African Film Festival 2017

March 9–April 28, 2017

This annual festival draws on the best of African cinema and films from the African diaspora.

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  • Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in It

  • I Am Not Your Negro

  • Martha & Niki

  • Mandabi

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • Ayiti Mon Amour

    • Friday, April 28 7:30 PM
    Guetty Felin
    United States, Haiti, 2016

    Documentary meets magical neorealism in Haitian-born filmmaker Felin’s gorgeous tribute to the resilience and beauty of her homeland, set five years after its devastating 2010 earthquake.

    Guetty Felin In Person

  • Kiki

    • Thursday, April 27 7 PM
    Sara Jordenö
    United States, Sweden, 2016

    This “indelible, must-see ode to gay New York” (New York Times) showcases the vibrant dance art form/way of life known as Kiki, born from the ballroom movement and led by an outspoken new generation of activist LGBTQ youth of color.

    Sara Jordenö In Person

  • Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy

    • Wednesday, April 26 7 PM
    Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
    Chad, 2015

    The acclaimed Chadian director of A Screaming Man turns to documentary with this moving work on his country’s healing and reconciliation, filmed while its former dictator was standing trial for war crimes. “Harrowing and hopeful” (Hollywood Reporter).

  • Martha & Niki

    • Friday, April 21 4 PM
    Tora Mårtens
    Sweden, 2016

    This high-energy documentary profiles two young Afro-Swedish women as they take on the macho world of competitive hip-hop dance—and win.

  • I Am Not Your Negro

    • Wednesday, April 5 7 PM
    Raoul Peck
    United States, France, Belgium, Switzerland, 2016

    Peck’s acclaimed documentary is an invigorating look at the great writer James Baldwin, and at the fight for civil rights both in the past and now. “An act of provocation and prophecy” (Village Voice).

  • Sembène!

    • Sunday, April 2 4 PM
    Jason Silverman, Samba Gadjigo
    United States, Senegal, 2015

    This profile of legendary Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène is “an enormously moving portrait of the profound way that art can transform those who come in contact with it” (New York Magazine). With Billy Woodberry’s short Marseille après la guerre.

  • Mandabi

    • Sunday, April 2 6 PM
    Ousmane Sembène
    Senegal, 1968

    BAMPFA Collection Print

    A comic fable about a middle-aged man in Dakar whose life changes when he receives a money order from Paris. “Sembène’s approach is spare, laconic, slightly ironic, and never patronizing” (New York Times).

  • Still from Kirikou and the Wild Beasts

    Kirikou and the Wild Beasts

    • Saturday, March 18 3:30 PM
    Bénédicte Galup, Michel Ocelot
    France, 2005

    Recommended for ages 7 & up

    This vibrantly colorful animated sequel to the popular Kirikou and the Sorceress finds little Kirikou using his brains and heart to help his fellow African villagers. With a superb soundtrack by Youssou N’Dour and Manu Dibango.

  • Towards Tenderness

    • Sunday, March 12 7 PM
    Alice Diop
    France, 2015

    Alice Diop’s intimate featurette portrays the inner thoughts and public territory of young men in a Paris suburb. With shorts The Return (Yohann Kouam), Reluctantly Queer (Akosua Adoma Owusu), and The Sense of Touch (Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo).

  • Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in It

    • Thursday, March 9 7 PM
    Christopher Kirkley
    United States, Niger, 2015

    Musician Mdou Moctar and the founder of the label Sahel Sounds join together for this unexpected remix of Prince’s Purple Rain, set amidst the electrified, electrifying Tuareg music scene of Saharan Niger.