Silicon Valley African Film Festival '13

02 | Silicon Valley African Film Festival 2013 #svaff2013 | @svaff | www.svaff.org

www.svaff.org | @svaff | #svaff2013 Silicon Valley African Film Festival 2013 | 03


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Dear Community Friends, !!On behalf of the California State Assembly, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 4th Annual Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF), “Africa through African lenses” – made possible by Oriki Theater in partnership with the Community School of Music and Arts and the African Diaspora Network. Since 2010, not only has this film festival drawn the Silicon Valley community, but out of state and international audiences as well.!!We congratulate SVAFF for bringing over 30 films to the Silicon Valley from various African counties by seasoned and emerging African filmmakers, including a number of premieres and a 2013 Cannes Vulcan award winning film. We especially applaud the Oriki Theater’s dedication to youth development through its school outreach program "Africa in the Classroom Film Series", a program designed to provide Silicon Valley elementary, middle and high schools access to the library for curriculum related films.!!I am pleased to welcome each of you in celebrating the Silicon Valley African Film Festival’s 4th year of successful community empowerment while we support its continuing efforts. I would like to thank the Oriki Theater for the tireless commitment to the community, and I wish you all an enjoyable festival. !!Sincerely,!!! !Richard S. Gordon!Assemblyman, 24th District!


Welcome to Africa Through African Lenses! A showcase of Africa’s seasoned and emerging filmmakers whose

works reflect the true stories, hopes and dreams of Africa.The mission of the Silicon Valley African Film Festival is to promote an understanding and appreciation of Africa through moving images.

We believe:

� That after five decades of independence, most of Africa’s narrative is still presented to the world through voices that are several degrees removed from the continent.

� That these second and third voice narratives have created blurred interpretations, perceptions and misunderstanding of Africa outside its borders.

� That the African film industry is vibrant and has much to offer the global community.

� That across the various regions of Africa, there are established and emerging filmmakers whose works reflect the true stories, hopes and dreams of Africa.

� That providing a forum for the exhibition of films by African filmmakers is an essential step to sharing the real Africa with the global community.

In the 1950s and 60s, African filmmakers began to create images of post-colonial Africa with nuanced understanding of Africa’s cultural diversity. Over the last half century, having sliced through stereo-types with exacting social critique, African cinema has become a unique blend of aesthetic experimen-tation, history and politics.

We have assembled a full menu of feature length and short length narrative and documentary films from 16 countries. From Mali to Malawi, Egypt to South Africa, Nigeria to Namibia; our films will en-gage, inspire, provoke and challenge you. We are also delighted to present the African Women in Technology Forum, an illuminating conversation with Africa’s next generation of women leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, visiting from 16 countries.

I will like to thank our presenting partners Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) and African Diaspora Network; our sponsors, donors, staff, advisors and team of volunteers without whom this festival will not be possible. Special thanks to our African Women in Technology Forum sponsors and partners: Institute of International Education (IIE), TechWomen and NetApp, Inc., we look forward to many more years of partnership.

I welcome you to the 4th Annual Silicon Valley African Film Festival and invite you to an enchanting journey across the vast richness of the African continent through the lenses of Africa’s seasoned and emerging filmmakers. Our entire festival program has been designed so you can see, feel, and be touched by Africa; enjoy!

Thank you and God bless!

FROM THE FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

Chike C. NwoffiahFestival Director

Team SVAFF 2013:Projectionist:

Michael Salmassian

Floor Manager: Timi Warikoru

Programs: Deffria Bass-Nwoffiah

Volunteer Coordinator: Brandace Ukwuije

Hospitality Manager: Angela Spiff-Nwoye

Chief Technology Officer: Gabriel C. Nwoffiah

Outreach Coordinators: Chinwe Ukaegbu | Barbara Waugh

David Vargas | Yolanda Tapia | Frew Tibebu

Advisory Board:Ozoekwe A. O. Braddy (Chair)

Dela Acolatse (USA) Stephen Ozigbo (USA)

Diem Jones (USA) Prof. Jude Akudinobi (USA)

Prof. Aboubakar Sanogo (Canada) Prof. Chika Anyanwu (Australia)

Dr. Mohamed Gazala (Egypt) Friday Akpomera (Nigeria)

Gabriel Okanime (South Africa)

Volunteers:Henry Burton, Shaka Camara, Maribel Contreas

Fernando Damza, Anteneh Daniel, Ana Maria Dominguez, Francisca Dominguez

Rosie Dominguez, Brenda Egberuare Rachelle Herrera, Camron Jones

David Jones, Asha Lujan, Verenice Lujan Carolyn Morimoto, Marguerete Moses

Bopamo Osaisai, Rae Ann Prado, Adrianna Rizo Michellé Jones-Roberts, Michael Salmassian,

Chasity Shelby, Pamala Springs Carol Stafford, John Thai, Yolanda Tapia

Chinwe Ukaegbu, David Vargas, Pakal Vargas Balam Vargas, Chris Willhite

Latricia Williams, Afua / Carol Yates

Sponsors:KMVT Channel 15 | NetApp, Inc.

Hotel Avante | Wild Palms Hotel | Domain Hotel Safeway Mountain View | COSTCO Mountain View

Silicon Valley Creates | Rhesus Media Group The Monique Walton Family Trust

Cover Photo:Model Name:

Chinedu Nwoffiah Managed by:

Rhesus Media Group

Program Booklet Designed by: Rhesus Media Group


For very long, Africa has functioned in the global, cultural imagination as a site of exotic revelry; a land of enchantment that fascinates as it dis-turbs. African cinema, however, is a far cry from the quaint cultures, romantic settings, and formi-dable landscapes for danger, mystery, suspense, existential drama, and adventure prevalent in dominant media. For African filmmakers, substan-tive issues of the day are, through a wide range of narrative, aesthetic and thematic strands, more common concerns than escapist and sensational-ist fares. In this, African cinema challenges not just the complex networks of ignorance, preju-dices and stereotypes underpinning Africa’s per-nicious misrepresentation, for example, through inordinate emphases on turmoil, deprivation, wildlife, ethnography, the spectacular, bewil-dering, ambiguous, haunting, casting Africans as minor characters, simple folks in need of guiding hands or, belittling noble savages.

In working to move the spectators’ expectations beyond cliches, African filmmakers offer alterna-tive lenses and, generally, strive for narratives rich in nuances. Not surprising, the most signifi-cant impetus for them is engendering capacities for self-representation, projecting own visions and fostering the power to speak for selves.

Hence, African filmmakers, especially mindful of the power and potentials of the medium, often, propose rather different relationships, say from Hollywood cinema, between their art and spec-tators. In particular, they favor critical relation-ships between spectators, narrative and stylistic elements. Notably, the filmmakers’ interests in exploring vestiges of African cultural systems are not shaped around nostalgia, wistful longings for a lost paradise or past. While values may be at-tributed to certain cultural provenances, and co-lonial intervention seen as disruptive of such, the films do not favor idealized worlds or sanctuaries. In the main, issues of culture are imaginatively juxtaposed within African cinema narratives in ways that may nudge the spectator into engag-ing the complex social, political and dramatic dynamics of change, to critically engage certain contradictions, tensions and anxieties of the past as well as the present.

Hence, the liberating potentials of the imagina-tion provide angles of engagement with cinema as a dynamic form of cultural and political ex-pressions, exploring the relationship between films and spectators, drawing upon resources from indigenous institutions, cultural realms, like theatrical systems and oral tradition, in attempts for more complex and layered representations

AFRICAN CINEMA, LENSES AND LIBERTIES

of African social worlds. Along with this sense of creative freedom, and in contrast with the founding era, is the emergence of Nollywood, from Nigeria, which, in appropriating new media technologies, ushered new waves of films, often with melodramatic overtones, minuscule bud-gets, speedy, even improvisational, production schedules, and distributed through VCDs, DVDs, the Internet, cable TV, and satellite channels, which extend the possibilities of African cinema beyond art film circuits to commercial viability on the continent, its multifarious diaspora, and transnational audiences.

While Africa’s positioning in cinema is fraught, its burgeoning film cultures, through festivals like Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF) and NewYork African Film Festival (NYAFF), foster needful lenses, exchanges and interactions with global publics, in ways that reaffirm humanity, and enhance understanding across borders and cultures.

Dr. Jude G. Akudinobi, who contributed this article, is on the SVAFF Advisory Board.


Born in Ogidi, Eastern Nigeria, in 1966, Newton Aduaka moved to Lagos in 1970 after the Biafran War, and then to England in 1985. Following a di-ploma course in video arts and post-production, he studied film history, art and technique at the London International Film School, graduating in 1990. He wrote and published short stories while working as a sound mixer on a wide range of pro-ductions. In 1997 he set up Granite FilmWorks with Maria Elena L’Abbate to produce personal, cutting-edge and uncompromising films. As a di-rector, his short films include Voices Behind the Wall (1990), Carnival of Silence (1994) and On The Edge (1997), which won him three presti-gious awards and numerous special mentions.

2013 SVAFF

AFRICA REEL AWARD WINNER Newton Aduaka, Director & Producer (NIGERIA)

AWARDS

2013 SVAFF

LIFETIME ACHIVEMENT AWARD Otunba Dr. Sola FosudoThe Silicon Valley African Film Festival is happy to honor Otunba Dr. Sola Fosudo with a 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to the development of Film Art in Nigeria through his vast body of work in Theater, Television and Film; his commitment to the development and nurturing of young talents and his inspiring humanitarian work through his Blessed Fruit Foundation.

His debut feature film Rage (2000) was released to huge critical acclaim, becoming the first in-dependent film by a black film-maker to gain a national release in Britain. It was also very suc-cessful in international film festivals, winning many prizes including Best Director at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles. In 2001-2002 he was Filmmaker in Residence at Festival de Cannes’ Cinéfondation in Paris.

Since then he has directed commercials and a further short film, Funeral(2002), commissioned for the Cannes Film Festival alongside similar-ly-themed work from internationally renowned directors such as Walter Salles, Arturo Ripstein

and Amos Gitai. Between 2005 and 2007, he co-wrote, directed and executive-produced Ezra, his first non-independently funded film, for Arte France. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at sev-eral film festivals, including FESPACO, Durban, Amiens and Balafon, and was an official selection at Sundance and Cannes. Newton is currently res-ident in Paris.

Newton’s latest film One Man’s Show (2013 Critics Award winner at FESPACO) will screen as the closing film of SVAFF 2013 on Sunday, October 13 at 5:00PM (Newton will be in attendance).

This award is our festival’s highest award and is presented to “a filmmaker of African origin whose body of work represents excellence in the art of film but more importantly a filmmaker who has through such body of work shown a dogged commitment to uplifting the spirit of Africa.” The Silicon Valley African Film Festival is delighted to present the 2013 Africa Reel Award to Mr. Newton Aduaka.


The African Diaspora Network

vision is to build a sustainable platform to harness

the intellectual, financial, philanthropic and entrepreneurial capacity

of Africans and friends of Africa in order

to strengthen and create capacity at the grassroots level.

Our mission is to inform and engage Africans in the Diaspora in order to facilitate direct collaboration with social entrepreneurs,

innovators and business leaders to invest and improve the lives of everyone on the continent.

Inform. Engage. Act. VISIT US TODAY

www.AfricanDiasporaNetwork.org


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FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Fri. Oct 11, Screen 1 (Tateuchi Hall) Screen 2 (Raey Room)5:30PM – 6:20 PM Red Carpet Reception

Mixer in the lobby / Photos

6:30PM - 7:30PM Opening Ceremony in the theater: Parade of flags, African drumming, Mayor of Mountain View pre sents a proclamation, introduction of filmmakers in attendance.

8:00PM - 10:00PM GRIGRIS - Opening Night Feature Film (2013 / Chad / 101 minutes)

Plays with: Dada the Dancing Swan (2012 / South Africa / 13 minutes)

Sat. Oct. 12, Screen 1 (Tateuchi Hall) Screen 2 (Raey Room)10:45AM – 12:15PM On the Trail of My Father - the story of Lucky Dube

(2012 / South Africa / 52 minutes)

Plays with: To the One I Love (2012 / South Africa / 23 minutes)

12:30PM – 1:00PM Xilunguine - the Promised Land (2012 / Mozambique / 30 minutes)

1:15PM – 3:15PM The Rwandan Night - World Premiere (2013 / Rwanda / 97 minutes)

Plays with: Chora Chora (2013 / Rwanda / 20 minutes)

2:00PM – 3:00PM:

Horseman (2012 / South Africa / 24 minutes) Zebu and the Photo Fish (2011 / Kenya / 12 minutes) Accusé de Réception (2012 / Senegal / 23 minutes)

4:00PM – 5:30PM Children’s Republic - Centerpiece Film / US Premiere (2012 / Guinea Bissau / 75 minutes)

Plays with: Defying the Odds (2012 / Uganda / 5 minutes)

4:00PM – 6:00PM “African Women in Technology” Forum

5:45PM – 7:00PM Imbabazi – The Pardon (2013 / Rwanda / 75 minutes)

7:15PM - 9:00PM Of Good Report - Centerpiece Film / US Premiere (2013 / South Africa / 101 minutes)

7:00PM – 9:00PM:

A Man Since Long Time (2013 / Egypt / 17 minutes) Be’lla - World Premiere (2013 / Malawi / 102 minutes)

9:15PM – 10:30PM Le President (2013 / Cameroon / 63 minutes) 9:15PM – 10:30PM

Swirl in Bamako (2012 / Mali / 70 minutes)

11:00 PM Festival Party (location TBD)

Sun. Oct 13, Screen 1 (Tateuchi Hall) Screen 2 (Raey Room)10:45AM – Noon The Designer (2013 / Malawi / 40 minutes)

Amnesty (2012 / Kenya / 13 minutes) Cape Town Fella (2012 / South Africa / 15 minutes)

10:45AM – 12:45PM: Mdundiko (2013 / Tanzania / 120 minutes)

Noon - 1:45PM The Last Fishing Boat (2013 / Malawi / 101 minutes)) 1:00PM – 2:00PM: Chumo (2010 / Tanzania / 40 minutes) Beauty Beyond Color (2013 / South Africa / 15 minutes)

2:00PM – 4:00PM Dreamwalker (2013 / Nigeria / 97 minutes) World Premiere Filmmaker in attendance

2:15PM – 3:45PM:

My Last Swim (2012 / South Africa / 8 minutes) The Route (2013 / Kenya / 81 minutes)

4:15PM – 4:50PM Dead River (2012 / Namibia / 34 minutes) 4:00PM – 5:30PM:

ADAMT (2013 / Ethiopia / 18 minutes) Impresa! (2013 / Eritea-USA / 27 minutes) Filmmaker in attendance

5:00PM – 7:00PM One Man’s Show (2012 / Nigeria – France / 81 minutes) Filmmaker in attendance

7:30PM – 9:00PM Closing / Awards Ceremony

SCHEDULE


Of Good Report (101 minutes / 2013) - US Premiere

Directed by: Jahmil XT Qubeka South Africa

Screens on Saturday, October 12 at 7:15PM CENTERPIECE FILM

Dreamwalker (97 minutes / 2013) - World Premiere

Directed by: Neville Ossai Nigeria

Screens on Sunday, October 13 at 2:00PM CENTERPIECE FILM

Children’s Republic (75 minutes / 2012) - US Premiere

Directed by: Flora Gomes Guinea-Bissau

Screens on Saturday, October 12 at 4:00PM CENTERPIECE FILM

One Man’s Show (81 minutes / 2012) 2013 Critics Award winner at FESPACO Directed by Newton Aduaka (filmmaker in attendance) Nigeria / France Screens on Sunday, October 13 at 5:00PM CLOSING NIGHT FILM

GriGris 2013 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or nominee and Vulcan Awardwinner. Directed by: Mahamat Saleh HarounChad Screens on Friday, October 11 at 8:00 PM OPENING NIGHT FILMl


OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

Narrative - Feature length:

GriGrisDespite a paralyzed leg, Grigris, 25 year old, dreams of being a dancer. A challenge. But his dreams are dashed when his uncle falls critically ill. To save him, Grigris resolves to work for petrol traffickers. (101 minutes / 2013) | Opening Night Film 2013 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or nominee and Vulcan Award winner. Directed by: Mahamat Saleh Haroun Chad

Of Good ReportAn illicit affair between an introverted high school teacher and his pupil spirals out of control, in this controversial South African-set noir directed by Jahmil X.T. Qubeka that was banned and unbanned in South Africa. (101 minutes / 2013) US Premiere | Centerpiece Film Directed by: Jahmil XT Qubeka South Africa

Children’s RepublicIn Africa exists a little country that has been abandoned by the adults. The children manage themselves and the Children’s Republic becomes a slade and prosperous country. However, the children have stopped growing... (75 minutes / 2012) US Premiere SVAFF Centerpiece Film Starring: Danny Glover Directed by: Flora Gomes Guinea-Bissau

DreamwalkerNigeria present day. Young cosmopolitan ladies navigate life and love against a backdrop of a deeply held African legend of “The Spirit Husband”, a spiritual spouse who visits the living and engages in a “real” relationship. Can this be real or is it a figment of the lady’s imagination? (97 minutes / 2013) World Premiere | Centerpiece Film Directed by: Neville Ossai Nigeria

One Man’s ShowOn the eve of his fiftieth birthday, an actor discovers that he’s got stomach cancer. He must now face his shattered life. (81 minutes / 2012) | Closing Night Film 2013 Critics Award winner at FESPACO Directed by Newton Aduaka (filmmaker in attendance) Nigeria / France

Imbabazi - The PardonRwanda -1994: Two best and inseparable friends are torn apart by the inexorable forces of history and violence. As their country descends in to a genocidal war, they find themselves on opposite sides and their friendship stained by blood and betrayal. Fifteen years later they both search for justice and absolution, but find themselves at odds with a society eager to forget the trauma of the past. It is a journey that will test their very core. (76 minutes / 2013) Directed by Joel Karekezi Rwanda

SELECTIONS


Swirl in BamakoIn a wild chase through the streets of Bamako in search of a misplaced winning betting ticket, a young man almost loses the ultimate prize, the beautiful school teacher who could give him what money cannot buy – love! (70 minutes / 2012) Directed by: Dominique Philippe Mali / France

The Last Fishing BoatWhen a white tourist makes sexual overtures to a Malawian woman who is the third wife of an illiterate but highly proud fisherman, cultures collide with a deafening bang! (110 minutes / 2013) Regional Premiere Directed by: Shemu Joyah Malawi

B’ellaA coming of age story about B’ella, a 17 year old girl from the outskirts of Malawi’s cosmopolitan city of Blantyre. Bella wrestles with intersection of traditional life and the new role of girls in modern day Malawi as she artfully navigates her various roles of daughter, sister, student, advocate and a girl who just wants to grow up. (102 minutes / 2013) US Premiere Directed by: Tawonga Taddja Nkhonjera Malawi

Le PresidentLe President is an allegory about the men who run Africa; the heads of State who have been in power for decades and will not go easily. The film takes shape around activism and without losing its light touch asks questions about the responsibility of those in power. Le President clears a place for film in the arena of African politics, where truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. (63 minutes / 2013) Regional Premiere Directed by: Jean-Pierre Bekolo Cameroon

The RouteA teenage girl from the village moves to the bustling Kampala City with dreams of finding a job to support her family. A chance encounter with a “caring” man begins her nightmare into the world of sex trafficking that gets her shipped off to South East Asia. What happens next is a tragic reality of the modern day slavery. (81 minutes / 2013) US Premiere Directed by Jayant Maru Uganda

MdundikoCorrupting the cultural values of ngoma (traditional) drumming threatens the survival of a community (120 minutes / 2013) Directed by Jackson Kabirigi Tanzania

SELECTIONS


SELECTIONS

Narrative - Short length:

Dead RiverSet during Apartheid in Namibia, ‘Dead River’ follows the unlikely friend-ship of a farm worker’s son and the farmer’s daughter. A little girl flees Namibia to Europe when her childhood friendship is outlawed by her racist father. Many years later, the dividing walls of race have crashed and she must return to her old country in search of her first love. (34 minutes / 2012) Directed by: Tim Huebschle Namibia

Impresa!Impresa! is a film about a young Eritrean American woman in San Francisco contemplating starting her own art gallery. As a first generation Eritrean American, the perils of her untraditional business venture worry the family. Impresa! Is a light, uplifting look into the fictitious story of one girl aban-doning cultural fiscal fears and chasing entrepreneurship. (27 minutes / 2013) Directed by: Sephora Woldu (filmmaker in attendance) Eritrea / USA

AmnestyA young Kenyan couple lives the American dream until an ICE audit reveals a damaging secret that destroys, in days, a life they’ve spent years building together. (13 minutes / 2012) Directed by: Caroline Josey Karoki Kenya

The Designer (2013)A disillusioned young designer, after being scorned by her fiance, is embit-tered towards marriage and wants nothing to do with it. When business is at its lowest, and bills stacked ceiling high, she gets a job contract...to plan the wedding of her ex-fiance to another girl. (40 minutes / 2013) US Premiere Directed by: Chimwemwe Mkwezalamba Malawi

ADAMTADAMT is a short film about a young Ethiopian composer and drummer who is struggling with a traumatic experience from his childhood when a deaf spirit appears in his life and inspires him to channel his memories in a new direction. (18 minutes / 2013) Directed by Zelalem Woldermariam Ethiopia

Accusé de RéceptionHamdy Faye, a father of two children lives in extreme poverty in a shack near the capital Dakar. Nothing seems to be working for him since he was dismissed from his job. One morning as a last resort, he writes a letter to God and asks God to come to his rescue. He will receive the least unex-pected reply. (23 minutes / 2012) US Premiere Directed by Djibril Saliou Ndiaye Senegal


SELECTIONS

Documentary - Short length:

Xilunguine, the promised landFor generations, the “Tsongas” have been moved from their land of origin to the former Lourenço Marques (Xilunguine). The film looks at how inte-grating into the big city threatens their language, customs and beliefs. It raises the issues of culture preservation in the face of modernity. (30 minutes / 2011) Regional Premiere Directed by: Inadelso Cossa Mozambique

Defying the OddsDefying the odds is a story of Esther Namirimu, a 10 year-old girl that finds herself playing role of mother to her HIV sick mother in Kalerwe, a Kampala slum, Uganda (5 minutes / 2012) Directed by Kennedy Oryema Uganda

ragel mn zaman - A Man Since Long TimeThis is a short documentary about sexual suppression problems with guys in Egypt. They can’t make adult relation because it is great sin and big shame in culture and religion and at the same time they can’t marry easily because marriage requires money and responsibility. (17 minutes / 2012) US Premiere Directed by: Mahmoud Yossry Egypt

To the one I loveFilmmaker Zolani on his 27th birthday embarks on a heartbreaking search to find his father who left him and his mother when he was barely one month old. He hopes to maybe ask him the one question that has haunted him all his life, “why did you abandon us?” (23 minutes / 2012) Directed by Zolani Ndevu South Africa

Chora ChoraA young and naïve teenage student from the village arrives at a high school in the city where everything from drugs to late night parties are the order of the day. He soon gets swept by the pressure to fit in and to belong, but at a heavy price. (20 minutes / 2013) Directed by Richard Mugwaneza Rwanda

Zebu and the Photo FishIn a close-knit fishing village, Zebu, a witty ten-year old is forced to grow up and shoulder the responsibility of getting his family out of debt. (12 minutes / 2011) Directed by Zipporah Nyaruri Kenya


SELECTIONS

Cape Town FellaCAPE TOWN FELLA is a personal documentary about filmmaker Sabela Cuba’s quest to understand the reasons for his father being so distant during his upbringing. His quest leads him to an excursion into the practice of arranged marriages, its social implications and effect on the family unit. (15 minutes / 2012) Directed by Sabela Cuba South Africa

Dada the Dancing SwanThis is a film about a Soweto born talented stage dancer, who is seen as controversial by the international dance audience as she breaks the rules of ballet by fusing it with contemporary and Afro fusion dance. It is an uplifting look at her rise to center stage from her humble beginnings in a township dance group. (13 minutes / 2012) Directed by Mduduzi Janda South Africa

Beauty Beyond ColorBeauty Beyond Color is a documentary on Thando Hopa, an unconvention-al star on the rise. She is an albino who captured the imagination of well-known fashion designer Gert-Johan Coetzee and became the face of his new Winter-Autumn 2013 collection. Thando is also a practicing attorney and breaks the stereotypes of what being a celebrity is. This is documenta-ry that questions our definitions of beauty, image and identity. (15 minutes / 2013) Directed by Stanford Gibson South Africa

HorsemanEnos has established the only township-based Equestrian center in the world; a dream that started 40-years ago. He takes us through the experi-ences of breaking the race barrier in this white dominated sport and shares his dream of getting one of his young student riders to the Olympics. (24 minutes / 2012) Directed by Oupa Maesela South Africa

My Last SwimThis is a personal story about Mathapelo Lediga, a 20 year old young woman who was raped twice at age 7 by her Aunt’s boyfriend and at age 18 at gun point. Since her first incident that happened as she came out of a swimming pool, Mathapelo has never been able to swim again. The film looks at her gut wrenching and enduring trauma but also reveals an inspiring young woman with an incredible will to succeed in life. (8 minutes / 2012) Directed by Lesego Lediga South Africa


Documentary - Feature length:

On the Trail of My Father - the story of Lucky DubeThokozani the eldest son of murdered South African reggae artist Lucky Dube, travels to Jamaica to learn about his father and the impact his music had in the world. (52 minutes / 2013) Directed by: Kurt Orderson South Africa

The Rwandan NightTHE RWANDAN NIGHT is an ethno-documentary that features the haunting memories of the oldest survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Both poetic and moving, Ndahayo’s use of original Rwandan music of commemoration, produces a vivid cinematic rendering of this unique voice forcefully testifying to the long ordeal of his people during so many decades before April 1994. (97 minutes / 2013) World Premiere Directed by Gilbert Ndahayo (filmmaker in attendance) Rwanda

SELECTIONS


Oriki Theater is a Mountain View based 501(c)3 nonprofit performing arts compa-ny dedicated to the promotion of Africa’s culture and heritage through a unique combination of dance, drama, music, folk stories, chants and the DRUM. From out-reach programs in schools to theatrical

productions and workshops, Oriki brings to our community a shared experience of Africa, its people and their way of life. www.oriki.org

Founded in 1968, CSMA is Northern California’s largest non-profit provider of arts education programs and, with a $4.9 million budget and 160-member staff and faculty, it is one of the ten largest community schools in the United States. Located in one of the global capitals of creativity, CSMA is dedicated to instilling, training and nurturing creativity for all stages of life. Headquartered in the award-winning Finn Center in the City of Mountain View, CSMA directly serves over 22,660 people of all

ages, skill levels and economic means each year, including 10,660 students in more than 600 classrooms at 32 schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. www.arts4all.org

Presenting Organizations:

Thanks to: Mayor John Inks (City of Mountain View) | Assemblyman Rich Gordon (24th District) | Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (14th District)

Jude Akudinobi | Pamela Asobo Anchang | Peace Anyiam | Merat Ayalew | Toni Beckham | Y’Anad Burrell | Hugh Burroughs | Christine Catura Dr. Jacqueline Copeland-Carson | Chip Conley | Stacy Cusulos | Fiifi Deku | Robin Donovan | Tiffany Harper | Patty Juanes | Deriyan Moore

Dr. David Piper | Carl Ray | Joshua Russell | Pamala Springs | Walter Turner | Barbara Waugh | Professor Ruth Wilson | Shelley Wolfe | Wanda Wong Nunu Kidane | Salif Kone | Nathan Malkemus | Almaz Negash | Dr. Samuel Obi | Georgina Onuoha | Stephen Ozoigbo | Christine Padilla | Monique Walton

Community Partners: Jaliya | TechWomen | Pride Museum | PR et Cetera, Inc. | Frew Sells Homes | Izzy Entertainment | Maisha Film Labs | Africa Film Academy ABC Preschool in Campbell | The Immigrant Magazine, Inc. | Glass House Public Relations | Africa Today on KPFA 94.1 FM | Africa Movie

Academy Awards | BigFish School of Digital Filmmaking | Institute of International Education (IIE) | Media For Development International Eritrean Community Santa Clara County | African Women’s Development Fund USA | Silicon Valley East African Diaspora Project

Silicon Valley African Film Festival '13

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Transcript of Silicon Valley African Film Festival '13