The annual Washington University in St. Louis African Film Festival will be held Friday through Sunday, March 26-28, on the Danforth Campus.
All screenings are free and open to the public and begin at 7 p.m. each evening in Brown Hall, Room 100. This year, there will be a Saturday matinee at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 27.
“The African Film Festival is offering one of its very strongest programs this year of unique and yet universally relevant films,” says Gaylyn Studlar, PhD, director of the Program in Film and Media Studies in Arts & Sciences and the David May Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities.
The films being shown at the festival have fared well on international film festival circuits and are suitable for all ages. The festival at Washington University hopes to expose the campus and St. Louis audiences to African filmmakers making relevant films with limited budgets. It also allows film buffs the chance to see emerging trends in African filmmaking.
“If there is a common theme, it is the concept of leisure time, or what people do for entertainment or recreation,” says Wilmetta Toliver-Diallo, PhD, assistant dean in the College of Arts & Sciences and senior lecturer in African and African-American Studies in Arts & Sciences. “This may differ according to social class, but viewers will get a real sense of how people in various African countries live their everyday lives.”
One of the more powerful films in the festival is Wanuri Kahiu’s From a Whisper, which retells the story of the 1998 terrorist bombing in Nairobi by focusing on two Kenyan families still coping with loss. This film won five African Movie Academy Awards in 2009, including best director and best actor. In an industry usually dominated by Francophone African films, this year’s series highlights two works from Kenyan filmmakers.
“Not an entire society or culture can be summed up in 100 minutes or less, but these films will give everyone attending a glimpse into societies thousands of miles away and bring them closer to home,” says African Students Association President Ifeoluwa Salako, a native of Nigeria and an International and Area Studies major in Arts & Sciences.
In conjunction with the festival, Toliver-Diallo will screen two short films at Soldan International Studies High School in St. Louis and talk about the evolution of African filmmaking as well as themes presented in the films.
Several of the films in the series have been provided by the African Film Festival, a New York-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting African arts, literature and culture.
Campus sponsors include African and African-American Studies and Film and Media Studies; the African Students Association; and African students in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. Additional support is provided by a grant from the Women’s Society of Washington University.
Friday’s films are co-presented with the St. Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and Sunday’s feature is co-presented with the St. Louis, Missouri-Senegal Sister Cities Program.
Brown Hall is located near the intersection of Forsyth Boulevard and Chaplin Drive.
For a complete list of films and their descriptions, visit wupa.wustl.edu/africanfilm. For more information, contact Toliver-Diallo at (314) 935-7879 or e-mail her at wtoliver@artsci.wustl.edu.