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The WOCAF Festival would like to thank everyone that attended our 4th annual festival. Despite the Tornado that hit downtown Atlanta the week before, our faithful followers still turned out to support us.The festival screened 20 films by and/or about women of color with filmmakers in attendance from Canada, Nigeria The UK and The USA.
WOCAF's "Audience Choice Award" go to the following 3 films:
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First place - Malcolms Echo:The legacy of Malcolm X by Dami Akinnusi Second Place - As Old As My Tongue by Andy Jones Third Place - I Want You by Nefertite Nguvu 4th Annual Women of Color Arts & Film
(WOCAF) Festival Atlanta Thursday March 20th - Saturday March 22nd 2008 The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture & History 101 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30303 * Please note intermissions are 5 - 10mins long Click here to download festival brochure
Thursday, March 20th 2008
************************************* Friday, March 21st 2008 Screenings 6:00pm - 10:00pm Centerpiece Feature "Malcolm's Echo" @ 8:30pm *************************************** Saturday, March 22nd
2008
One
of Nigeria’s most celebrated vocalists and internationally acclaimed
portrait photographer - Ty Bello- performs her hit
“Greenland” in this music video.
…The bullet that shattered a community. Shots ring out one winter night and a bullet meant for a local street dealer kills a ten-year-old boy. In the downtown Toronto community of Parkdale, grief and suspicion hang heavily in the air, while the nightly patrons at Miss G’s Caribbean takeaway resume their ritual of beer and banter. But one of them, Gene Wright, cannot go on. He begs his friends for help. In a most unusual development, six Black men make a pact to form a support group in hopes of salvaging their broken spirits and redeeming their besieged community. A Winter Tale is set against the backdrop of a multicultural community’s unrealized hopes and dreams. Bitter and tragic, funny and hopeful, the film tells a uniquely Canadian story that features Toronto as a central character.Winner of the Tonya Lee Williians Award for Outstanding Canadian Feature at the Reel World Film Fest 2007. Q & A with Director - Frances-Ann Solomon Click here for trailer and/or more info...
A comical parody focusing on the importance of good leadership.
Yaa Asantewaa, the grandmother who led an army to resist colonization is a story woven into the fabric of African myths and legends. As a Queen she had foresight and conviction to fight the concept of colonization. In the second half of the nineteenth century, after more than four centuries of contact, the European powers finally laid claim to virtually all of Africa. In November 1884, the imperial chancellor and architect of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck, convened a conference in Berlin to settle the political partitioning of Africa. France, Germany, Britain, and Portugal were the major players at the conference. Ashanti, the land flowing with Gold and Silver was virtually free from the colonizers. After the Berlin conference the British Government began pressuring the Ashanti King to become part of the British protecterate. These events culminate to the "Yaa Asantewaa’s War for Independence” which began on March 28, 1900. She mobilized the Ashanti troops and for three months laid siege to the British mission at the fort of Kumasi. Intermission
“I Want You”: charts the emotional compass of young love when Lennox
Jones, an aspiring novelist, meets and falls hard for Baldwin
Wright, a charismatic musician on the rise. A whimsical romance
ensues, but falls short when high expectations meet discontent.
Eventually, time apart forces them to decide whether or not their
love was meant to last.
Mallory tip-toes out of a one-night-stand and is mortified to learn she must
go back inside to face HIM.... and his evil cat named KUJO. A
sophisticated comedy about a regular Black Woman exploring the
possibilities of love, in a truly impossible situation.
Amber
eleven is facing the imminent death of her father. She copes with
the situation in her own way, which is charming to some and shocking
to others.
Intermission
Now more that 40 years after the assassination of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz –
Malcolm X, we look beyond the icon and tune into his thoughts,
philosophies and actions. Why is Malcolm X as important today as he
was back then? This feature hears Malcolm X through the voices of
activists, scholars, and everyday people, resonating from the 1960’s
into the 21st century, we hear it declare: it is time to
define ourselves and create a vision of the future.
Awero chooses between suitors but a haunting experience, expectations of family and culture turn her wedding night into a nightmare. Storm clouds gather as she is forced to walk a thin line between honor and shame, carrying the resourcefulness of African womanhood and the fate of communities in a fragile balance.
Omobolanle,a promising young girl is infected with the HIV virus through female circumcision - a must for every young girl of her age in her village. News of her new status spread amongst the villagers and she is shunned by her peers.. Falling into a deep depression, Omobolanle does the unthinkable. (Explicit content – viewer’s discretion advised)
Alex’s betrayal by
her lover causes her to seek revenge on all men. Miles is a
loving Father/husband trying to keep his family together. Their
worlds collide. “Low” shows how one selfish act can impact an entire
group.
Ovie is a bright schoolgirl in puppy love with her classmate Sam. The two lover’s passionate affair soon has irreversible consequences and Ovie is left to face hard choices with her uncle and aunt turning from angry despair to cautious hope.
This short documentary explores the historical antecedents, current trends and emerging activism concerning HIV/AIDS and women of African decent. Through raw and revealing personal accounts and comprehensive investigative journalism, "Seen, But Not Heard" seeks to challenge, inform, and inspire viewers to look past the daunting HIV/AIDS statistics - to see and hear the real stories of women of color whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS.
Driven by penury, pain and bereavement, a young man reviews his upbringing envisaging no future. Considering his pregnant wife and what would be her fate, he opts for a change, which turns out to have dire consequences.
A young man takes advantage of three ladies who are desperate for marriage. He is engaged to all three of them and then abandons them for a younger lady. The ladies find out and lay a siege to trap him.
An intimate portrait of living legend Bi Kidude, probably the oldest singer on the world
stage today. Her home island of Zanzibar has long been a meeting
point for African and Arabic influence. The island's music is its
most potent expression. Bi Kidude beguiles audiences wherever she
travels but domestically she continually courts controversy, her
behavior challenging perceptions of the role of women in a Muslim
society.
Bisi is a high school girl attends an all night party with her young lover and has to prove her love to him by being more than intimate. The unthinkable happens and fearing the wrath of her father, Bisi absconds from home. The consequences she has to face are far greater than what she anticipates.
’Dewunmi a young successful building contractor lives happily with his wife in the northern part of Nigeria. His foster-mother from the village pays him an unannounced visit to convince ‘civilized and educated’ ’Dewunmi to perform a traditional redemption rite against foreseen mysterious tragedy; premised on her re-occurring nightmares. All efforts to convince him to do this prove abortive until the unexplainable befalls him, tearing his world apart, as he searches for answers. Best Indigenous movie at the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) 2007Click here for trailer and/or more info... Intermission INTERMISSION
In 1748 at the height of the slave-trading era, John Newton sails to
the coast of Nigeria and the port of Calabar. Now captain of his own
ship – “The Greyhound”- his previous experience in the slave trade
has turned him away from religion. Slaves are rounded up by force
and trickery whilst villages are raided and burned down and the
captives kept in dungeons, chained like animals. Newton leaves the Nigerian
coast with a ship load of slaves and a violent storm brings him to
the point of death and causes him to re-evaluate his life. He
finally renounces slave trading and decides to devote his life to
religion. During his time in Calabar, the melody of a popular local
song has stuck in John Newton’s mind. So when he pens the words to
the world’s most famous hymn, Amazing Grace, it is that African
melody which he uses to accompany them, a fitting tribute to the
land.
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