Past Films

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  After the Long Rains

  Damien Hauser
  Switzerland, Kenya, 2023

  Sunday, March 8 6:30 PM

  Introduced by Ida Na-Tei

  A young girl living along the scenic coast of Kenya breaks with tradition by learning to fish—all while dreaming of becoming an actress—in this tender coming-of-age drama, “an intimately realized portrait of village life” (Variety).

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  Compensation

  Zeinabu irene Davis
  United States, 1999

  Open captioned
  ASL interpretation 

  Thursday, March 12 7 PM

  Zeinabu irene Davis, Marc Arthur Chéry, Christopher Smith (Auntie Smith) and Quinta Seward in Conversation

  Via two Chicago love stories set almost one hundred years apart, Compensation considers the ephemeral nature of love and life, while illustrating the enduring challenges of race and racism over the course of a century.

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  The Tree of Authenticity

  Sammy Baloji
  Belgium, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025

  Wednesday, April 1 7 PM

  Introduced by Victor Ochieng

  The Tree of Authenticity recounts the stigma of ecological destruction that began at the time of colonization through the voices of two scientists who worked at Yangambi INERA Research Station in the Congo between 1910 and 1950: Paul Panda Farnana and Abiron Beirnaert.

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  Furu

  Fatou Cissé
  Mali, 2024

  Saturday, April 4 4 PM

  Introduced by Pechuqui Laurata

  This powerful social drama from director Fatou Cissé, daughter of legendary Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, explores the impact of forced marriage on young women in Mali. A poignant and urgent reflection on gender, autonomy, and resistance within a patriarchal society.

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  Faya dayi

  Jessica Beshir
  Ethiopia, United States, Qatar, 2021

  A limited number of wheelchair accessible spaces may still be available for this screening. Please contact bampfa@berkeley.edu if you would like a ticket for a wheelchair accessible space.

  Wednesday, April 8 7 PM

  Jessica Beshir and shah noor hussein in Conversation

  “A nonfiction work of sensory immersion that’s part anthropology, part poetry” (Hollywood Reporter), the stunning Faya dayi explores the khat trade that dominates rural Ethiopia, circling between youths with little hope and their elders, who are dependent on the dream state the leaf creates.

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  Kouté vwa

  Maxime Jean-Baptiste
  Belgium, France, French Guiana, 2024

  Saturday, April 11 4:30 PM

  Introduced by Menat Allah

  A family’s long-carried grief forms the heart of this personal blend of fiction and documentary set, in French Guiana. The film also offers “a story about grief and forgiveness that also deals with the persisting consequences of colonialism: a violence that equally cannot pass.”

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  Freedom Way

  Afolabi Olalekan
  Nigeria, 2024

  Sunday, April 12 7 PM

  Introduced by Osarugue Otebele

  One of 2024’s most acclaimed Nigerian films, Freedom Way tells an intense and powerful story of a disparate group of people facing economic pressure while seeking to improve their living conditions amidst a corrupt and oppressive city. Screens with Max Fouchee’s Cape Town Royalty Programme.

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  Bouchra

  Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani
  Italy, Morocco, United States, 2025

  Saturday, May 9 4 PM

  Introduced by Omar Jason Farah and Joseph Del Pesco

  Blending documentary and 3D animation, the film depicts Bouchra, a thirty-five-year-old Moroccan jackal and filmmaker living in New York, as she writes an autobiographical film exploring how her queerness has impacted her mother, Aicha, a cardiologist jackal living in Casablanca.

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