Editor's blog

Celebrating African Talent in frontof and behind the camera during the 2009 African Diaspora Film Festival

This year was FESPACO year, the festival was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Fasofrom February 28 to March 7, 2009. The Golden Yennenga Stallion went to "Teza"by Haile Gerima and the Silver Yennenga Stallion was awarded to "Nothing butthe Truth" by internationally recognized, multiple award-winningSouth African actor/director John Kani.

In "Saturday Night in the Palace"(1987) John Kani's character is a family man who deals with petty and cruel racismwith a moral integrity his white tormentors will never understand.  Those of you who remember the South African comedy"SowetoGreen" (ADFF 1996) will recall John Kani's sarcastic, dry humoras he gently mocks the fallouts of the end of apartheid.  "Nothing but the Truth," John Kani's latestfilm, looks at the new South Africa 15 years after the end of apartheid.The character reflects on the human journey Black South Africans have gonethrough, during apartheid and beyond.  "Nothing but the Truth," John Kani's directorial debut, is a deepand moving film not to be missed.

John Kani was a prominent figure in the struggle against apartheid, is asurvivor of an attempted assassination, a Tony Award winning actor andplaywright, and a spokesperson in his country for AIDS awareness andprevention.  "I believe in the power of the word, and I believe in thepower of the art" - John Kani. 

It is with great pleasure that we announce the participation in ADFF 2009Opening Night of lead South African actor Miss Motshabi Tyelele, who performedwith John Kani in the film and also performed in the award winning play by thesame name.  She will discuss the film andher collaboration with John Kani after the screening.

"Nothing but the Truth" is distributed in the US by ArtMattan Productions.Details at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=pbvkddd%0d%0a%20ab.0.0.j5gjbvcab.0&ts=S0434&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.africanfilm.com%2Fnewrel.htm.&id=preview

 
"Wole Soyinka: Childof the Forest" by South African/Nigerian actor/director Akin Omotoso, will also screen on Opening Night 2009. Wole Soyinka is not just awriter, he is a militant writer. He belongs to the generation of writers whounderstood the need for change in the largest sense of the word. He put his literaryendeavor to the service of this idea and received international recognition asa result, including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. One is sometimes compelled to look atthe lives of Mr. Soyinka and that of Leopold Sedar Senghor, another greatAfrican writer, as symbolic of the richness of African literature andideologies.

ADFF 2009 Opening Night event will be celebrated on Friday, November 27 at 8:00PM at Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Ave. @ 2nd St). 

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