STARTING THIS THURSDAY!
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL
June 16th - 30th, 2011
@
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street, upper level
(Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.
African Film Festival, Inc. is proud to announce that the annualHuman Rights Watch International Film Festival (HRWIFF)starts this week! The festival returns to the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center with a powerful program of 18 films from 12 countries and AFF is co-presenting two of them - Oliver Schmitz's Life, Above All and Patrick Reed's The Team.
Please come out to support HRWIFF and a great line-up of films!
(The Team - Dir. by Patrick Reed)
THE TEAM (New York Premiere)
Patrick Reed, Canada/Kenya, 2011, 80m
Can one TV show save a nation? Calm has returned to Kenya after the deadly post-election violence of 2007, but persistent discrimination among ethnic groups has left the country a powder keg that could easily reignite. Patrick Reed’s remarkable film brings us behind the scenes of an innovative television series which aims to ease tribal tensions and set the stage for open dialogue and understanding. The storyline focuses on a tribally diverse soccer team who must find ways to overcome deep-rooted hatred and work together to succeed. Thousands of viewers across Kenya gather together in community centers to watch the story unfold –building mutual understanding and acceptance with each episode. Yet, the message may come too late as the actors themselves may become victims of the discrimination they have been so passionately seeking to combat.
Presented in association with African Film Festival, Inc., Margaret Mead Film Festival and National Black Programming Consortium
SCREENINGS:
June 21, 2011 6:30pm
Screening includes Q&A with filmmaker Patrick Reed.
June 22, 2011 9:00pm
Screening includes Q&A with filmmaker Patrick Reed.
June 23, 2011 4:00pm
Screening includes Q&A with filmmaker Patrick Reed.
For more information about the film screening, visit -http://www.hrw.org/en/iff/theteam-ny
(Life, Above All - Dir. by Oliver Schmitz)
LIFE, ABOVE ALL (New York Premiere)
Oliver Schmitz, Germany/South Africa, 2010,105m
Life, Above All reinvents the coming-of-age story when a young girl must maintain the facade of a normal life amidst utter instability. The spread of HIV/AIDS appears to be ravaging Chanda’s South African township even though no one will speak the actual words. When her mother’s illness becomes apparent, the community turns against Chanda’s family. Her mother chooses to leave home on the advice of a well-meaning but overbearing neighbour, who has her own secrets. Filmmaker Oliver Schmitz explores cultural taboos, adolescence, and religion through the lens of a poorly understood and much-feared disease, instilling his film with a keen sense of insight and emotional gravitas that is at once artful and accessible.
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. US theatrical release July 15, 2011.
Presented in partnership with African Film Festival, Inc. and United Nations Association of New York
SCREENING:
June 30, 2011 7:00pm
Screening includes Q&A with filmmaker Oliver Schmitz and lead actress Khomotso Manyaka. Reception to follow.
For more information about the film screening, visit -http://www.hrw.org/en/iff/lifeaboveall
Comments