*** Urgent Update ****

Due to technical difficulties, ‘Finding Fela’ will screen at 5.15pm on Sunday June 2nd.

This year’s programme promises a eclectic mix from funk to futurism, spanning the length and breath of the continent of Africa.

Venue for all films is the Bank of Ireland Theatre at NUI Galway.

We are starting off on Saturday, June 1st @ 4pm with The Fisherman which screens together with Finding Fela. This will be followed at 6.30pm by the documentary Creation in Exile – and we are delighted to welcome the director Daniela Ricci who will participate in a discussion about the film after the screenong. Closing film on Saturday is Anbessa at 8.15pm.

Sunday June 2nd starts @ 3.30pm with the short film The Swan Song which will screen together with Vagando Maputo. At 5.30pm we have the documentary Everything Must Fall, while at 7.15 short film Battledream Chronicles followed by Ko Nkanga closes the festival.

Full details:

Saturday June 1st

6pm: The Fisherman | Zoey Martinson | Ghana 2018 | 15’

An aging fisherman goes out to sea one day and returns with a talking fish. Set in Ghana, West Africa, this quirky comedy explores our need to stay relevant against the backdrop of a developing nation.

 

3.15pm: Creation in Exile | Daniela Ricci | France 2013 | 53’

This documentary follows the personal and artistic paths of five major African filmmakers in exile from Paris to Washington, from Ouagadougou to London, via Uppsala. This screening will be followed by a talk with the film maker. 6pm

8.30pm Anbessa | Mo Scarpelli | USA/Italy 2019 | 85’

Asalif scours the new city’s streets for electro-junk and builds a spaceship with an engine. His mother recounts ancient legends. Real estate developers buy up more land. Asalif feels increasingly threatened, stalked by the invisible hyena that haunts the area. ‘You know, hyenas aren’t the bad ones… These days it’s humans you should fear.’

Sunday, June 2nd

3.30pm: The Swan Song | Yazid El Kadiri | Morocco 2019 | 18’

A young man carrying a bag, goes to a cultural hostel. An artistic event takes place. But what relation does this man have with art?

Screening with:
Vagando Maputo | Aurore Vinot | France/Mozambique 2018 | 69’

Intimate and beautiful portraits of Mozambican artists.

5,15pm: Finding Fela | Alex Gibney | USA 2015 | 120‘

This exciting documentary looks at how Fela Kuti used Afrobeat to articulate the civil tensions of 1980s Nigeria and the people fighting for democracy.

7.15pm: Battledream Chronicles | Alain Bidard | France 2019 | 24’

Syanna, a young black Caribbean girl, wakes up amnesic in an Afrofuturistic world where she has been enslaved by the global colonial empire of Mortemonde.When she is offered a chance to learn in secret how to hack and control the technology used to enslave her, Syanna realizes that not everything is lost.

Screening With:
Ko Nkanga | David Kabale | South Africa 2018 | 105‘

After an immigrant woman moves into her aunt’s house, she experiences sexual abuse at the hands of her in law. She must now make a choice of whether to submit or fight.