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African Leaders
Portrait of two leaders of the Pan-African Liberation Movement: Frantz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral.
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Using rare archival footage, director Ana Lucia Ramos Lisboa accurately chronicles both the personal and public sides of an African icon in Amilcar Cabral (Cape Verde/ Portugal, 2001, 52 mins., in Portuguese with English Subtitles). The founder of the African Party for Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Amilcar Cabral led the Liberation Movement against Portugal for those countries.
In the documentary Frantz Fanon: His Life, His Struggle, His Work (Algeria/France, 2001, 52 mins., in French and Arabic with English subtitles), director Cheikh Djemai uncovers and interviews scores of former associates of Frantz Fanon, a psychiatrist, philosopher and political leader. He became a spokesman for the Algerian revolution against French colonialism, and as the author of Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon documented the effects of colonialism and racism on the people of colonized countries. |
DVD sale: $295
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Afro-Latino Music
This two-disc set showcases the influence and importance of African sounds, rhythms, and beats to the music of Latin America. |
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| Afro-Latino Music - 2-disc set |
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SONS OF BENKOS / LOS HIJOS DE BENKOS
(Lucas Silva, Colombia, 2003, 52 mins.)
Sons of Benkos shows the evolution of Afro-Colombian music over generations while exploring the presence of African culture in Colombia. The title pays homage to Benkos, an important black leader in the fight for freedom during the era of slavery in Colombia. The title "Sons of Benkos" suggests the ongoing struggle for the recognition of African influences on Colombia's artistic heritage.
HANDS OF GOD / LAS MANOS DE DIOS
(Las Manos de Dios, Delia Ackerman, Peru, 2004, 54 mins.)
Hands of God tells the story of Peruvian percussionist Julio "Chocolate" Algendones, a legendary musician famous for his speed and dexterity on drums. Mixing traditional African influences with contemporary jazz, Algendones composed, taught, and performed musical styles all over the world. "The stunning dexterity and mastery of famous Afro-Peruvian percussionist Julio 'Chocolate' Algendones are on display in this affectionate documentary [Hands of God] about the great master" (Allaboutjazz.com). In Spanish with English subtitles.
Lucas Silva/Delia Ackerman---Colombia/Peru---2003/2004---106 mins. |
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DVD sale: $295 |
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Director: Tunde Kelani
From: Nigeria
Year: 2008 Minutes: 97
Language:Yoruba with English subtitles
Genre: Fiction film |
In “Arugba,” the latest film from leading Nigerian filmmaker Tunde Kelani, the king of a small town in south-western Nigeria makes much publicized statements against corruption while instituting economic reforms and embracing foreign investors. But the reforms don’t appear to be trickling down to the people and the king trusts no one and has a weakness for women, which compromises his leadership. Meanwhile, preparations are being made for a traditional ritual in which a young virgin – the arugba – carries a sacrificial calabash. With superb performances from Awoyemi and some of Nigeria’s leading actors, “Arugba” is a beautifully executed film which functions as an allegory for contemporary Nigeria. Set against the backdrop of a corrupt society seeking cleansing, rebirth and nationhood, with all its attendant intrigues, the film intimately presents a world in which modernity and tradition exist alongside each other but seldom in equilibrium.
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DVD sale: $245
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The Big Banana
Director: Franck Bieleu
From: Cameroon
Year: 2011 Minutes: 85
Language:French with English subtitles
Genre: Documentary
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The Big Banana exposes multinational corporations culpability in the land grab of Africa, which makes us reconsider where we get our fruit from. Banned in Cameroon, The Big Banana illustrates the poor working conditions in banana plantations and exposes the adverse impact of corporato-cracy government on the people while reaping super profits for corporations. The side effects of plantation corporations on the people of Africa - and everywhere else in the world - are abject poverty and environmental degradation from chemical fumigation.
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DVD sale: $295
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Felix de Rooy/Sander Francken---Netherlands/Curacao---1990/1999---195 mins.
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Writer Norman DePalm offers two romantic dramas that bring to light the culture and character of the island. Set in Curacao in the 1940s,
"Ava & Gabriel: A Love Story" (Felix de Rooy, 1990, 100 mins.) tells of the painter Gabriel Goedbloed, who arrives from Holland to paint a mural of the Virgin Mary in St. Anna's Church. Although Gabriel is there at the request of St. Anna's parish priest, the clergy and local citizens are surprised to find that he is black--originally from Surinam. The colonial Antillian society proves less than tolerant towards the visitor, especially after he chooses as his model a young teacher, Ava, who is engaged to a white police official. When the Dutch Governor's wife also becomes interested in Gabriel, tensions and hypocrisies rise within the community. Addressing the complex and difficult state of race relations in the Netherlands,
"Papa's Song" (Sander Francken, 1999, 95 mins.) is "an interesting drama of domestic tension and cross-cultural misunderstanding" (The New York Times). The peaceful life of a Dutch magistrate, his wife from Curacao, and her two young nephews, turns suddenly volatile when the wife's sister arrives on the scene. The sisters' stormy relationship is complicated when the wife, unable to have children, tries to convince her husband to impregnate her sister. In Dutch and Papiamento with English subtitles.
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DVD sale: $295
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DANY LAFERRIERE:
Films from a Poet's Imagination
The mystery and wonder of modern-day Haiti come alive in this two-film set based on the work of writer-director Dany Laferriere with the two films How to Conquer America in One Night (96 mins) and On the Verge of a Fever (88 mins).
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HOW TO CONQUER AMERICA IN ONE NIGHT / COMMENT CONQUERIR L'AMERIQUE EN UNE NUIT
Newly arrived in Montréal, and determined to conquer North America by charming blonde-haired women, Gégé, a Haitian in his thirties, lands up at Fanfan's - his nostalgic uncle who has given up poetry for a good old taxicab and dreams of returning to his homeland. Over the course of one night filled with humor and friendship -- highlighted by a party attended by twins Andrée and Denise, two Quebecers with contrasting charms -- the two fun-loving guys take stock of their lives, memories and fantasies.
ON THE VERGE OF A FEVER / LE GOUT DES JEUNES FILLES
Against a backdrop of poverty, fear, and the brutal dictatorship of Haiti in 1971, ON THE VERGE OF A FEVER (Le Gout des Jeunes Filles) tells the story of Fanfan, a 15-year-old boy who wants to experience life for himself with his streetwise friend Gégé. Having lived a sheltered life with his overprotective mother, Fanfan experiences a bizarre, terrifying incident with Haiti’s secret police, the Tonton-Macoute. He decides to hide out at the house of his beautiful neighbors. There, he is trapped between his fear of getting caught and his desire to fulfill his deepest fantasy. This colorful drama is based on Haitian novelist Dany Lafèrriere’s Le Gout de Jeunes Filles.
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DVD sale: $295
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Josephine Baker
Black Diva in a White Man's World
Director: Annette von Wangenheim
From: Germany
Year: 2006 Minutes: 45
Language :English/French/German with English subtitles
Genre: documentary
A tender, revealing documentary about one of the most famous and popular performing artists of the 20th century. Her legendary banana belt dance created theatre history; her song “J’ai deux amours” became a classic, and her hymn.
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The film focuses on her life and work from a perspective that analyses images of Black people in popular culture. It portrays the artist in the mirror of European colonial clichés and presents her as a resistance fighter, an ambulance driver during WWII, and an outspoken activist against racial discrimination involved in the worldwide Black Consciousness movement of the 20th century. |
DVD sale: $245
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Director: Helene Lee
From: France/Jamaica
Year: 2010 Minutes:85mins
Language : English
Genre: Documentary
A fascinating, very well researched documentary which presents a thorough investigation of Leonard Percival Howell's life (1893-1981), the initiator and catalyst of the Rastafari Movement and the man considered by many as the founder of that movement.
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DVD sale: $395
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RACE AND HISTORY IN BRAZIL
Joel Zito Araujo/Geraldo Santos Pereira---Brazil---2000---192 mins.
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Race and its impact on the art and history of Brazil are highlighted in this two-disc set with Joel Zito Araujo's documentary Denying Brazil (A Negacao do Brasil, 92 mins.) and Geraldo Santos Pereira's Aleijadinho: Passion, Glory and Torment (Aleijadinho: Paixao, Gloria e Suplicio, 100 mins.)
Denying Brazil
A Negacao do Brasil
A documentary film about the taboos, stereotypes, and struggles of Black actors in Brazilian television "soaps." Based on his own memories and on a sturdy body of research evidence, the director analyzes race relations in Brazilian soap operas, calling attention to their likely influence on Black people's identity-forming processes.
Aleijadinho: Passion, Glory and Torment
Aleijadinho: Paixao, Gloria e Suplicio
Set in 18th century Brazil - a time when slavery was still the foundation of the Latin American economy - this fascinating historical drama is loosely based on the life of Black sculptor Antonio Francisco Lisboa "Aleijadinho," one of the greatest sculptors of Latin America.
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DVD sale: $295
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Scheherazade:
Tell Me a Story
Director: Yousry Nasrallah
From: Egypt
Year: 2009 Minutes:135
Language :Arabic with English subtitles
Genre: fiction
Original title : Ehky Ya Schahrazad
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Cairo, today. Hebba, a television show host, presents a successful political talk show on a privately owned network. Karim, her husband, is deputy editor in chief of a government-owned newspaper. His ambition is to become editor in chief. He is led to believe by the party leaders that his wife’s constant meddling with opposition politics could put his promotion in danger. Using his boyish charm and sexual prowess, he convinces Hebba to stay away from politics, and devote her program to social issues for which the government cannot be held responsible. She starts a series of talk shows around issues involving women. She listens to the stories of resilient, strong women, who, like Scheherazade in “A Thousand and One Nights”, tell their stories to stay alive. Hebba knows, of course, that women’s issues are political. But she could not imagine up to which extent. Gradually, she finds herself walking in a minefield of abuse, sexual, religious, social and political repression that lead to the break-up of her marriage. From storyteller, Hebba herself becomes a story. |
DVD sale: $295
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Director: Menelik Shabazz
From: UK
Year: 2011 Minutes:96mins
Language : English
Genre: Musical Documentary
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The STORY OF LOVERS ROCK is a feature length documentary that tells the story of an era and a music that defined a generation in the late 70s and 80s. Lovers Rock is romantic reggae that was uniquely British. It developed from a small UK scene to become a global brand through the likes of UB40 and Maxi Priest. |
DVD sale: $295
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AN UNCOMMON WOMAN
Une Femme Pas Comme les Autres
Burkina Faso, 2009, 101 minutes, comedy, French with English subtitles, Dao Abdoulaye, dir.
Official selection, African Diaspora International Film Festival 2010
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Mina is tired of her husband's infidelity and decides to take a drastic decision: She takes a second husband. Based on his conversations with women involved in polygamist relationships, he illustrates - to very funny effects - the daily life of two persons - in this case two men - who share a spouse. On a comedic tone, Abdoulaye Dao tells us a story of jealousy, infidelity, romance and revenge. An Uncommon Woman-Une Femme Pas Comme Les Autres- was a success in its native Burkina Faso and is cast with some the best actors of Burkinabe cinema.
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DVD sale: $245
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