African Film Festival 2019

March 2–May 10, 2019

This year’s edition of the annual festival highlights the best of both new African cinema and films of the black diaspora, including a two-film tribute to the great Bill Gunn.

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  • Borders

  • Ouaga Girls

  • I Am Not a Witch

  • Wallay

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

Past Films

  • Hyenas

    Djibril Diop Mambéty
    Switzerland, France, Senegal, 1992

    New Restoration

    Saturday, March 2 7 PM

    A wealthy woman revisits her former village with nefarious intentions in this timeless parable about human greed and the betrayal of African independence. “A wicked tale told with wit and irony” (Village Voice).

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  • Ouaga Girls

    Theresa Traore Dahlberg
    Sweden, Burkina Faso, France, Qatar, 2017
    Sunday, March 3 7 PM

    This coming-of-age documentary affectionately follows a group of young women who dream of becoming auto mechanics in Ouagadougou. With Gladys Edeh’s short Mr. Gele.

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  • Ganja & Hess

    Bill Gunn
    United States, 1972

    New Restoration

    Sunday, March 10 7 PM

    Gunn’s legendary fusion of vampire film and black radical cinema is “one of the most beautiful and unusual films ever produced in the United States” (Ishmael Reed). “Embodies the spirit of independent film” (Spike Lee).

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  • Personal Problems

    Bill Gunn
    United States, 1980

    New Restoration

    Thursday, March 21 7 PM
    Ishmael Reed in Person

    Gunn’s black soap opera unfolds with the natural rhythm and melancholy of the blues. Conceived by Ishmael Reed, it “abounds with matchless talkers, improvisers, and scene-stealers” (Melissa Anderson, 2018 Ten Best List, Artforum).

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  • Wallay

    Berni Goldblat
    France, Burkina Faso, 2017
    Saturday, April 6 4 PM

    A rebellious young French teen is sent to his uncle in Burkina Faso in this insightful tale of homecoming and coming of age. With Opiyo Okeyo’s short documentary Birth of Afrobeat.

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  • I Am Not a Witch

    Rungano Nyoni
    United Kingdom, France, 2017
    Saturday, April 27 5:45 PM
    Introduction by Namwali Serpell

    An eight-year-old girl in rural Zambia is labelled a witch in this striking work of magic realism, satire, and social commentary. “Gorgeous . . . unquestionably one of the most striking debuts of the year” (IndieWire).

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  • Borders

    Apolline Traoré
    Burkina Faso, 2017
    Sunday, April 28 7 PM

    Four women meet while riding buses across West African borders, en route from Dakar to Lagos, in this tale of female solidarity in the face of danger. With Visions, by Nigeria’s Surreal16 collective.

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  • The Fruitless Tree

    Aïcha Macky
    Niger, France, 2016
    Wednesday, May 1 7 PM

    Winner of the 2016 Africa Movie Academy Awards in documentary, Macky’s personal film explores the stigma childless women, like herself, face in Niger. With Mark Freeman’s South African short dancedance/REVOLUTION.

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  • Dear Son

    Mohamed Ben Attia
    Tunisia, France, 2018
    Friday, May 10 7 PM

    This powerful domestic drama, coproduced by the Dardenne brothers, follows a Tunisian family before and after their son joins a jihadi group. “Remarkable for . . . its rich, calm, generous characterizations, and the compassion it evokes” (Variety).

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