Washington University will be hosting its third African Film Festival from Thursday, March 27 through Sunday, March 30.

The festival will consist of four full-length films and four short films shown over the course of the weekend.

Included in the festival’s slate are many award-winning films from across the continent, most in various languages with English subtitles.

This year’s festival is the first to include a youth program, which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday. The idea behind the program is to introduce elementary and middle school students from the St. Louis area to the culture, language and traditions of Africa through acclaimed films.

The discussion will continue past the screenings for these students, as their teachers will take curriculum guides to the films and address them in class.

For college students, the festival is a chance to become familiar with (or reacquainted with, for those African Studies majors out there) the social, political and cultural experiences of many African countries and individuals.

Take “Bamako,” the Jury Prize winner at the prestigious Carthage Film Festival in 2007. Airing Friday night, “Bamako” tells the story of an African woman who is dealing with marital issues in conjunction with the larger picture-the woes of Africa as inflicted by the World Bank and other international institutions. The film is intended to draw together the minute with the grand scale and unite every individual citizen with the plight of the entire continent.

It is a unique situation that Africa is in. The continent that houses some of the world’s most abundant natural resources also deals with the greatest poverty and the most tyrannical regimes.

The African Film Festival is intended to impress upon viewers the impact on individual lives and stories that the depressing outlook has; to paraphrase as Atticus Finch so presciently observed in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” it is only by walking in the shoes of individuals or by seeing their lives firsthand that we can truly begin to judge their worst problems and their greatest triumphs.

Take some time this weekend and see firsthand the lives of African individuals through the beautiful films in the festival. I promise, it’s worth it.

Thursday, March 27

“Meokgo and the Stick Fighter”
Teboho Malatshi, South Africa/Lesotho, 2006, 19 min.
(Sotho with English subtitles)

A haunting tale flavored with magical realism, “Meokgo & the Stick Fighter” is the story of Kgotso, a recluse stickfighter who lives a solitary life high up in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho. It is a story of unrequited love and sacrifice, capturing both the cruelty and the beauty of African magical beliefs.

“Juju Factory”
Balufu Bakupu-Kanyinda, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2006, 97 min.
(French with English subtitles)

Kongo lives in Brussels, in the Matonge district, about which he is writing a book. His editor wants a kind of traveler’s book spiced with ethnic ingredients. Along the way, he learns about “juju,” self-confidence.

Friday, March 28

“Bamako”
Abderrahmane Sissako, Mali, 2006, 118 min.
(French and Bambara with English subtitles)

Melé is a bar singer. Her husband Chaka is out of work and the couple is on the verge of breaking up. In the courtyard of the house they share with other families, a trial court has been set up. Africa civil society spokesmen have taken proceedings against the World Bank and the IMF, which they blame for Africa’s woes. The film screens like a docudrama as life goes on in the courtyard.

“Mama Put”
Seke Somolu, Nigeria, 2006, 30 min.

This Nigerian film eloquently demonstrates the power of food to transform, rescue and wreak revenge.

Saturday, March 29

“Menged”
Daniel Taye Workou, Ethiopia, 2006, 21 min.
(Amharic & Italian with English subtitles)

Adapted from a traditional Ethiopian folktale, “Menged” is very much a parable for Ethiopia today: a country in transition between modernism and traditional belief.

“Clouds Over Conarky”
Cheick F. Camara, Guinea, 2007, 113 min.
(French & Malinke with English subtitles)

At the age of 25, the artist-caricaturist BB finds himself faced with an impossible choice. Son of the inflexible imam Karamo, the guardian of his village’s ancestral traditions, BB is chosen to be his father’s worthy successor. But he refuses to accept his destiny, preferring to work independently and live life to the fullest with his love, the beautiful young computer scientist Kesso. A very impressive film that finds a new approach to capturing the tradition-versus-modernity theme so frequently seen in African cinema.

Sunday, March 30

“Growing Stronger”
Tsitsi Dangarembga, Zimbabwe, 2005, 30 min.
(English & Shona with English subtitles)

After living a high-profile life as a model and wife to the then-coach of the Zimbabwe national football team, Tendayi Westerhof stunned the nation in 2002 by going public about her HIV-positive status. She became a different kind of public figure: an elegant and glamorous AIDS activist in the world of modeling and the public media.

Winner of the Gender, Equality & Media Award, South Africa, 2006

“A Love During the War”
Osvalde Lewat-Hallade, Cameroon, 2005, 63 min.
(French, Swahili and Lingala with English subtitles)

This documentary explores the consequences when rape is used as a weapon of war from the perspective of women in Africa. Aziza and her husband were separated when the Congo-Kinshasa war broke out in 1996. Six years later, they reunite in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). But the souvenirs of the horrors suffered by other women in eastern DRC still haunt journalist Aziza.

Wednesday, March 26

“Les Arbres Aux Espirits”
9:30 a.m. to noon at the Saint Louis Art Museum
Best Film, Buster International Children’s Film Festival, 2003
Cilia Sawadogo, 2005, Canada/Burkina Faso, 45 min.
(French with English subtitles)

Thursday, March 27

“Hop”
Noon to 2 p.m. at the Saint Louis Art Museum
Dominique Standaert, Belgium, 2003, 100 min.
(French & Flemish with English subtitles)

*All screenings are free and begin at 7 p.m. each evening in Brown Hall, Room 100. For more information, visit http://wupa.wustl.edu/africanfilm/, or call (314) 935-7879.

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