African film fest to highlight social issues

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This article was published 11/09/2020 (2085 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s showtime in the village!

The third annual African Movie Festival in Manitoba will screen 18 films at the Gas Station Theatre (445 River Ave.), with a focus on creating a mutual understanding between cultures.

Festival director Dr. Ben Akoh said the films are being shown during a time when society is taking a good look at racism, especially during the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Our objective is to create a place of mutual understanding between cultures,” he said about the festival, which runs Sept. 26 and 27. “I believe African cultures are among the least understood in Manitoba. These films portray who we are. Hopefully they’ll create a conversation.”

The 18 films represent various African countries, made by African directors, including an up and coming Manitoban director. The films are curated with the support of an advisory committee to address a symposium theme. This year’s theme is Racism in Cinema: Representation of Blackness in Films, Akoh said.

Among the 18, Akoh said a favourite is Everything But a Man, by director Nnegest Likké, who lives in California, and whose cultural background hails from Nigeria and Ethiopia. The film is about a Haitian man in a relationship with a strong American woman.

“Nnegest really throws things out there,” Akoh said. “The woman goes to Haiti, where she meets the man’s family, including his wife. The film looks at race and relationships, including portraying two very powerful Black women, and marriage as a social construct.” 

The films represent Black people, to counter the racism that has long run in mainstream movies, in which they are often portrayed as lazy, uneducated and second-class.

“When I see Africans in Manitoba, I see diversity, strength, and courage, amidst the systemic and physical barriers they face in this society,” Akoh, who is originally from Nigeria, said. “The films speak to issues of race relations, cultural understanding, and hope.”

Innocent(e), by director Lea Malle Frank Thierry from Cameroun, is about an underage girl abused by a politician.

“This is Frank’s first full feature film,” Akoh said. “In it, the girl’s family decides to take revenge. An assertive female cop in a male-dominated society has to balance her conscience, the law, and a controversial case of double murder.”

The festival includes a film by Winnipegger Tope Babalola, who Akoh describes as an emerging film director.

“Tope will be screening Popular Vote this year, and we’re hoping to have him lead the Filmmaking Masterclass planned for aspiring young African directors later this year,” Akoh said.

Babalola said this year’s film is the second in a trio of films.

“I shot Popular Vote in 2019, as a student project with grades 5 and 6 students in a filmmaking workshop at Springs Christian Academy,” he said.

Babalola, who graduated this past spring with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba, said he will be going to Sheridan College in Ontario to study filmmaking.

“The movie focuses on a student named Charlotte who can be vain and cold to people, but who needs a new team to win the vote for student body president. She has to work on being a genuine person.”

A resident of Island Lakes, Babalola said he visited Nigeria in 2010.

“I was born in Canada, but my parents come from Nigeria,” he said. “We went there and met a lot of cousins. It really helped me understand a lot about how I’m being raised in a Nigerian culture.”

For more about the African Movie Festival in Manitoba, see www.am-fm.ca/