Films
Mumia Abu Jamal All Day event
Sat 4th February 11am to 1pm then 2-5pm
BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road SE1
Tube: Waterloo
Admission £5.00 best to book early
I was born in London on December 9th 1981. Over 3000 miles away Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black Panther and radical journalist, was arrested for the murder of a police officer in Philadelphia. He claimed he was innocent but was sentenced to death and has been awaiting execution ever since. Over the years, he has attracted massive international support from organisations like Amnesty International and world leaders like Nelson Mandela amongst others. I'm now 24 years old and in that time Mumia has become the most famous and controversial death row inmate in America".
Despite his situation, and against all odds, Mumia has managed to penetrate the consciousness of people like Will. Through his writings and his web and radio broadcasts from Death Row, he has become known to many as "the Voice of the Voiceless".
"In Prison My Whole Life" takes us to some surprising places and brings us into contact with some of America?s most original minds. Never-seen-before footage and brand new evidence create a prevailing case for reasonable doubt while exploring the socio-political climate of America past and present. Angela Davis, Mos Def, Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Snoop Dogg, Steve Earle, Amy Goodman and many others take us through a decades-old struggle for equality, fairness and respect that so many Americans strive for to this day
The Witches of Gambaga
Sat 21st January 2-5pm
BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road SE1
Tube: Waterloo
Admission £5.00 best to book early
The Witches of Gambaga (55 min) is the extraordinary story of a community of women condemned to live as witches in Northern Ghana. Made over the course of 5 years, this disturbing expose is the product of a collaboration between members of the 100 strong community of ‘witches’ and women’s movement activists determined to end abusive practises and improve women’s lives in Africa. Painful experience and insight come together to create an intimate portrait of the lives of women ostracised by their communities. Told largely by the women themselves, their incredible stories and struggles are conveyed to a wide range of audiences by the director’s narration. The film was completed in July 2010 by Fadoa Films Ghana and UK. It was directed by Yaba Badoe, and co-produced by Yaba Badoe and Amina Mamatwo African women.
for website and trailer
http://www.witchesofgambaga.com/about/
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Delwende
In the feminist fable “Delwende” (90 min) the African filmmaker S. Pierre Yameogo tackles social injustice in present-day Burkina Faso with grace, economy and exquisitely controlled anger. The instrument of his fury is Pougbila (Claire Ilboudo), a 16-year-old village beauty who elicits jealousy from the local girls and appreciative glances from their boyfriends. But the village elders are preoccupied with the decreasing rainfall and rising number of child deaths; led by Pougbila’s father (Célestin Zongo), they accuse her mother (Blandine Yameogo, the filmmaker’s cousin) of witchcraft and banish her to fend for herself. From here “Delwende” gathers momentum and emotional force as Pougbila, incensed, sets off to find her mother and expose her father’s shameful secrets. Cutting between the women’s journeys — one fearful and hopeless, the other purposeful and noble — Mr. Yameogo contrasts the shackles of tradition with the stirrings of rebellion, never allowing the heat of indignation to cloud his eye for a striking landscape or an expressive face. Jeannette Catsoulis
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