Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
OTOMO
A powerful film portraying institutionalized racism and police brutality, Otomo provides a convincing look at the everyday world of refugees, who are continuously surrounded by tension and insecurity.
In the summer of 1989, a Stuttgart newspaper reported the true story of a West African asylum seeker who physically assaulted an intolerant subway ticket-taker; fled, and became the target of a city-wide manhunt. Otomo is a sober, fictionalized reconstruction of a tale that shocked Stuttgart, and a gripping portrait of how institutionalized racism drives a disempowered individual to violence and inhumanity.
West African immigrant Frederic Otomo (Isaach de Bankole) lacks the proper papers to be hired for the most menial of jobs; he has survived for eight years with the help of a Catholic charity. Otomo is the target of verbal abuse, is thrown out of his boarding house, and even scorned by neighborhood dogs. He feels and looks out of place. A stoic bubbling pot of wrath on the run, de Bankole's performance establishes Otomo's essence without words-language cannot express the gravity of his situation. As a ticking soundtrack counts down his fated minutes, Otomo is helped by a kind, aging hippie and her granddaughter, establishing the potential for an inclusive German society….if it is not too late...
|Germany|1999|84 mins|drama|German with English subtitles|Frieder Schlaich, dir.|
"I was impressed by the decision to make Otomo a bit of an anti-hero, seeming aware that in desperate times, good people may say or do things outside the norm." -- Greg Dean Schmitz, Greg's previews at Yahoo!Movies
"Documents the institutionalized racism and xenophobia that painted one man into a corner, while never excusing the terrible means by which he took his final escape." -- Jessica Winter, Village Voice
"Much of the sense of size in this account of an immigrant worker, who is only one among many thousands in Germany, comes from the performance by Isaach de Bankole." -- Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic
WAALO FENDO: WHERE THE EARTH FREEZES
Senegal / Switzerland, 1998, 65 mins, drama in Wolof and Italian with English subtitles, Mohammed Soudani, dir.
Milan, like Paris or Stuttgart, and like many other European cities, is the theater of the drama of immigration. Demba reconstructs his story and that of his brother Yaro, both Senegalese immigrants in Italy, in a long and fragmentary flashback that begins with Yaro’s murder and recounts their departure from the village, arrival in Europe, the work they find selling lighters and picking tomatoes in the south of Italy: the stages every “non-EEC citizen” goes through in Italy. It is a story of immigration like so many others but that most people are unaware of. Waalo Fendo illustrates the dehumanization faced by so many immigrants all over the world.
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
Obdulio, an 11-year-old Afro-Uruguayan boy, can neither read nor write and lives with his sisters and grandmother and helps support them by selling newspapers - One evening, he discovers that the night watchman at the newspaper is a magical Maestro, who introduces him to the power of literacy and the meaning of life - Against the backdrop of Uruguay's provocatively stimulating carnival, the Maestro teaches Obdulio about life through the lyrics of the Murgas, the songs of the carnival. In the tradition of magic realism, director Leonardo Ricagni uses the carnival atmosphere to transport viewers to an enchanted time and place where reality and dreams collide.
|Urugay|2005| 100min | drama in Spanish with English subtitles | Leonardo Ricagni, Dir. |
"Arriving on wings from Uruguay with hope and heart spilling from every frame is "Goodbye, Momo," Leonardo Ricagni's documentary-textured fairytale about an illiterate boy who dreams of soccer glory while hawking papers on the streets of Montevideo.
It begins by invoking De Sica's "Shoeshine" in all its gritty neo-realist resonance, but soon morphs into the magic surrealism of Fellini's "Amarcord." What brings it home is the specific flavor of of its place, nudged into gently soaring folkloric poetry by an annual 40-night-long community-wide Carnival.
One lesson Ricagni learned well from De Sica and the Italians is that casting the right non-professional is half the story. In this case, it's Mathias Acuna's Obdulio, who lives with his grandmother and younger sisters in a leprous-walled hovel, manfully supporting them all. He gets magical help when the mythical carnival god Momo takes a shine to him, morphing from street mime to newspaper pressroom night maintenance man and writing song lyrics that help Obdulio's life take off (into literacy!) as he sparks the fortunes of simpatico street performers into whose mouths he puts the god's lyrics. A charmer of a kid in a charmer of a movie." By Jay Carr | AMNewYork Movie Critic
" a poetic nod to Fellini, Leonardo Ricagni uses the carnival atmosphere to transport the viewer to a magical place where realism and surrealism live side by side in Uruguay—and what a wonderful place to be. With sweeping directorial vision and gorgeously shot with rich, vibrant colors, A DIOS MOMO achieves a rich visual and spiritual sensibility unparalleled today." – Shaz Bennett AFI Fest 2005
CANDOMBE, BLACK CULTURE IN URUGUAY
From: Uruguay, 1993, 16 minutes, docu-drama in Spanish with English subtitles, Rafael Deugenio, dir.
More than two hundred years ago, there was an influx into Uruguay of enslaved Africans whom, after being freed, continued to make up the poorest and most marginalized strata in society. Fernando Nunez, a black man, a musician, and a maker of drums, sees himself as the heir to "Candombe", an important social and cultural legacy from his enslaved forefathers. The official history and culture of Uruguay, on the other hand, which has never acknowledged this contribution to the degree which it deserves, continues to marginalize expressions of black culture. Fernando Nunez and his friends from the Barrio Sur back street quarter of Montevideo have decided to fight to keep these important cultural roots alive in the consciousness of the Uruguayan people.
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
BLACK MEXICANS / LA NEGRADA
Black Mexicans (La Negrada) is the first Mexican feature film about the Afro-Mexican community, filmed entirely with people from different towns around the Costa Chica in Oaxaca.
Neri, a fisherman, splits his time between two women: his wife Juanita with whom he has a daughter and his lover Magdalena, mother of three additional children. Things are about to change for Neri as Juanita falls gravely ill and Magdalena prepares to take her place.
Shot entirely in the beautiful beaches of Corralera in Oaxaca and featuring a cast of non-professional actors from the nearby communities, Black Mexicans explores the social mores of and the discrimination faced by Mexico’s little known black community.
Directed by Jorge Perez Solano, 2018, Mexico, 2018, 100 min, Drama, Spanish with English subtitles.
BONUS FILM:
THE VALLEY OF THE BLACK DESCENDANTS / EL VALLE DE LOS NEGROS
Directed by Ric.hard Salgado, Chile, 2017, 52 min, documentary, Spanish with English subtitle.
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
Experience the essence of jazz and blues in two captivating documentaries! Music Pictures: New Orleans by Ben Chace features legends like Irma Thomas and Ellis Marsalis, while Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band by Carol Bash delves into the life of the groundbreaking Mary Lou Williams.
Music Pictures: New Orlean Trailer Art from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.
Music Pictures: New Orleans gives us legacy portraits and a rare backstage access into the lives and craft of four New Orleans music legends: Grammy-winning vocalist known as “The Soul Queen of New Orleans” Irma Thomas; Little Freddie King, one of the last original bluesmen who at the age of 81 still performs live; the world renowned Tremé Brass Band, a fixture in the New Orleans jazz community; and Ellis Marsalis - father of internationally acclaimed musician, composer and bandleader Wynton Marsalis - the patriarch of the famed jazz family who helped found the modern jazz scene in the 1950s.
Directed by Ben Chace, 2022, USA, 72 Min, Documentary, English
MARY LOU WILLIAMS TRAILER from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.
She was ahead of her time, a genius. During an era when Jazz was the nation's popular music, Mary Lou Williams was one of its greatest innovators. As both a pianist and composer, she was a font of daring and creativity who helped shape the sound of 20th century America. And like the dynamic, turbulent nation in which she lived, Williams seemed to redefine herself with every passing decade.
Directed by Carol Bash, 2015, USA, 70 min, Documentary, English
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
ZORA NEALE HURSTON: JUMP AT THE SUN
Zora Neale Hurston, path-breaking novelist, pioneering anthropologist and one of the first black women to enter the American literary canon (Their Eyes Were Watching God), established the African American vernacular as one of the most vital, inventive voices in American literature. This definitive film biography, eighteen years in the making, portrays Zora in all her complexity: gifted, flamboyant, and controversial but always fiercely original.
Directed by Sam Pollard, 2008, USA, 84 Min, Documentary, English
"Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun is a moving interpretation of Zora Neale Hurston's life and career. In fact, a viewer can easily sit halfway through the eighty-four-minute film and forget one is watching a documentary," ~Project Muse
"Kudos to Bay Bottom News and American Masters for their professional production, and for bringing to light an amazing and long overdue story of a legendary icon and storyteller of the Harlem Renaissance and beyond,"~ Pennsylvania State University
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type:
Price:
5.00
In today’s Ecuador, the black population, the descendants of enslaved Africans, continue to experience strong racial and social discrimination. Yet people in the community still strive to value their specific culture and transmit the rebellious memory of their ancestors who fought for freedom. The Esmeraldas Beach sets out to expose the invisibility of Afro-Ecuadorians and rectify the narrative of the country’s history with the film’s central protagonist, Juan García, who has worked on that project for years. He developed a school book that presents black Ecuadorians prominently since the only Afro-descendants shown in local school books are portrayed next to a marimba and football. The documentary also addresses the 1999 assassination of Prime Minister Jaime Hurtado, the first Black to hold this office.
Directed by Patrice Raynal, 2020, France/Ecuador, 58 minutes, documentary, French and Spanish with English subtitles.
Susana Baca is not only a champion in the performance and preservation of Afro-Peruvian heritage, but also an elegant singer whose shimmering voice sings of love, loss and life. Susana and her husband Ricardo Pereira have founded the Instituto Negrocontinuo “Black Continuum” in Lima, a spirited facility for the exploration, expression, and creation of Black Peruvian culture. While Baca has dedicated herself to researching and performing virtually all forms of Afro-Peruvian folklore, it is the Lando that has become her trademark. This slow to mid-tempo, highly evocative mix of Spanish, Indigenous and African rhythms has become what the son is to Cuba, or the samba to Brazil--the Lando is the sound of Black Peru.
Directed by Marc Dixon, 2003, Peru/Belgium, 54 minutes, documentary, English & Spanish with English subtitles.
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
GREAT AFRICAN FILMS - Vol 5 The fifth installment in this series of award-winning films from Africa includes award winning films A Son (Un Fils) by Mehdi Barsaoui and Wulu by Daouda Coulibaly.
A SON (Un Fils) / Bik Eneich
An intense family drama starring French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila, winner of the Orizzonti Award for Best Actor, Venice Film Festival 2019 and winner of the César Awards, France for Best Actor in 2021.
11 year old Aziz needs a liver transplant after being seriously injured during a terrorist ambush while on holiday in 2011. At the hospital, a family secret will be revealed.
A drama that expertly captures complex human emotions within their socio-cultural, historical and political context. ~ Hollywood Reporter
Directed By Mehdi Barsaoui / Tunisia/ 2019/ Drama/ Arabic With English Subtitles/ 96 Min
WÙLU
Shot for a good deal of the time using hand-held cameras, WÙLU is an African thriller that has an urgency and a vibrancy most Western made films lack.
Ladji, (a beautifully understated Ibrahim Koma), is the young man who, after losing his job on the cross-border taxis, takes up smuggling cocaine with lucrative if highly dangerous results.
A social commentary about the impact of corruption on intelligent, hard working African youths looking to improve their standard of living at home.
Official Selection TIFF 2016. Winner Ousmane-Sembene Prize and Best Actor Award for Ibrhim Koma at FESPACO 2017.
Directed by Daouda Coulibaly, 2016, France/Mali, 95min, crime drama, French w/ English subtitles
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
The Tracker trailer from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.
THE TRACKER
The year is 1922 and The Tracker (David Gulpilil, Walkabout, Rabbit-Proof Fence) has the job of pursuing The Fugitive - an aborigine who is suspected of murdering a white woman - as he leads three mounted policemen: The Fanatic, The Follower and also The Veteran across the outback.
The Tracker, a mysterious and enigmatic figure whose true character remains unknown, assists them in their quest. As they move deeper into the bush and further away from civilization, the toxic forces of paranoia and violence begin to escalate, stirring up questions of what is black and what is white and who is leading whom. Their journey becomes an acrimonious and murderous trek that shifts power from one man to another, challenged by the indigenous people they come across as well as each other.
|Australia|2002|98 mins|Epic Drama|English|Rolf de Heer, dir.|
Winner Best Film, Best Actor (David Gulpilil), Australian Film Critic Circle.
"A stark moral fable told in the language of the sort of western Hollywood has stopped making, the Australian director Rolf de Heer's film The Tracker is constructed around a suite of 10 interlocking story-songs that simmer with political outrage. Composed by Graham Tardif, with lyrics by Mr. de Heer, and performed by Archie Roach, a husky-voiced Aboriginal singer, together they suggest an extended folk ballad in the mode of Curtis Mayfield's Superfly. The lyrics describe the oppression of Australian Aboriginals with the same mixture of sorrow and resistance that fueled the songs of Bob Marley." – The New York Times.
"[Gulpilil] is a commanding screen presence, and his character's abundant humanis makes him the film's moral compass." - Phildelphia Inquirer
Bonus Documentary with DVD: GULPILIL: ONE RED BLOOD
Australia, 2003, 56 mins, Documentary in English, Darlene Johnson, dir.
Legendary Aboriginal actor and Australian icon David Gulpilil's life has been one of dueling lifestyles, with his jet-setting movie star life on a completely different plane from his life as an Aboriginal village elder, and director Darlene Johnson manages to capture intimate details from both lifestyles in her 2003 biographical documentary Gulpilil: One Red Blood. At the age of 17, Gulpilil made history as the first Aboriginal actor to appear on film -- in Nicolas Roeg's 1971 Walkabout -- which, in turn, led to an historic acting career that culminated in his receiving numerous awards and an Order of Australia medal. All the while, Gulpilil remained true to his culture by accepting his tribal responsibilities, which include living in a primitive house and procuring his household's daily food and water. As Johnson films a number of very candid encounters with the actor in both settings -- David lives in a tent shed and is quite open about the lack of facilities in his abode and the exploitation he’s experienced during his career -- she documents the class differences that still exist between the indigenous population of Australia versus the relatively new white population.
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
The African Women Behind The Camera double DVD highlights the work of two very different contemporary African women filmmakers:
2 Weeks in Lagos by Nigerian director Kathryn Fasegha is a socially conscious Christian based romantic comedy drama set in upper class Lagos, Nigeria.
Childhood Destroyed by Chadian director and journalist ZARA M. YACOUB is a short fiction film that denounces the living conditions of young girls in Chad in a delicate yet powerful way.
2 Weeks in Lagos is a turbulent and thrilling journey into the lives of Ejikeme and Lola. Their lives collide when investment banker Ejikeme comes home to Nigeria from the US with Lola’s brother Charlie and falls in love with her. He must then defy his parents’ plan to marry him to the daughter of a wealthy politician.
2 Weeks in Lagos captures the excitement, vibrancy, and complexity of everyday life in Lagos, a dynamic city where anything is possible in 2 Weeks.
Directed by Kathryn Fasegha | CANADA, NIGERIA | COMEDY, ROMANCE | ENGLISH | 2019 | 115 MINS
Eleven year old Mariam works as a domestic to provide for her guardian, her unemployed Uncle Djimet, and his family. Mariam wakes up early each day to go to work as an all-purpose maid, housekeeper, cook and baby sitter for the Nadji family. With her many tasks, she is constantly under pressure from Nadji and his son Moussa, and must answer to the whims of his wife, and young children. One day, Mariam is arrested for having unwittingly thrown rubbish in a prohibited place. She is detained for five days in prison without her uncle or employer even inquiring of her whereabouts.
Zara M. Yacoub / Chad / 1999 / 26 Min / Arabic Dialect w/ English Subtitles
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type:
Price:
5.00
Two films that explore the Black & Latino experience.
Set in the USA, INVISIBLE COLOR: BLACK CUBANS IN MIAMI is a documentary about the history and living experience of Afro-Cubans in Miami.
MESTIZO is a drama set in 1940 Venezuela about the conflicted identity of José Vargas, the illegitimate son of a white colonial administrator and a poor black fisher-woman.
This latest documentary by the Dean of Afro-Cuban Cinema, Sergio Giral, investigates the black Cuban exile community in South Florida, since the first wave of political refugees in the 1959 revolutionary aftermath, to today. It tracks its presence throughout the region, and highlights its contribution to Miami’s civic culture through testimonies and visual documentation.
Directed by Sergio Giral / 2017 / USA / Cuba / English and Spanish with English subtitles / 47 min.
The action takes place in a village on the Venezuelan coast, a place of fishermen and big haciendas. Jose Ramon, son of a white aristocrat and a humble black fisher-women, is trying to define his own identity while dealing with social and sexual conflicts, power, culture, the law, and the impossible relationship he has with both his parents.
Directed by Mario Handler / 1989 / Venezuela / Spanish with English subtitles / 82 Min.
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type:
Price:
5.00
Double DVD with Two African Stories: TAZZEKA (Morocco) & BILATENA: THE GOLDEN CHILD (Ethiopia)
Growing up in the Moroccan village of Tazzeka, Elias learned the secrets of traditional Moroccan cuisine from his grandmother who raised him. Years later, meeting a top Paris chef and a young woman named Salma inspires him to leave home.
Directed By Jean-Philippe Gaud / France and Morocco / 2018 / French, Arabic w/ English Subtitles / 95 min
Abi, a dynamic and resourceful twelve year old boy, lives with his mother Degua and his 26 year old university graduate unemployed brother Zelalem (Zele). Abi, who is a a hyper-industrious hard working 12-year-old boy with two jobs, supports his poor mother and his older unemployed brother through their day to day lives.
But when their mother dies of Hepatitis B and Abi is also infected with the virus, Zele must face the big challenge of supporting his own life and keeping his younger brother alive by earning the 20,000 Ethiopian birr per month needed for his brother's medication.
Directed by Kinfe Banbu, 2014 | Ethiopia | Drama | 105 min | Amharic w/ English subtitles
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
A romantic comedy-drama set in Black London!
THE NAKED POET
A romantic comedy-drama with a predominantly Black cast - including UK gone Hollywood actor Aml Ameen (The Maze Runner, Sense 8 ) - which offers a complex, multidimensional portray of life, love and friendship within the young, middle class Black British community.
Jason Barrett, 2016, UK, 117 mins, Romantic Comedy-Drama, English.
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
"Set in the breathtaking natural beauty of the Rwanda countryside, this fist ever fiction film made about the Rwanda civil war tells a powerful story of genocide and human survival with compassion and integrity. The film centers on a pair of young lovers; Bapiste is more than ready to have sex with his girlfriend Josette, but she refuses, arguing that when they are married they can have all the sex they would like.
Meanwhile, powerful Hutu leaders have had enough of Tutsi rebels and call on all Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbors. As chaos breaks out, the Tutsis flee and the lovers are separated. Josesette and her family find solace in a Catholic church run by a Hutu priest. The Catholic Church, the state, and the French army look the other way as bloodshed ensues.
When the Belgian army sent in to protect the church is called away on an emergency, the Hutus attack and massacre hundreds of women and children. Josette is saved by the priest who obliges her to become his concubine and repeatedly rapes her. She miraculously survives, but she is only a husk of the woman that she was. As the Tutsis regroup, they exact terrible revenge. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
“It’s the images in 100 Days that graze the soul… There’s nothing anonymous about this nightmare” ~ Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
“Docudrama filmmaking at its finest” ~ Dennis Harvey, Variety
“100 Days succeeds as drama, and succeeds in telling the truth” ~ Mark Doyle, BBC
Rwanda/U.K,2001,96 mins,drama in English, Nick Hughes, dir. This film premiered at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival and at more than 40 international film festivals.
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
After fighting censorship for two years in Brazil, MARIGHELLA became #1 at the Box Office in Brazil!
Marighella is a Brazilian action drama set in 1969 based on the life of Afro-Brazilian politician and guerrilla fighter Carlos Marighella. Facing a violent military dictatorship and with little support from a timid opposition, writer-turned-politician Carlos Marighella organizes a resistance movement. Alongside revolutionaries 30 years younger than him and willing to fight, the revolutionary leader opts for action. The film is adapted from the biography Marighella - O Guerrilheiro que Incendiou o Mundo, by Mario Magalhaes. Brazilian musical artist, songwriter, and actor Seu Jorge plays Carlos Marighella.
Directed by Wagner Moura, 2019, Brazil, 155min, historical action drama, Portuguese w/ English subtitles
THE EXCEPTION AND THE RULE
On March 13, 1992, Vicente Francisco do Espirito Santo, a Black Brazilian who worked in a government-owned electricity company, was fired from his job. It did not take long for him to realize that his dismissal was directly linked to his skin color. Encouraged by his union and a strong Black empowerment movement, he began a judicial process which he won, and as a result was reinstated in his former position. This informative documentary about an unknown victory illustrates how the courts of Brazil did recognize the company's prejudice and racism in a country where such realities are usually dismissed as atypical.
Directed By Joel Zito Araujo, Brazil, 1997, documentary 38 Min, Portuguese With English Subtitles,
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type:
Price:
5.00
Two coming of age stories that explore the life of 2 young women on 2 islands.
Set in Puerto Rico, ANGÉLICA is a drama about a young Afro- Latino woman who must fight to find her voice.
THE CATHEDRAL, from Mauritius, follows free spirited Lina as she faces an important decision that will impact her life.
Angélica, after a long absence from Puerto Rico, returns home when her father, Wilfredo, suffers a stroke. This unexpected return and her father’s illness force Angelica to re-evaluate her relationship with her mother and family members who don’t accept her because of her skin color. She must face herself and discovers that she does not know who she is. After her father’s death, Angelica must decide whether to return to the comfort of her previous life, dissatisfied, but secure, or set on an adventurous path to rediscover herself as an independent, modern, strong, black, and Puerto Rican woman.
Directed by Marisol Gómez-Mouakad, Puerto Rico, 2016, 100min, Drama, English & Spanish w/English subtitles
The Cathedral is a lyrical narration set in the beautiful and unusual setting of Port-Louis, capital of Mauritius. Lina, a young woman in search of her identity interacts daily with friends and family in a carefree happy manner that will be challenged when one day her dancing catches the eye of a photographer... The Cathedral is based on a short story by Ananda Devi.
Directed By Harrikrisna Anenden , Mauritius, 2006, 78 Min, drama in Creole With English Subtitles.
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
STORIES IN EXILE: THE CITIZEN & BLACK DJU: Two fiction films that explore life in exile. Set in Hungary, THE CITIZEN follows Guinea-Bissau political refugee Wilson. BLACK DJU is a drama set in Luxembourg about a young man from Cape Verde looking for his father.
THE CITIZEN
In his late fifties Wilson, whose family was killed during an outbreak of civil war in Guinea-Bissau, enters Europe as a political refugee and settles for a sedate life as a security guard in a Budapest shopping center. Wilson's main desire is to acquire Hungarian citizenship. The story follows Wilson as he attempts to find his place in Hungarian society in his daily life, at work, with Mari, a history teacher who helps him study for the citizenship and Shirin, a young Iranian woman whose only hope to avoid deportation is to marry a Hungarian citizen. The Citizen is an Award-winning drama that poignantly dwells on some of the most complex issues of contemporary modern European society.
Directed by Roland Vranik | Hungary | 2018 | Drama | 109 min
BLACK DJU
From the sea and sun of the Cape Verde Island, it's a very big step to rainy, gloomy, land-locked Luxembourg, but that's the journey 20-year-old Dju Dele Dibonga must take to track down his dad, whose yearly visits and monthly guest worker checks have stopped. But it's not just the weather that's not welcoming, Dju also has to face overzealous immigration cops intent on filling deportation quotas and the noisy outrage of a hard-boozing police lieutenant (veteran actor Philippe Léotard). Dad's trail looks cold, until lieutenant decides to join in the hunt and to become Dju's partner in this tale of love and friendship. With the exceptional participation of Cape Verdian singer Cesaria Evora as Dju's mother and Manu Dibango as himself.
Directed By Pol Cruchten / Cape Verde And Luxembourg / 1997 / Portuguese & French With English Subtitles / 80 Min
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type:
Price:
5.00
Shimu, 23, works in a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Faced with difficult conditions at work, she decides to start a union with her co-workers. Despite threats from the management and disapproval of her husband, Shimu is determined to go on. Together the women must fight and find a way.
By Rubaiyat Hossain, Bangladesh/France/Denmark/Portugal, 2019, 95min, social drama, English & Bengali w/English subtitles
WINNER, Public Award Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color ADIFF 2019.
She Had a Dream Trailer - ArtMattan Films from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.
Ghofrane, 25, is a young Black Tunisian woman. A committed activist who speaks her mind, she embodies Tunisia’s current political upheaval. As a victim of racial discrimination, Ghofrane decides to go into politics. In its own unique way, this documentary sheds light on the place of women and Black people in Tunisia’s changing society.
By Raja Amari, Tunisia, 2020, 90min, documentary, Arabic and French w/English subtitles.
WINNER, Public Award Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color ADIFF 2021.
Vendor: ADIFF
Type: T Shirt / Sweat Shirt
Price:
25.00
SUPPORT ADIFF!
Donate to the African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) with the purchase of a black Long sleeve 100% cotton Sweat Shirt (size: M, or L) Other sizes SOLD OUT!
Logo upper left: "I Love the African Diaspora"
Back: "ADIFF African Diaspora International Film Festival"
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
Quilombo Trailer - ArtMattan Films from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.
In 1993, death squads opened fire on a group of sleeping street children camped on the steps of a cathedral in Rio de Janeiro’s central financial district, killing six. This event, later called the Candelaria massacre, is vividly depicted in this short film about the plight of street children in Brazil.
DIRECTED BYFLAVIO LEANDRO / BRAZIL / 1995 / SILENT FILM / 12 MIN
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
NELIO’S STORY / COMEDIA INFANTIL
Shot in Mozambique, but set in an unnamed city, the film depicts the life of an orphan boy, Nelio, whose parents were killed by guerrillas. He escapes to the city and finds magic there and is soon rumored to possess healing powers, in this violent, yet mythic coming-of-age story. Based on a novel by the popular Swedish writer Henning
DIRECTED BY SOLVEIG NORDLUND, MOZAMBIQUE AND SWEDEN / 1997 / PORTUGUESE AND MOZAMBICAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES / 92 MIN
ALMODOU
Sometimes distasteful practices are most effectively criticized with a good sense of humor. Meet Modou, a young, courageous and determined talibé - a pupil in a Koranic school - who manages to escape from his corrupt and abusive teacher to find a better life in contemporary Dakar, Senegal.
DIRECTED BY AMADOU THIOR / SENEGAL / 2002 / WOLOF AND FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES / 85 MIN
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: 2 Docs & 1 Concert
Price:
5.00
RETURN TO GOREE Film and Concert
A musical road movie, RETURN TO GOREE follows Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour's historical journey tracing the trail left by enslaved Africans and the jazz music they invented. Youssou N'Dour's challenge is to bring back to Africa a jazz repertoire of his own songs to perform a concert in Goree, the island that today symbolizes the slave trade and stands to honor its victims. With Youssou N'Dour, Moncef Genoud, Joseph Ndiaye, Idris Muhammad, and Amiri Baraka among others.
DVD includes filmed final concert on the Goree Island.
RETURN TO GOREE / CONCERT, Pierre Yves Borgeaud, Senegal/Switzerland/
Luxembourg, 2006, 108 min. / 52min. In English and French with English subtitles.
NAMES LIVE NOWHERE
In NAMES LIVE NOWHERE (Les Noms N'Habitent Nulle Part) - whose title is a Senegalese proverb - a griot (story teller) traveling from Dakar to Brussels weaves a tale about African expatriates and offers a candid look at the life of African immigrants in Belgium. With Sotigui Kouyate - a real life griot - as the story teller.
NAMES LIVE NOWHERE, Dominique Loreau, Belgium, 1994 76min. In French with English subtitles.
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
AFRICAN MOTHERS
Two films that explore the commitment of motherhood by looking at the life of two African women, in "Seasons of Life," a housemaid, who is sexually abused is forced to give up her child but comes back for him years later, in "Joy" A Nigerian mother living in the USA struggles to convince her traditionalist husband not to circumcise their ten-year-old daughter.
SEASONS OF A LIFE
A housemaid, who is sexually abused by her boss and made pregnant, is forced to give up her son in order to go on with her education. Six years later she comes back to claim her son. From Malawi comes this moving story about sexual abuse, women rights and the legal justice system in Malawi. This film tackles universal themes in an African setting giving an understanding of some of the modernization and democratization processes in Africa.
Directed by C. Shemu Joyah, Malawi, 2008, 102 min, Fiction in English.
JOY
A Nigerian mother living in the USA struggles to convince her traditionalist husband not to circumcise their ten-year-old daughter. This short film explores the clash of cultures in a modern society.
Directed by Solomon Onita Jr., USA, 2017, 15 min, Short Fiction in English.
Vendor: African Diaspora DVD
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
THE LAST TREE tells the compelling coming-of-age story of a Black British boy of Nigerian descent in London. In GLORIOUS EXIT Jarreth Merz, a Swiss-Nigerian actor living in Los Angeles, is summoned to Nigeria to bury his father.
2021 NAACP Awards Nominee for Outstanding International Motion Picture!
Femi, a British boy of Nigerian descent who, after a happy childhood in rural Lincolnshire with his white foster mother, moves to inner London to live with his Nigerian mum. Struggling with the unfamiliar culture and values of his new environment, teenage Femi has to figure out which path to adulthood he wants to take, and what it means to be a young black man in London. Going back home to Nigeria with his mum to find his Nigerian roots will help adolescent Femi find grounding and hope for a better future.
Directed by Shola Amoo, 2019, UK, 98 min, drama, English. Closed Captions.
Jarreth Merz, a Swiss-Nigerian actor living in Los Angeles, is summoned to Nigeria to bury his father. Nigerian tradition mandates the eldest child to take charge of a father’s burial. Although he accepts the responsibility, he struggles with why he feels morally responsible toward Nigerian tradition and a family whom he hardly knows. Jarreth starts a journey of self-discovery.
By Kevin Merz, 2008, Nigeria/Switzerland, Documentary, 75min, English and German with English subtitles
Vendor: ArtMattan Films
Type: DVD
Price:
5.00
Two exciting, colorful films spotlight the African roots of Cuba's culture by focusing on two legendary artists -- Rumbero Papa Montero and Filmmaker Sara Gomez -- in this unique box set.
THE LAST RUMBA OF PAPA MONTERO / LA ULTIMA RUMBA DE PAPA MONTERO
Get ready to rumba! The life of Cuba s last great rumbero is detailed in THE LAST RUMBA OF PAPA MONTERO, a bold story that captures Cuban traditions and culture through beautiful imagery, sensual music, and the most scorching Latin dance ever invented. Afro-Cuban mythology serves as the force behind the narrative as mythic figures guide the characters through the events of the story.
| Cuba/Martinique | 1992 | 52 mins | docu-drama in Spanish with English subtitles | Octavio Cortazar, Dir. |
“Montero is a celebration of rumba as heart and soul for a colorful Cuban landscape." - SLANT
SARA GOMEZ: AN AFRO-CUBAN FILMMAKER
Acclaimed filmmaker Sara Gomez comes to life in the rich, multilayered documentary SARA GOMEZ: AN AFRO-CUBAN FILMMAKER. Though trained in ethnography, Gomez became the first female Cuban filmmaker. Her background shaped her films, which reflect her interests in Afro-Cuban cultural traditions and women s issues. Friends and family members recall her talent, intelligence, and generosity. Ultimately SARA GOMEZ is a love story between Sara and her husband (filmmaker Germinal Hernandez), Sara and her family, and Sara and her culture.
| Cuba/Switzerland | 2005 | 76 min | documentary in Spanish with English subtitles | Alessandra Muller, Dir. |
"[SARA GOMEZ] is an extremely important documentary.... " - Kwame Dixon, SCOPE