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APRiL 12: (De)Constructing Urbanities: Opportunities and Challenges in African Cities

brooke118 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:53:31 GMT

http://www.international.ucla.edu/africa/events/showevent.asp?eventid=6567

SATURDAY, APRIL 12 SCHEDULE:

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM -- Panel Discussions

Lunch will be provided -- African Cuisine -- FREE to conference attendees

Conference Panels:

Saturday: Panel I, 10 - 11:30 AM – Defining Urban Space
Moderator: TBD

Erin Pettigrew, African Studies, UCLA, “The Capital of Sand: Nouakchott as a Space of Negotiation in Mauritania”
Andre Wellington, African Studies, UCLA, “Space and Power Transformed: A Critical Social History of our Hillbrow”
Michal Singer, History, University of the Witwatersrand, “Rural Transformation and the Coal City: The Rise of the Coal Mining Industry in the Witbank Coalfields, Transvaal: 1860s – 1940s”
Panel II, 11:45 AM - 1:15 PM -- Women in African Urban Space
Moderator: Prof. Katrina Daly Thompson, African Languages and Linguistics, UCLA

Katharine Stuffelbeam, Ethnomusicology, UCLA, “Women, Music, and Identity: The role of traditional Dagbamba music in an increasingly urban context”
Kim Foulds, Social Sciences and Comparative Education, UCLA, “Urban Women’s Political Participation in Nairobi: The Failure of Formal Politics and the Power of Informal Networks”
Thomas Harding and Dorothy Yumi Garcia, Art Aids Art, “Bead by Bead, Brick by Brick: Community and Transformation in South Africa”
1:30 - 2:30 PM: Lunch of African Cuisine (free and open to all symposium attendees)

Panel III, 2:30 - 4 PM -- Art History and the City
Moderator: Prof. Steven Nelson, Art History, UCLA

Michelle Huntingford Craig, Art History, UCLA, “A Cropped Shot: Scenes and Views of an Urban History from Fez, Morocco”
Erica P. Jones, Art History, UCLA, “Reflecting the Urban Fabric: Reality and Fantasy in the Urban Simulations of Bodys Isek Kingelez”
Dr. A. Sameh El Kharbawy, Art and Design, Cal State University, Fresno, “The ‘Other’ Modernity: Lessons Learned from Egypt’s New Urban Developments”
Panel IV, 4:15 - 5:45 PM -- Development and Urban Planning
Moderator: Prof. Stephen Commins, Urban Planning, UCLA

Charisma Acey, Urban Planning, UCLA, "Civic Participation and Service Delivery in the Urban Context: Opportunities and Challenges in Lagos, Nigeria"
Meghan Corroon, Urban Planning, UCLA, “The Political Economy of Sanitation Services in Sub-Saharan Africa”
Damola Osinulu, World Arts and Cultures, UCLA, “Painters, Blacksmiths and Wordsmiths: Building Molues in Lagos”

http://www.international.ucla.edu/africa/events/showevent.asp?eventid=6567

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April 11: DAFRA Drum+Dance +Keynote address

brooke118 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:51:39 GMT

Friday, April 11, 2008
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
306 Royce Hall
UCLA campus
Los Angeles, CA 90095

7 PM Keynote Address:

Susan Ossman, PhD
Professor of Anthropology and Global Studies
UC Riverside

7:45 PM Performance by:

DAFRA
West African Dance and Drum Ensemble

Susan Ossman Bio:

Susan Ossman has developed new modes of comparative and multi-site research to explore how media shape urban space and rework social and political boundaries in and around North Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Her current fieldwork explores emerging forms of transnational social life and political engagement from the perspective of serial migrants, people who have lived in several countries. Paying attention to who can gain access to distinct social, ethical and aesthetic worlds leads to theorizing social distinction and cultural differences in ways that take into account how who we are is related to how we move. Professor Ossman draws on her ethnographic research to examine these emerging worlds in an upcoming book. Her previous publications include The Places we Share , Migration, Subjectivity and Global Mobility (Lexington Books 2007), Three Faces of Beauty, Casablanca, Paris, Cairo (Duke 2002), Miroirs Maghrébins, Itinéaires de soi et Paysages de Rencontre (CNRS 1998), Mimesis: imiter, représenter, circuler, (Hermès, CNRS,1998) and Picturing Casablanca, Portraits of Power in a Modern City (California 1994).

Professor Ossman received her PhD from University of California, Berkeley and she is currently the Director of the University of California, Riverside's Global Studies program. Professor Ossman previously taught at Goldsmith's College, University of London, Georgetown University, Rice University, The American University of Paris and the CELSA-Sorbonne. In 1992 she founded the Rabat center of the Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC- now Centre Jacques Berque) where she was research fellow and director until 1996.

DAFRA Info:

Artistic director: Olivier Tarpaga

Description

DAFRA is a multicultural group that performs dance and drumming from the Mandingue tradition of West Africa. The members of the ensemble are from Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and the United States. The ensemble plays numerous West African traditional instruments including the Djembé drum, the Kenkeni, the Samgban, the Dundumba, the Tama (talking drum), the djitafiè, the maracas and the balafon. In addition to the live music, dancers perform energetic traditional steps and repertory from the village’s traditional ceremonies. In the West African tradition of call and response, the audience will participate in the performance by learning some of the songs, rhythms, and dance steps. All the cast will wear traditional West African costumes.
History

Created in 1995 by Olivier Tarpaga, Dafra was at that time a simple comic and theatrical group composed by three members. In 1998, after is first European tour, Dafra become an Ensemble with five musicians and two dancers mostly from the famous group “Le Bourgeon du Burkina”. From 1999-2002 Dafra has grown with ten members and toured numerous times in festival and theater in Burkina Faso, France, Germany, UK, Canada and the USA.

http://www.international.ucla.edu/africa/events/showevent.asp?eventid=6567

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FEB 13: Spirit of Uganda: orphan dance troupe

brooke118 — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:04:10 GMT

Spirit of Uganda empowers some of the country’s most vulnerable children with the ability to share Uganda’s rich culture and raise awareness of the impact of AIDS and war in their country.

Spirit of Uganda features award-winning children of Uganda delivering a jubilant performance of traditional East African dances with quicksilver movement, hypnotic drums and songs of joy. Their exhilarating energy and infectious delight are all the more astounding because they are orphans, who have lost parents to AIDS or civil war. From the lush equatorial country devastated by decades of tragedy, these children of Uganda are truly emissaries of light, raising awareness of Uganda's plight.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008
7:30 PM
Pepperdine University - Center for the Arts
Adults, $35; 17 and younger, $20; Pepperdine students, $10

24255 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, California 90263

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FEB 7-18: Pan African Film and Arts Festival

brooke118 — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:39:43 GMT

16TH ANNUAL PAN AFRICAN FILM AND ARTS FESTIVAL
Thursday, February 7, 2008 - Monday, February 18, 2008

MAIN VENUES
AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theatres
4020 Marlton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
3650 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90008

** www.paff.org -see website for descriptions of each film **

Now in it’s 16 year, the Pan African Film and Arts Festival(PAFF) boasts an overall
festival attendance of 200,000 and attracts a diverse audience of over 40,000 people to
its films.

Each year the PAFF presents over 175 quality films from the United States, Africa, the
Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the South Pacific and Canada, all showcasing the
diversity and complexity of people of African descent.

PAFF also presents one of America's largest fine art shows featuring prominent and
emerging Black artists and fine craftspeople held at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.
Other signature PAFF events include over a dozen industry panels and workshops, the
PAFF StudentFest®, ChildrensFest®, SpokenwordFest®, Seniors’ Connection®, and
Comedy Night.

Known for showcasing new films first and recognized as America’s premiere black film
festival, past festival features have included box office and award-winning hits: Ray,
Lackawanna Blues, Redemption, Crazy As Hell, Kingdom Come, The Brothers,
Gridlock’d, Days of Glory, and the 2006 Academy Award® winner for Best Foreign Film,
Tsotsi.

History, Mission, and Goals
The Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) was founded in 1992 as a non-profit
corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and
understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression.
It is the PAFFs goal to present and showcase a broad spectrum of Black creative works,
particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative
stereotypes.

The PAFF believes film and art can lead to better understanding and foster
communication between peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while at the
same time, serve as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.

FILM FESTIVAL DATES
FEBRUARY 7-18, 2008
AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theatres
4020 Marlton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

ART MARKET DATES
FEBRUARY 7-18, 2008
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
3650 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90008

OPENING NIGHT GALA
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2008
Directors Guild of America
7920 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA

NIGHT OF TRIBUTE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2008
Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
4817 Washington Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA

FILMMAKER’S PARTY
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2008
TBA

CENTERPIECE
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008
AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theatres
4020 Marlton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

CLOSING NIGHT
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2008
AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theatres
4020 Marlton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

FILMMAKER’S AWARDS BRUNCH
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2008
TBA

STUDENTFEST
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2008
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2008
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theatres
4020 Marlton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

CHILDREN’S FEST
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2008
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theatres
4020 Marlton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

SPOKENWORD FEST
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2008
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theatres
4020 Marlton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

SENIORS’ CONNECTION
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2008
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2008 – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theatres
4020 Marlton Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

FESTIVAL PUBLIC CONTACT INFORMATION
AMC Crenshaw 15 Theatre Box Office: (323) 290-5900
PAFF Headquarters: (323) 295-1706
(StudentFest, group sales and fund-raisers)
Website: www.PAFF.org
Email: info@paff.org

Information on each event and program can be found at www.paff.org.

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AFI Film Fest-- Africa Films

brooke118 — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:18:20 GMT

Below is a list of the African/Africa-Related Films at the AFI Film Fest at the ArcLight Theatres in Hollywood that might be of interest. Again this year, AFI is sponsoring an African Showcase -- films about Africa and/or by African filmmakers or featuring African actors. If enough people support the Africa Showcase, it will be a permanent part of the AFI Film Fest.

For complete information about AFI Fest visit http://www.afi.com/onscreen/afifest/2007

Tickets and passes now on sale!

Online buy tickets | Buy passes -- http://www.afi.com/onscreen/afifest/2007/tickets.aspx

By phone at 1-866-AFI-FEST

Or fax your order to 323.962.9931

Or stop by the box office at Rooftop Village, seventh floor of the ArcLight Cinemas parking structure

Africa Showcase & Related Films:

Clouds Over Conakry (Guinea/African Showcase)

Emergency Needs (USA/Intl Shorts Competition)

Faat Kine (Senegal/Ousmane Sembene)

Faro – Goddess of the Waters (African Showcase)

Munyurangabo (Rwanda/Intl Feature Competition)

Nosaltres (Senegal/African Showcase)

Ousmane (France, Senegal/Intl Shorts Competition)

Welcome to Nollywood (USA/African Showcase)

White Man in a Black Box (France, Namibia/Intl Shorts Competition)

____________________________

CLOUDS OVER CONAKRY

IL VA PLEUVOIR SUR CONAKRY

African Showcase, World Cinema -- Guinea, France, 2007, 115 min, 35 MM -- In French/Malinke with English subtitles

Tuesday, November 6th 9:00pm -- ArcLight Theatre 12 $11.00

Wednesday, November 7th 1:45pm -- ArcLight Theatre 14 $7.00

DIR: Cheick Fantamady Camara; CAST: Alex Ogou, Moussa Keita, Tella Kpomahou, Jeannot Coker, Fifi Dalla Kouyate, Fatoumata Diawara, Abdoulaye Diallo, Rouguiatou Camara, Kade Seck

In attendance: Cheick F. Camara

CLOUDS OVER CONAKRY takes us into urban Africa, where the new – beauty pageants, Apple laptops, recording studio, beachside bars – clashes with the old, and in Conakry, the weatherman is predicting rain.

Bangali (BB) secretly works as a cartoonist at the city paper for his girlfriend’s father, satirizing the local religious zealots. Unfortunately for BB, his father is the local imam. BB still hasn’t gotten up the nerve to tell his father what he does for a living when he learns that he has been chosen as the next imam. To make matters worse, BB is in love with a woman of whom his father does not approve.

Instead of making a romantic comedy out of this situation, Guinean director Cheick Fantamady Camara opts for a more challenging approach to his debut feature. The result is heartbreaking. Camara is a talented new African filmmaker on the rise. - Jacqueline Lyanga

__________________________

FAAT KINE

Milestones

Senegal, 2000, 118 min -- In Wolof, French with English subtitles

Saturday, November 3rd 3:15pm -- ArcLight Theatre 11 $11.00

DIR: Ousmane Sembene; CAST: Venus Seye, Mame Ndoumbé, Ndiagne Dia, Mariama Balde, Awa Sene Sarr, Tabata Ndiaye

When Kine (the marvelous Venus Seye), a gas-station manager in present-day Senegal, realizes that she is financially unable to provide for her two college-age children’s desired European travel and study, she starts to reevaluate her own life of dreams deferred and achievement denied.

She was a student once too, with aspirations of becoming a lawyer, but all that changed after an affair with a charismatic, married professor landed her shamed, pregnant, and expelled from school. Later, the father of Kine’s second illegitimate child wooed her while slowly siphoning away her life savings, landing himself in prison before their son was born. So, Kine is a survivor, of her own life and the men in it—one of a long succession of African women exploited by a callow patriarchy.

The penultimate film directed by the late Ousmane Sembene (who was 78 at the time of its release), FAAT KINE is at once an intimate, human family drama and a spry, nimble consideration of a new West Africa at odds with its colonial legacy. - Scott Foundas

______________________________

WELCOME TO NOLLYWOOD

African Showcase, World Cinema -- USA, 2007, 57 min, VIDEO

Wednesday, November 7th 7:30pm -- ArcLight Theatre 11 $11.00

Friday, November 9th 4:15pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $7.00

DIR: Jamie Meltzer

In attendance: Henry Rosenthal, Jamie Meltzer,

Nigeria produces 2,400 films a year - it’s the third largest producer of films worldwide. Nigerian filmmakers are not dreaming about making it big in Hollywood, they’re just picking up a camera and making a movie in Nollywood.

Nollywood director, Izu Ojukwu, learned how to make movies by building a projector from scratch. At the center of this film is the production of his epic film LAVIVA. Ojukwu employs a cast of 700 for his epic African war film, but hiring a cast and feeding them are two very different things. When there is no money to pay the “welfare” lady (catering), she simply stops making food and the actors are forced to act through their hunger. This is a lesson in guerilla filmmaking, Nigerian style.

In Nigeria, you’re not a real filmmaker until, like Chico Ejiro (aka “Mr. Prolific”) you’ve made so many films that you don’t remember the plotlines. Welcome to Nollywood. - Jacqueline Lyanga

MUNYURANGABO

Intl Feature Competition -- Rwanda, USA, 2007, 97 min, 35 MM -- In Kinyarwanda with English subtitles -- US Premiere

Thursday, November 8th 7:30pm -- ArcLight Theatre 12 $11.00

Saturday, November 10th 2:00pm -- ArcLight Theatre 12 $11.00

DIR: Lee Isaac Chung; CAST: Jeff Rutagengwa, Eric Ndorunkundiye, Jean Marie Nkurikiyinka, Jean Pierre Mulonda Harerimana, Edouard B. Uwayo

In attendance: Isaac Chung, Jenny Lund

Lee Isaac Chung, a Korean-American filmmaker working out of New York makes his feature debut with an outstanding film about two young Rwandan men – one Hutu and the other Tutsi - on a journey through Rwanda’s haunted countryside. Set in the years after the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the film opens with Ngabo (Jeff Rutagengwa) – who is named after the ancient Rwandan warrior, Munyurangabo - stealing a machete from a market. It is a purposeful act, as shortly after, Ngabo and his best friend Sangwa (Eric Ndorunkundiye) set out into the countryside to find the man who killed Ngabo’s father during the genocide. Chung and his actors – first-time actors who were also involved in writing the script – articulate the pain of memory, betrayal and loss with poignancy in this rare and moving film about the delicate ties that bind friendship and family.

__________________________

WHITE MAN IN A BLACK BOX

HOMME BLANC DANS UNE BOITE NOIRE

Intl Shorts Competition -- France, Namibia, 2007, 4 min, VIDEO -- North American Premiere

Plays in Shorts Program Two

Tuesday, November 6th 2:00pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $7.00

Thursday, November 8th 7:15pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $11.00

DIR: Jerome Jourlait

Yourself seen through the lens of a camera by young kids of Himba in north Namibia.

__________________________

OUSMANE

Intl Shorts Competition -- France, Senegal, 2006, 15 min, 35 MM -- in Wolof with English subtitles

Plays in Shorts Program One

Wednesday, November 7th 2:30pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $7.00

Friday, November 9th 7:30pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $11.00

DIR: Gaye Dyana; CAST: Abbasse Ba, Oumar Seck, Nianga Diop, El Hadj Dieng, Coly M'baye, Thierno N'diaye Doss,Yalli Diagne, Moustapha Gaye

Dakar, Senegal. Ousmane, a 7 year-old child, begs in the streets. He decides to write a letter to Santa Claus.

_______________________

FARO - GODDESS OF THE WATERS

FARO - LA REINE DES EAUX

African Showcase -- France, Canada, Mali, Burkina Faso, Germany, 2007, 96 min, 35 MM -- In Bambara with English subtitles

Wednesday, November 7th 2:30pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $7.00

Friday, November 9th 7:30pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $11.00

DIR: Salif Traore; CAST: Sotigui Kouyate, Fili Traore, Michel Mpambara, Habib Dembele, Helene M. Diarra

In attendance: Salif Traore

In this assured debut from Salif Traoré, a former assistant to Souleymane Cissé and Abderrahmane Sissako, we follow the story of an engineer who returns to his rural village in Mali many years after having been cast out for being born out of wedlock.

Zanga (Fili Traoré) returns to the village of his birth to uncover the identity of his father and initiate a waterworks project. However, the fact that his arrival coincides with the drowning of a young villager alerts the village elders, who confer and determine that Faro, the spirit who rules the waters has been angered by Zanga’s return and the only way to appease her anger is with sacrifice.

The African landscape is photographed beautifully and the script, co-written by Salif Traoré and Olivier Lorelle deftly navigates the maelstrom of modern Africa while giving voice to the power of one individual to affect change.

________________________

EMERGENCY NEEDS

Intl Shorts Competition -- USA, 2007, 7 min, Digibeta -- North American Premiere

Plays in Shorts Program Two

Tuesday, November 6th 2:00pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $7.00

Thursday, November 8th 7:15pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $11.00

DIR: Kevin Jerome Everson; CAST: Esosa Edosmwan, Mayor Carl B. Stokes

In attendance: Kevin Everson

From acclaimed filmmaker Kevin Everson comes a unique meditation on the July 1968 uprising in Cleveland Ohio and the reaction of Mayor Carl Stokes.

________________________

NOSALTRES

African Showcase, World Cinema

Senegal, 2007, 71 min, VIDEO -- In Wolof, Spanish, French with English subtitles -- North American Premiere

Friday, November 2nd 7:15pm -- ArcLight Theatre 11 $11.00

Saturday, November 3rd 1:00pm -- ArcLight Theatre 11 $11.00

DIR: Moussa Toure

In attendance: Moussa Toure

One man has paid 750 euros to be smuggled out of Africa, while another has lived in the small town in Catalonia, all of his life: what do these two men say to each other as they pass each other on the street each morning? Nothing.

Award-winning Senegalese filmmaker, Moussa Touré, takes us to the Catalan village of Saint Feliu where immigrants from Mali have changed the cultural makeup of the village. There is no communication between the two communities; they are like ghosts to each other. Touré steps in with his camera and forces change. Through his interviews with the Malian and Catalan residents of Saint Feliu, Touré forces them to confront their ignorance, their prejudices and their fears.

When a number of African men wash up on a beach populated by sunbathing Catalans, the Catalans quickly grab their beach towels and wrap them around the shivering men, and Touré perfectly captures the humanity of a simple gesture of kindness. - Jacqueline Lyanga

Other films that might be of interest:

PUBLIC ENEMY: WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME

(USA, 2007, 100 mins) -- Intl Documentary Competition

Wednesday, November 7th 10:30pm

Saturday, November 10th 12:30pm

Both screenings will be $11 in ArcLight Theatre 10

In attendance: Robert Patton-Spruill, Walt Leaphar, Patricia Moreno

In the 1980s, Public Enemy changed the music industry and American culture with its signature mix of fiery progressive politics and bangin' beats. Making the most of his amazing access to Chuck D and Flava Flav, director Robert Patton-Spruill recounts the group's rise to success while tracking its continuing impact. Featuring interviews with the Beastie Boys, Tom Morello (Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine), Henry Rollins, Talib Kweli and Jonathan Davis of Korn.

_____________________

ELVIS PELVIS

Intl Feature Competition - France, UK, 2007, 95 min, Digibeta - North American Premiere

Thursday, November 8th 9:45pm -- ArcLight Theatre 13 $11.00

Friday, November 9th 1:30pm -- ArcLight Theatre 11 $7.00

DIR: Kevin Aduaka; CAST: Kadeem Pearse, Tony Cealy, Laura Crowe, Mark Oliver, Geoffrey Burton

In attendance: Kevin Aduaka, François-Xavier Frantz

Two interlaced stories about hero worship and fatherhood echo one another in Nigerian/UK filmmaker Kevin Aduaka’s striking debut ELVIS PELVIS. Elvis Pelvis is a story told in two parts; “THE SUIT” tells of a family living in London in the early 80s and the effects of the legacy of Elvis Presley on them. Ten-year-old Elvis lives under the tyranny of his father Tony—a stern policeman who is obsessed with the legacy of Elvis Presley. Elvis’s walls, in contrast, are covered with a shrine to Jimi Hendrix. “THE MESSIAH” takes place 17 years later and tells of Derek, a disturbed recluse who also loves Hendrix, and pretends to be the long-lost son of a dying patriarch. He seeks to distract himself by visiting the local church in search of salvation.

_____________________

HONEYDRIPPER

Special Screenings -- USA, 2007, 123 min, 35 MM

Sunday, November 4th 4:00pm -- ArcLight Theatre 10 $11.00

Tuesday, November 6th Noon -- ArcLight Theatre 10 $7.00

DIR: John Sayles; CAST: Danny Glover, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Yaya DaCosta, Charles S. Dutton, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Gary Clark Jr.

In attendance: Maggie Renzi, John Sayles

Using a steamy blues soundtrack to tell the story of the birth of rock and roll, iconic independent filmmaker John Sayles’ (RETURN TO SECACAUS SEVEN, PASSIONFISH) new film HONEYDRIPPERS is set in an Alabama juke joint in 1950, and is steeped in the miasma of the South.

The film features an all-star cast including Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen, Yaya DaCosta and Sean Patrick Thomas, with newcomer Gary Clark Jr. making an impressive film debut. Noted musicians Keb’ Mo’ and Dr. Mable John also appear. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the chicken man and the landlord, Tyrone (Glover) is desperate to lure young migrant farmers and local Army recruits to his juke joint as a way to keep his business alive. When his efforts to get a famous electric guitar player to come play at the club go awry, he hatches a last ditch plan.

Graceful filmmaking, strong seductive performances, vibrant musical numbers and gorgeous cinematography combine to create a profoundly sensual journey, visceral in its effect on the viewer. Sayles is firmly at the helm of this beautiful film that unfolds with sharp insight and dramatic flair. HONEYDRIPPERS is a stirring example of the power of cinema to enlighten as it defies the boundaries of culture and time. - Shaz Bennett

Many other excellent films – visit the AFI website for complete listing -- http://www.afi.com/onscreen/afifest/2007 click on 2007 Film Guide.

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Rape Epidemic in Congo

brooke118 — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:37:51 GMT

(what can we possibly do about this? awareness at LEAST- please tell everyone)

October 7, 2007

Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
<topics.nytimes.com/top/refe...ey_gettle
man/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , New York Times

BUKAVU, Congo — Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to
listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore.

Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his
hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out,
butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their
reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.

“We don’t know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,” said
Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo’s rape
epidemic. “They are done to destroy women.”

Eastern Congo is going through another one of its convulsions of violence,
and this time it seems that women are being systematically attacked on a
scale never before seen here. According to the United Nations
<topics.nytimes.com/top/refe...u/united_
nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org> , 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in
2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the
total number across the country.

“The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world,” said John Holmes,
the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. “The
sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity — it’s
appalling.”

The days of chaos in Congo were supposed to be over. Last year, this country
of 66 million people held a historic election that cost $500 million and was
intended to end Congo’s various wars and rebellions and its tradition of
epically bad government.

But the elections have not unified the country or significantly strengthened
the Congolese government’s hand to deal with renegade forces, many of them
from outside the country. The justice system and the military still barely
function, and United Nations officials say Congolese government troops are
among the worst offenders when it comes to rape. Large swaths of the
country, especially in the east, remain authority-free zones where civilians
are at the mercy of heavily armed groups who have made warfare a livelihood
and survive by raiding villages and abducting women for ransom.

According to victims, one of the newest groups to emerge is called the
Rastas, a mysterious gang of dreadlocked fugitives who live deep in the
forest, wear shiny tracksuits and Los Angeles Lakers jerseys and are
notorious for burning babies, kidnapping women and literally chopping up
anybody who gets in their way.

United Nations officials said the so-called Rastas were once part of the
Hutu militias who fled Rwanda after committing genocide there in 1994, but
now it seems they have split off on their own and specialize in freelance
cruelty.

Honorata Barinjibanwa, an 18-year-old woman with high cheekbones and
downcast eyes, said she was kidnapped from a village that the Rastas raided
in April and kept as a sex slave until August. Most of that time she was
tied to a tree, and she still has rope marks ringing her delicate neck. The
men would untie her for a few hours each day to gang-rape her, she said.

“I’m weak, I’m angry, and I don’t know how to restart my life,” she said
from Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where she was taken after her captors freed
her.

She is also pregnant.

While rape has always been a weapon of war, researchers say they fear that
Congo’s problem has metastasized into a wider social phenomenon.

“It’s gone beyond the conflict,” said Alexandra Bilak, who has studied
various armed groups around Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu. She said
that the number of women abused and even killed by their husbands seemed to
be going up and that brutality toward women had become “almost normal.”

Malteser International, a European aid organization that runs health clinics
in eastern Congo, estimates that it will treat 8,000 sexual violence cases
this year, compared with 6,338 last year. The organization said that in one
town, Shabunda, 70 percent of the women reported being sexually brutalized.

At Panzi Hospital, where Dr. Mukwege performs as many as six rape-related
surgeries a day, bed after bed is filled with women lying on their backs,
staring at the ceiling, with colostomy bags hanging next to them because of
all the internal damage.

“I still have pain and feel chills,” said Kasindi Wabulasa, a patient who
was raped in February by five men. The men held an AK-47 rifle to her
husband’s chest and made him watch, telling him that if he closed his eyes,
they would shoot him. When they were finished, Ms. Wabulasa said, they shot
him anyway.

In almost all the reported cases, the culprits are described as young men
with guns, and in the deceptively beautiful hills here, there is no shortage
of them: poorly paid and often mutinous government soldiers; homegrown
militias called the Mai-Mai who slick themselves with oil before marching
into battle; members of paramilitary groups originally from Uganda and
Rwanda who have destabilized this area over the past 10 years in a quest for
gold and all the other riches that can be extracted from Congo’s exploited
soil.

The attacks go on despite the presence of the largest United Nations
peacekeeping force in the world, with more than 17,000 troops.

Few seem to be spared. Dr. Mukwege said his oldest patient was 75, his
youngest 3.

“Some of these girls whose insides have been destroyed are so young that
they don’t understand what happened to them,” Dr. Mukwege said. “They ask me
if they will ever be able to have children, and it’s hard to look into their
eyes.”

No one — doctors, aid workers, Congolese and Western researchers — can
explain exactly why this is happening.

“That is the question,” said André Bourque, a Canadian consultant who works
with aid groups in eastern Congo. “Sexual violence in Congo reaches a level
never reached anywhere else. It is even worse than in Rwanda during the
genocide.”

Impunity may be a contributing factor, Mr. Bourque added, saying that very
few of the culprits are punished.

Many Congolese aid workers denied that the problem was cultural and insisted
that the widespread rapes were not the product of something ingrained in the
way men treated women in Congolese society. “If that were the case, this
would have showed up long ago,” said Wilhelmine Ntakebuka, who coordinates a
sexual violence program in Bukavu.

Instead, she said, the epidemic of rapes seems to have started in the
mid-1990s. That coincides with the waves of Hutu militiamen who escaped into
Congo’s forests after exterminating 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during
Rwanda’s genocide 13 years ago.

Mr. Holmes said that while government troops might have raped thousands of
women, the most vicious attacks had been carried out by Hutu militias.

“These are people who were involved with the genocide and have been
psychologically destroyed by it,” he said.

Mr. Bourque called this phenomenon “reversed values” and said it could
develop in heavily traumatized areas that had been steeped in conflict for
many years, like eastern Congo.

This place, one of the greenest, hilliest and most scenic slices of central
Africa, continues to reverberate from the aftershocks of the genocide next
door. Take the recent fighting near Bukavu between the Congolese Army and
Laurent Nkunda, a dissident general who commands a formidable rebel force.
Mr. Nkunda is a Congolese Tutsi who has accused the Congolese Army of
supporting Hutu militias, which the army denies. Mr. Nkunda says his rebel
force is simply protecting Tutsi civilians from being victimized again.

But his men may be no better.

Willermine Mulihano said she was raped twice — first by Hutu militiamen two
years ago and then by Nkunda soldiers in July. Two soldiers held her legs
apart, while three others took turns violating her.

“When I think about what happened,” she said, “I feel anxious and
brokenhearted.”

She is also lonely. Her husband divorced her after the first rape, saying
she was diseased.

In some cases, the attacks are on civilians already caught in the cross-fire
between warring groups. In one village near Bukavu where 27 women were raped
and 18 civilians killed in May, the attackers left behind a note in broken
Swahili telling the villagers that the violence would go on as long as
government troops were in the area.

The United Nations peacekeepers here seem to be stepping up efforts to
protect women.

Recently, they initiated what they call “night flashes,” in which three
truckloads of peacekeepers drive into the bush and keep their headlights on
all night as a signal to both civilians and armed groups that the
peacekeepers are there. Sometimes, when morning comes, 3,000 villagers are
curled up on the ground around them.

But the problem seems bigger than the resources currently devoted to it.

Panzi Hospital has 350 beds, and though a new ward is being built
specifically for rape victims, the hospital sends women back to their
villages before they have fully recovered because it needs space for the
never-ending stream of new arrivals.

Dr. Mukwege, 52, said he remembered the days when Bukavu was known for its
stunning lake views and nearby national parks, like Kahuzi-Biega.

“There used to be a lot of gorillas in there,” he said. “But now they’ve
been replaced by much more savage beasts.”

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Sustainable website

Kenneth — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:44:57 GMT

Here is a link you may be interested in exploring. They have a great description of sustainability and there sight may be useful for you in some way.

http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/sustainability/

Cheers!

Kenneth

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RESPOURCE FOR AFRICAN AFFILIATES- Time to Get Online, Simple Steps to Success on the Internet: A Learning Resource for African Civil Society.

Melanie — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 01:21:23 GMT

Check this fantastic manual out from Kabissa-Space for Change in Africa.

http://www.timetogetonline.org/images/stories/materials/TTGOv3.2.pdf

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GENERAL MEETING NOTES 5 OCTOBER, 2006

Melanie — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 21:40:20 GMT

NOTES 5 OCTOBER, 2006

Announcing TRIBE.NET
Stephan to send Paulynn's notes on website update to TRIBE.NET

What Do Existing Members Think A Coalition Is and Does

Our voice of compassion can be stronger
Umbrella / Makes NGOs have less work, not more / Fund raising becomes stronger
Advocacy not just here in LA, but also in Africa. Raise awareness of issues as a union
Support / work can feel lonely / increase effectiveness
Not recreating the wheel, but use each other as guides
Model for organizations interact, this is what we want the world to do
We can do larger things that what just our own NGO does / Escalate energy
Whole-ism, coalition for sustainable LIVING
Cluster programs, collaborative, skilled programs working together are most successful
Synergistic- exposed- getting ourselves out there, getting our needs met
Setting examples for those starting
Large organizations don't take steps unless they backing
We have to be LARGE in singular vision that we all contribute to
We have the PSA / DVD / can send with individual programs
Education on how larger groups work/ How consensus works
Coalition serves as a resource / We have speakers available
Website can be a wikipedia type resource on sustainability in Africa
We can be a Media resource / we get our NGO's message out to the media
We can be facilitators of expertise, resources, information
Our own NGO website should reflect the principles of the Coalition

Committee Reports

Membership Committee
Lauren wants help. Please email her if you would like to be part of
We need volunteers to outreach to people from AIDS Conference that are interested

Fund Raising Committee
Kenneth- WORLD PEACE ONE- an all star lineup- 11 August 2007- Meeting to present the capacity of the Coalition. CSA would be the “liaison” for the event. Money raised goes to NGOs. Meeting to be scheduled for next week. Step up the plate at the highest level. We will need to commit without distract. Creating peace ambassadors all over the world. Www.worldpeace1.org. Need to be organized and well prepared. We need to decide this week.

Lauren- World AID Orphans Day – 7 May 2007- FXB Org. Cities declared as official day. Simultaneous in So. Africa and LA.
– Sundance in January. NEXT AID invited by Urban Groove. The 'Conscious place' at Sundance. Great way to initiate relationships. Possibly create a fundraiser at Sundance

(Concern of spreading too thin- right now we are exchanging opportunities)

– Pan African Film Festival – legitimate and recognized. 8 – 19 February, 2007
Get behind a film, for a panel, sell tickets

(Education, raise awareness, making connections in space time continuum. As a coalition, we need to set criteria.)

Stephan- Dinner with Jena King to pay for website and PSA. Before Thanksgiving

* Note: Steering Committee needs to create discussion points re: structure and format issues for funding- TRIBE.NET
All committees post on TRIBE.NET

Resource and Information Committee Report – (please see attached)

Mission Statement
Robert submitted his pass.
Melanie will post on TRIBE.NET 3 different varieties. Steering Committee will decide.

PSA
Critique on how we can best suit the PSA for our purposes. Notes on revision will be handed to Kam (director) by November. Paulynn can post this to website to stream as is.

Announcements:
Samburu Project FundRaiser on Friday, October 13
Saturday, JAYO Invitational benefits NEXT AID in Hermosa Beach
Declan Kennedy / LA Eco Village Oct 10 / SM Library Oct 14 / 10am
Orphans / TunaHaki / November 9 / Fundraiser in Bel Air

NEXT MEETING
October 19, Thurs / Steering Committee Meeting / Melanie's house
November 2, Thurs / Coalition Meeting / here EarthRights Institute

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Oct. 5 Revised Agenda

Melanie — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:34:55 GMT

Revised Agenda

Note-taker, Time keeper, and Facilitator identified (2 mins)

Introductions (3 mins)

Approval of last meeting notes (2 mins)

Amendments to current agenda (3 mins)

Coalitions are Team and Bridge Builders presentation – Barry and Annie (25 mins)

PSA revisions (25 mins)

Committee Reports

Mission Statement – final approval (15 mins)

Fundraising Committee – (20 mins)

WorldFest idea (5 mins) – Barry Leneman and Kenneth Lord
World’s AID Orphans Day – Lauren (5 mins)
Sundance and Pan African Film Fest – Lauren (5 mins)
Discussion and decision (5 mins)

Website/ Calendar (10 mins)
News/Information Comittee (Courtney White & Robert Adanto) present calendar ideas (10 mins)

Announcements (3 mins)

Set next meeting (2 mins)

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LET'S ADOCATE SUSTAINABLE USA TO HELP PREVENT GLOBAL CATASTOPHE!

Melanie — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:08:31 GMT

When you get a chance, please read about this
study from the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction
and Research:

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1786829.ece

INDEED- it is not so much AFRICA that needs to become more sustainable- but our own footprint that will actually best sustain it.

Let's take advantage of Media of LA (focused on Environmental Advocacy) & keep building community to help sustain Vulnerable Africa and all marginalized peoples - who while not contributing much to global climate change are THE primary stakeholders and victims.

Love and thanks to all,

m

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