Through each presentation of the annual African Film Festival, Wilmetta Toliver-Diallo uses the cinema to bring understanding and connection to the sons and daughters of the African Diaspora right here in St. Louis.
This weekend the festival returns to Washington University’s campus for a seventh year. The award-winning films highlight ancient fables, love, politics, a young boy’s imagination, woman power and the voice of the next generation.
“Most of this year’s films have strong youth characters,” said Toliver-Diallo, assistant dean in the College of Arts & Sciences, senior lecturer in African & African-American studies and festival organizer.
“It is in their reflection about their society and about the understanding of their own power to make decisions that impact the future that we gain insights into challenges facing our world.”
Consider Ethiopian director Zelalem Woldemariam’s short film “Lezare.” Cinematically breathtaking, the film takes advantage of every second of its 14 minutes to tell a fable that focuses on the plight of a hungry, homeless boy in a small village that ignores his needs.
This year’s festival goes a step further to engage young people with the incorporation of a Youth Matinee on Saturday, March 24 at 1 p.m. The segment of the festival uses animation and storytelling and a post-film discussion with animated filmmaker Sawadogo, whose feature “L’Arbre aux Esprits” or “Tree of Spirits” will kick off the matinee.
“The festival provides a wonderful corrective to media images and conventional wisdom about the continent and its people,” said Garrett Albert Duncan, director and associate professor of the Program in African & African American Studies. “The selections excite the imagination and offer different ways to see how people live, love and experience beauty in the world.”
Love, life and struggle for the women of Africa make their way to the screen through “Une Femme Pas Comme Des Autres” or “An Uncommon Woman,” where filmmaker Adboulaye Dao offers an unconventional approach to resolving love issues between a woman and her philandering husband.
The lightheartedness of “An Uncommon Woman” is a complete contrast to “Voyage A’ Alger” or “A Trip to Algiers,” Abdelkrim Bahloul’s film that focuses on a young mother who lost everything during the war for independence in Algeria.
Gaylyn Studlar, Washington University’s David May Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, said, “Year after year, the films screened in this festival eloquently demonstrate how moving image media can give us important perspectives on Africa and on the shared concerns of humanity in the 21st century.”
The 7th Annual Washington University African Film Festival will take place March 23–25 in Brown Hall Room 100 on the Campus of Washington University. For more information and a full schedule of selections/activities visit wupa.wustl.edu/africanfilm or call (314) 935-7879.
