idealistic, if certainly Marxist government of Maurice Bishop simply COLLAPSED.  A more radically left-wing clique tried to oust him.   He and his supporters then stormed one of the 18th century forts on the island (the fort apparently contained a radio transmitter from which Bishop could declare to his supporters / the outside world that "he" / "all was okay" (he / they were not).  Grenada's armed forces, arguably _not aligned_ at this point, tried to send three armored personnel carriers to said fort to "restore order."  THE ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIERS WERE FIRED UPON by Bishop's supporters, where upon the military unit, of course, fired back.  By the time the dust settled, the survivors of that military unit apparently just lined-up Bishop and six of his top aides against a wall and shot them dead (the soldiers had lost their own friends in the fighting ...).  Subsequently, the remainders of the Grenadan military (who was leading them?) declared "martial law."  There were 600 American students on the island, memories of the still recent 1978-1980 Iranian Hostage Crisis were fresh.  Given THAT LEVEL of CHOAS on that tiny island nation, it made TOTAL SENSE to for the Reagan Administration to send in the 82nd airborne / Marines to restore order.

Anyway, the documentary really could serve as a reminder to young idealists radicals that guns and politics are a REALLY VOLATILE MIX (and Marxism did / does advocate violent Revolution ...).  This island nation nearly descended into something resembling "The Lord of the Flies" [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] ... Excellent documentary / cautionary tale - 3 1/2 Stars


* Reasonably good (sense) translations of non-English webpages can be found by viewing them through Google's Chrome browser. 

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