This content was published: January 23, 1997. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Popular African Film Festival Program at PCC
Photos and story by Mark Evertz
The annual Cascade Festival of African Films will be a highlight of Portland Community College’s celebration of Black History Month. Nine films selected from 40 entries will be shown at six viewings to take place during February and March.
Now in its seventh year, the event is open to all interested persons and there is no admission charge for any event, including the opening film at the Lloyd Cinemas. Free parking is available in the Cascade Campus parking lots for all festival events.
An informal public reception to open the festival will take place Feb. 7 immediately before the first film. It will be held in the foyer of the new Student Services Building at the Cascade Campus from 5:30 to 7 p.m. At 6 p.m., Mildred Ollee, executive dean, will introduce invited guests and briefly review the history of the festival. A group of musicians from Ghana will perform during the reception9 and African food will be served.
The festival opens with an epic film from West Africa, "Sarraounia – The Warrior Queen," to be shown Friday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Act III Lloyd Cinemas, 1510 N.E. Multnomah. The film has been called a landmark and "the first great epic film of Black African cinema." It won the grand prize at the Pan-African Festival of Cinema in 1987.
The story is adapted from real-life events which were the basis of a novel by
Abdoulaye Mamani. It shows the courage of Queen Sarraounia, who resisted French colonial troops at the end of the 19th century. Directed by Med Hondo of Mauritania, it is filmed in CinemaScope.
All subsequent films will be shown at the PCC Cascade Campus, 705 N. Killingsworth, in Terrell Hall, Room 122. Each film will be shown both Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., with a repeat matinee the following Thursday at noon. Show dates are listed with each film description.
The festival program continues with a showing of "Guimba The Tyrant (1995)," a film from Mali (Feb. 14, 15 and 20). It has been praised as one of the most visually entrancing African films ever made. Set in an ancient African kingdom, Guimba tells the story of a tyrant king and his severe abuses of power. Director Cheick Oumar Sissoko says "Guimba" is a political film about power, its atrocities and absurdities. It won the grand prize at the Pan-African Film Festival in 1995.
Two films from Senegal will be shown Feb. 21, 22 and 27. "Ca Twiste A Poponguine" (1993) features the rivalry between two teenage groups, the "Ins" and the "Kings," in a seaside village in Senegal in 1964. This African-style "West Side Story" is light-hearted and focuses on the importance and fragility of dreams. It shows how young Africans create overlapping identities, blending elements of American and French pop culture into their daily lives.
Also to be shown is "You Africa!" (1993) The documentary shows Senegal singer Youssou N’Dour on his 1994 tour of nine West African countries. N’Dour and his band blend traditional African music with reggae, jazz and rock for enthusiastic young African audiences.Dates for viewing "Ceddo" (1976), another film from Senegal, are Feb. 28, March 1 and 6. The term "Ceddo" refers to the "last holders of African spiritualism before it became tinged with Islam or Christianity." The inhabitants of a Senegalese village are threatened with reprisals if they do not convert to Islam, as their king did. In the end, it is the king’s daughter who reasserts her rights as a woman and an African after her father’s death.
The festival concludes with "The Silences of the Palace," (1994) a film made in Tunisia. It will be shown March 7, 8 and 13. This film is a debut for director Moufida Tlatli, and will be shown to mark African Women’s Film Day, held in conjunction with Women’s History Month in March. Alia is a singer in post-colonial Tunisia who looks back on her childhood in the palace where her mother Khedija was a servant. The mother’s efforts focus on protecting her daughter from a life of servitude like her own. Beautifully photographed, the film reflects the gradual emancipation of women in Tunisia.
Family Film Day, traditionally popular with local children and their parents, takes place Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. Three films are on the program; all were produced in 1995. "Diro and His Talking Musical Bow" and "Adama, The Fulani Magician" are both films from Burkina Faso. The third film is "Dance of the Bella," from Mali. Two films are narrated in English; the other has English subtitles.
Films to be shown in the festival are in French or one of several African languages. All have English subtitles.
For more information or a brochure with complete descriptions of all films, call the Cascade Festival of African Films Information Line at 244-6111, ext. 3630.
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For more information call Linda Elegant at 978-5070; Mary Holmstrom, 292-3685; or Susan Hereford at 977-4421.