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Summer Festival at PCC Cascade Celebrates African Films
Photos and Story by Mark Evertz
PORTLAND — Epic tales of old Africa, spry, quick-witted comedies and thought-provoking dramas will collide this summer in a 10-week African film festival at Portland Community College’s Cascade Campus, starting Thursday, June 25. The films complement courses taught at Cascade this summer: Humanities 204 (African History); Humanities 205 (African Literature); and Humanities 206 (African Art). Enrollment in the classes is not required to view the films.
Held in Cascade’s Terrell Hall, 705 N. Killingsworth, Room 122, Images of Africa: Summer Festival of African Films will feature screenings of films set in several African countries, including Burundi, Zaire and Cameroon. All films are at noon on Thursdays through August 27. They are free and open to the public. Free parking is also available in the campus parking lots.
The screening schedule is as follows:
June 25 Keita: The Heritage of the Griot (Burkina Faso, 1995, 94 min.) In this loving tribute to the African oral tradition, Jeliba Kouyate, an aging griot, helps a young boy, Mabo Keita, understand the glorious history behind his name. The film creates a unique world where West Africa in the 13th Century co-exists with the West Africa of today.
July 2 Saaraba – Utopia (Senegal, 1988, 86 min.) Each character in this film is lost in a misguided search for "saaraba," wolof for "utopia." Each, like post-independence Africa itself, comes close to disaster and disillusionment.. The film presents an unsparing indictment of a corrupt older generation intoxicated with Western consumerism and of alienated urban youth addicted to drugs and sex.
July 9 La Vie Est Belle – Life is Rosy (Congo/Zaire, 1987, 85 min.) This engaging film takes us inside the vibrant music scene of Kinshasha, the capital city of Congo. Starring one of the legendary figures in Zairian music, Papa Wemba, this lively farce tells the rags-to-riches story of a poor rural musician who goes to Kinshasha to break into radio and TV.
July 16 Harvest 3,000 Years (Ethiopia, 1976, 150 min.) This extraordinarily beautiful and compelling film dramatizes the story of a peasant family struggling to survive in the face of Ethiopia’s feudal system. The award-winning film is considered a classic in African cinema.
July 23 Gito the Ungrateful (Burundi, 1993, 90 min.) In this delightful comedy, the first feature film from Burundi, Gito returns home after studying in Paris, promising his French girlfriend they will be reunited soon. Back at home, Gito gets entangled with an old girlfriend and a struggle to find a job. When the French girlfriend arrives in Burundi, Gito is taught a valuable lesson.
July 30 Zan Boko (Burkina Faso, 1988, 94 min.) A gripping story of two men from two very different worlds who share a common integrity. The two men (peasant farmer who loses his land to a wealthy business man, and the journalist who helps expose the injustice but is censored by the government) shine a light on the role of mass media in contemporary Africa. The film is a tribute to the ancestral heritage of agrarian village societies.
August 6 Hyenas (Senegal, 1992, 113 min.) Set in the village of Colobane, this film centers on the return of a woman who left home 30 years ago and has come back a fabulously wealthy prostitute. As a young girl, Linguere Ramatou was driven out of the village in shame after being seduced, made pregnant and then spurned by a young man in search of a wealthy wife. On her return, she offers a handsome reward to any villager who destroys the man who destroyed her in her youth.
August 13 Quartier Mozart (Cameroon, 1992, 80 min.) This highly original film is the story of 48 hours in the life of a working-class neighborhood in Yaounde. It recounts the not-very sentimental education of a young schoolgirl. A local sorceress helps the young girl enter a young man’s body so she can see for herself the real "sexual politics" of the quarter. The film is an affectionate celebration of African youth.
August 20 Neria (Zimbabwe, 1992, 103 min.) Neria and her husband, Patrick, have built a solid, comfortable life in the city. But when Patrick is tragically killed, Neria finds herself caught in the clutches of her husband’s family. Invoking "tradition," her brother-in-law first takes all of her money and possessions, then attempts to take her children. After a brief bout with helplessness, Neria fights back.
August 27 Mapantsula (South Africa, 1988, 104 min.) Panic, a small-time crook, barely notices the political struggle going on around him until a trip to jail forces a sudden and radical change. Hailed as the first anti-Apartheid feature film, Mapantsula was made by passing itself off as an apolitical gangster movie.
For more information on the film festival, or for a detailed festival brochure, call 244-6111, ext. 3630.