Journey Across 3 Continents Film and Lecture Tour is a project of Third World Newsreel. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Pearl Bowser is Festival Director, Third World Newsreel. Program notes are by Renee Tajima.
“(In the past 10 years) black cinema the world over has emerged with visual power, taking on the task of creating a meaningful expression of the black experience. One by one, African countries nationalized the importation of films and broke the stranglehold of the western cinema industry. African film production then expanded.... In the United States and elsewhere, the independent film movement of the black diaspora has come into its own. In particular, the past decade has been distinguished by a growing contemporary force of black women filmmakers.... The Journey Across 3 Continents series is a celebration of these achievements. We have brought together a body of work that represents two decades of cinema from Africa and the black diaspora--films that tell stories, inspire, challenge, and speak of the breadth and scope of black life and culture....
“However, black film is rarely recognized as a significant body of work in world cinema...rarely studied for cinematic or aesthetic meaning, not recognized for the western myths (these films) destroy. The Journey Across 3 Continents festival was conceived to expose new audiences to the work of filmmakers of Africa and the black diaspora, and...to convey to the audience the shared kinship and rituals, history, traditions and diversity of the black experience from Africa, Europe and the Americas.” Pearl Bowser and Renee Tajima
