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Joining us for this year’s
festival are the following guests:
Thomas Allen Harris, USA
Raised in the Bronx and Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, Thomas Allen
Harris is an award-winning filmmaker and cultural warrior, whose
documentary films, installations, and experimental videos have
been featured in venues across the international landscape on
television, at festivals, museums, and galleries. Harris' most
recent film "Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela" tells
the story of the first wave of South African exiles who left Bloemfontein
in 1960 to keep the anti-apartheid movement alive from East Africa,
Europe, America and Cuba. In their heroic journey, this group
of twelve -- and the thousands of young South African freedom
fighters that would follow them - helped to create a global seismic
shift that ultimately toppled the apartheid system in South Africa.
One of the Disciples, Pule Benjamin Leinaeng, was the filmmaker's
late father.
Thoams Allen Harris will present the UK Premiere of "Twelve
Disciples of Nelson Mandela" as CAFF's Opening Night Film
on November 8th, 2008. Harris will also present his 2001 film
"That's My Face". Astoundingly beautiful and epic in
scope, "That's My Face" (é minha cara) is a personal
documentary offering an entire generation of African Americans
a groundbreaking perspective on
the maddening diasporic search for a mythic motherland.
Zina Saro-Wiwa
Zina Saro-Wiwa (daughter of the late Nigerian activist and environmentalist
Ken Saro-Wiwa) is a filmmaker, writer and presenter. She was born
in Port Harcourt, Nigeria but spent most of her life in the UK.
Saro-Wiwa is the creator of Africa-Lab, a multimedia company motivated
to change the way the world perceives Africa. She has written
for national newspapers and magazines and this year will publish
two short stories. She has been television presenter for BBC2's
arts magazine programme "The Culture Show" from 2004 to Feb 2008
and is currently developing a programme for Channel 4 about African
presence in the UK. Zina began working as a BBC radio reporter
at age 20, and worked for both Radios 3 and 4 as presenter, reporter,
producer and researcher on a variety of programmes. She has worked
as a musician and music journalist and was advisor for the British
Council's music unit. Her latest adventure is the film This is
My Africa (2008) produced in collaboration with the Africa Centre.
We are pleased to welcome Zina Saro-Wiwa on November 9th, 2008
to present her film THIS IS MY AFRICA as part of our DIASPORIC
IDENTITIES DOUBLE BILL screening and will participate in a Q&A
alongside Thomas Allen Harris following the screening.
Jean-Michel Kibushi
Jean-Michel Kibushi is a renowned animator from the Democratic
Republic of Congo.Kibushi's passion for animation began in 1988,
where he participated in animation workshops in Kinshasa, organised
by Belgian organisation Atelier Graphiou. On his return to the
DRC in 1990 he began work on his first films. As early as 1991,
in co-production with Atelier Graphiou, he succeeded in completing
the first Congolese animated film: Le Crapaud Chez ses Beaux-Parents.From
then on he produced excellent animations such as Kinshasa, Septembre
Noir (1991), L'Orange Blanche (1993), Project Ngando (2008) a
collaboration with Bournemouth University. It is based on the
novel Ngando by Lomami Tshibamba, Congo's first novelist.
Jean-Michel will present a collection of his animated films on
Satruday 22 November 2008 and will participate in a Q&A following
the screening.
Paula Callus
Paula Callus is a senior lecturer at the National Centre of Computer
Animation (NCCA) at Bournemouth University, with a specific interest
in Sub-Saharan African animation. This interest stems from six
years of field work in countries such as Kenya, Zanzibar, South
Africa, Zimbabwe and the DRC, archiving and training African artists
in the field of animation.She worked on projects such as UNESCO's
Africa Animated as an educational consultant in the design of
a production and training residency for artists from various African
countries. She recently ran computer animation workshops at the
Academie des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa, DRC, as part of a preproduction
development for Jean-MIchel Kibushi's first feature length stopmotion
film.
Paula is currently undertaking a PhD at the School of Oriental
and African Studies in sub-Saharan African animation, addressing
the underrepresented and undocumented existence of practitioners
across the continent. It is her own personal mission to disseminate
and promote an awareness of African animation in Europe and to
encourage recognition of the achievements and successes of this
growing field, whilst positioning it within its specific social,
cultural and political contexts.
Paula will present a programme of Animated African Shorts from
across the continent on
Saturday 22 November and lead a discussion following the screening.
Jean-Pierre Lledo
Acclaimed Algerian filmmaker Jean-Pierre Lledo is the son of a
Berber Jewish mother and a Spanish father. He studied film directing
at the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow.In
1993, he was exiled from Algeria in 1993 and moved to France,
ever since he has been dedicated to recording the devasting years
of war in Algeria.Some of his amazing productions include Algerian
Dreams (2003) and Algeria, Unspoken Stories (2007). His films
continue to spark controversies as he delves into contested historical
terrain.
Jean-Pierre Lledo will conduct a Special Seminar Event on Thursday
November 27 2008 on his films and the politics of documentary
filmmaking in regions with contested histories.
Lledo will also present his trilogy of documentaries over two
days on Friday November 28 and Saturday November 29, and will
participate in Q&As following each screening.
Daddy Ruhorahoza
Daddy Ruhorahoza is a young and exciting Rwandan filmmaker and
producer. He has worked as a freelance correspondent for Metropolis
TV and as Director of the Rwanda Film Festival. He has also worked
with African film festivals throughout Africa and Europe.
Daddy Ruhorahoza will present his short film CONFESSION on Saturday
29 November and participate in a Q&A following the screening.
Osvalde Lewat, Cameroon
After serving as a journalist for several years, Cameroonian director
Osvalde Lewat opted for documentary filmmaking. Her first documentary,
entitled "Upsa Yimoowin" (The Pipe of Hope), was produced
in Toronto in 2001, and denounces the sidelining of the American
Indians. The film that brought her international recognition is
"Beyond the Pains" (2003), based on the story of a prisoner
sentenced to four years for a minor crime, but imprisoned for
33 years. Her next film, "A Love During the War" (2006)
deals with raped women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Her films have won several awards around the world.
In her latest film, Black Business, Lewat addresses the question
posed by Nigerian Nobel Laureate author Wole Soyinka: "They
say Africans are not ready for democracy. So I wonder: have they
ever been ready for dictatorship?" Osvale Lewat will present
"Black Business" as CAFF's Closing Night Film on November
29th, 2008.
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