This content was published: June 15, 2000. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Ubuntu Video Club to Focus on African Films at PCC
Photos and story by James Hill
Don’t go to it; let it come to you. The spiritual and cultural flavors of Africa are coming to Portland Community College this summer in the form of the Ubuntu Video Club, sponsored by the Cascade Festival of African Films and California Newsreel. The public is invited to attend these free African film screenings and post-film discussions every Wednesday evening from 7-10 p.m., June 28 through Aug. 2. The films will be screened in room 122 in Terrell Hall on the PCC Cascade Campus, located at 705 N. Killingsworth. There will be free parking available in the campus’ parking lot.
The Ubuntu Video Club is patterned after a book club, or reading group, and will focus on six recent African films. Participants will view, discuss and study African cinema in a group setting and discuss ideas with moderators who are knowledgeable on Africa. The concept of ubuntu, a Southern African word meaning "interdependence" or "I exist because you exist," reflects the link that exists between art and society in African tradition, and the integral role African art plays in world culture. For more information on the Ubuntu Video Club, call 503-244-6111, ext. 3630.
Ubuntu Video Club film schedule:
June 28 ‘ "The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun"
(Directed by Djibril Diop Mambety (Senegal, 1994/99, 90 min.)
It is the first of Mambety’s "Tales of Little People," which is his tribute to the poor. It is the second part that he was completing before dying of cancer in 1998.
July 5 ‘ "Flame"
(Directed by Ingrid Sinclair (Zimbabwe, 1996, 85 min.)
This film tells the story of two close girlfriends whose involvement in the liberation war leads to very different outcomes.
July 12 ‘ "Rostov-Luanda"
(Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako (Angola, 1997, 50 min.)
A personal documentary about film director Sissako’s journey across war-torn Angola to find a friend, but really to capture his own hopes for Africa.
July 19 ‘ "Keita: The Heritage of the Griot"
(Directed by Dani Kouyat* (Burkina Faso, 1995, 94 min.)
The Great Griot helps young Mabo Ke?ta understand the glorious history behind his name. The film creates a unique world where the 13th century Sunjata Epic and the West Africa of today coexist.
July 26 ‘ "Pieces D’Identites"
(Directed by Mweze Ngangura (Congo/Belgium, 1998, 94 min.)
This film uses humor and emotion to tell thestory of Mani Kongo, king of the Bakongo, who arrives in Brussels in search of his long-lost daughter Mwana.
Aug. 2 ‘ "A Walk in the Night"
(Directed by Mickey Madoda Dube (South Africa, 1998, 78 min.)
Mickey Dube adapts and updates Alex La Guma’s celebrated apartheid era novella of the same name into a fast-paced crime thriller set in post-apartheid Johannesburg.
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »