SVAFFmagazine2014

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From the Festival Director

Celebrating 5 years of connecting Communities, Cultures and Continents!

I welcome you to our 5th Annual Silicon Valley African Film Festival and invite you to this shared journey across the vast richness of the African Continent through the lenses of Africa’s seasoned and emerging filmmakers.

This year, we celebrate 5 years of Connecting Communities, Cultures and Continents with our finest and fullest event yet. From our red carpet reception to film screenings, visual arts exhibit, panel discussions, live performances, African food, an African market, etc., the entire festival weekend has been designed

to offer unique social and artistic visions that will engage our audience in thought-provoking dialogue, and offer film artists and film lovers alike an opportunity to connect.

We have added a visual arts exhibition to our menu of offerings.

Our festival’s featured artist is 21 year-old Nigerian-Canadian, Ms. Kosi Nnebe, whose thought provoking work challenges our definitions of beauty and identity. Another special feature is the African Women in Technology forum. Presented in partnership with African Diaspora Network and IIE-TechWomen, the forum will feature an illuminating conversation with Africa’s next generation of women leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Our journey from the first year to the fifth has been long but steady as the community rallied and became the wind beneath our wings. I will like to thank our presenting partners Community School of Music and Arts and African Diaspora Network; our sponsors, donors, staff, advisors, volunteers and festival attendees without whom this festival will not be possible. Special thanks to our filmmakers for sharing your talent and enriching us with your stories.

God bless!

Chike C. Nwoffiah Festival Director

Team SVAFF 2014: Box Office Managers: Betsy Collard | Yolanda Tapia Event Photographers: Elley Ho | Art Roose | Larry Collins Hospitality Managers: Ugochi Ajoku | Sanjay Rajan | Tarrell Gamble Film Projectionists: Daudi Muli | Deriyan Moore Floor Managers: Timi Warikoru | Angela Spiff-Nwoye | Ryan Holland Outreach Coordinators: David Vargas | Carolina Morimoto | Carol Stafford Frew Tibebu | Kwaku Kankam | Wessy Kassa Vendor Coordinator: Shaka Camara | Amatula Camara Volunteer Coordinator: Brandace Ukwuije Director of Strategic Partnerships: Deffria Bass-Nwoffiah Office Manager: Pamala Springs Chief Technology Officer: Gabriel C. Nwoffiah Media Consultants: Y’Anad Burrell | Greg Bridges Safi wa Nairobi | Emmanuel Nado Advisory Board: Ozoekwe A. O. Braddy (Chair) Stephen Ozoigbo (USA) Diem Jones (USA) Dr. Barbara Waugh (USA) Prof. Jude Akudinobi (USA) Prof. Aboubakar Sanogo (Canada) Prof. Chika Anyanwu (Australia) Dr. Mohamed Gazala (Egypt) Dela Acolatse (Ghana) Friday Akpomera (Nigeria) Gabriel Okanime (South Africa) Alvin Kasule (Uganda) Volunteers: Ugochi Ajoku, Y’Anad Burrell, Amatula Camara Shaka Camara, Betsy Collard, Paul de Groot Brenda Egberuare, Allyson Fritz, Tarrell Gamble, Elley Ho Ryan Holland, Leelee Jackson, Moira Jamati Kwaku Kankam, Melvin Karuga, Wessy Kassa, ShaRon Mills Deriyan Moorer, Carolina Morimoto, Daudi Muli Chinedu Nwoffiah, Tricia O’Keefe, Anwuli Okeke Susan Okekenta, Sanjay Rajan, Art Roose, Chasity Shelby Tyreese Shelby, Angela Spiff-Nwoye, Pamala Springs Carol Stafford, Yolanda Tapia, Frew Tibebu Chinwe Ukaegbu, Brandace Ukwuije, Goodluck Ukwuije David Vargas, Pakal Vargas, Timi Warikoru, Barbara Waugh Sephora Woldu, Dallol Woldu, Carol Yates

Cover Art: Kosisochukwu Nnebe www.colouredconversations.com Program Booklet Design: Rhesus Media Group www.rhesusmedia.com

SVAFF 2014 Featured Artist, Ms. Kosi Nnebe

K

osisochukwu Nnebe is a 21-year-old NigerianCanadian artist, based in Montreal. While doing a double major in Economics and International Development at McGill University, in July 2013 she created Coloured Conversations, an online art project aimed at exploring race through art.Â

she believes in the power of black art as a way to combat racial stereotypes, facilitate a process of self-determination and highlight the beauty of black individuals. Coloured Conversations has been featured in numerous online publications in Canada, the United States, the U.K and Nigeria, and is continuing to grow and evolve.

In the past year she has had several opportunities to share her art and spread her message. In October 2013, she participated in the Congress of Black Writers and Artists and gave a talk about the relationship between black art and black power. This past February, she also had the opportunity to participate in a group art exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts that explored the history and identity of Black Canadians. Kosisochukwu believes in functional art, in other words she sees art as a way to redefine herself and explore the world around her. In particular, 6 | 5 years of Connecting Communities, Cultures & Continents | www.svaff.org

The Future of African Cinema has Arrived!

by Ekwa Msangi

T

he legacy of cinema in Africa and how Africans have been depicted is one borne entirely of a racist paradigm.

As African filmmakers making films today, our jobs entail not only the normal challenges of filmmaking, but also to undo this cancerous legacy that has had lasting effects on the hearts and minds of people worldwide. As a continent, we have had about 50 years of writing and directing our own stories, but the last 15 - 20 years have also had the benefit of digital technology that has allowed us to have better control over the filmmaking tools in a way that we haven’t had in the past.

L.A. Notcutt, founder of the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment (BEKE) which was created by the British in 1935 “in order to educate adult Africans to understand and adapt to new conditions,” amongst other goals (Notcutt and Latham, pg.

27-28) 1 argued the following: 1 Notcutt, L.A., and G.C. Latham, The African and the Cinema: An Account of the

With backward peoples unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood, it is surely in our wisdom, if not our obvious duty, to prevent as far as possible the dissemination of wrong ideas.

Should we stand by and see a distorted presentation of the white race’s life accepted by millions of Africans when we have it in our power to show them the truth? 2

The Bantu Cinema Experiment, and later the Colonial Film Unit (1939) were used for these exact purposes, and even though these programs were discontinued after independence, the damage had been done, not only to the African population but also to the Caucasian population who saw these depictions of themselves visBantu Educational Cinema Experiment during the Period March 1935 to May 1937. London: Edinburgh House Press, 1937.

2 Diawara, Manthia. African Cinema: Politics & Culture. Indiana University Press 1992. Print.

à-vis the Africans. At the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg there are several examples of how film was used to keep apartheid intact by completely re-writing history.

David Millin’s film Die Voortrekkers (1973) describes Dutch settlers who came to the shores of an uninhabited South Africa, who respectfully approached Zulu chiefs to discuss and agree upon equitable distribution of land (since the Dutch had discovered the land first), only to be savagely murdered by the greedy Africans… and on and on. South Africa is still working on cleaning up the effects of these misinformations and disinformations today by re-educating both students and teachers alike.

When asked how I feel about my part in reshaping the “Africa Brand” for the world, my response is that I’m not concerned about the world’s opinion. No, I am concerned about rebranding Africa for Africans, because unless we have a strong

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African filmmakers are shaping their own realities. Sure there are still challenges as far as funding and distribution, but it is a far cry from what our film forefathers experienced. For one, there are more than just film “fathers” now.

We have film “mothers” too with countries like Kenya where roughly 90% of directors, writers and producers are women. I don’t know of a film industry anywhere else in the world with that many women working in above-the-line positions.

sense of our own history, culture, and potential, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about us.

Unless we know that we come from greatness, we will always portray ourselves - in image and real life - as less than. This doesn’t mean that every story must be one of triumph, after all, in order for one to triumph, someone has to fail, and there is perhaps more learn in failure than there is in triumph.

the best of her imagination and discover it anew. This too is very political because in the media, sex in Africa is only ever associated with exploitation, violence, disease and homophobia. What a radical idea to see images of African people having healthy, happy and consensual sexual contact! But these are the waters that we tread as filmmakers. We have to fill in the gaps to our own history where it has been erased.

It is our job as African artists to help our societies heal from the effects of centuries of oppression and disinformation by creating images that accurately depict us as full and thinking human beings, not just the one-sided depictions that we’ve had to endure. The job is a political one, but is also a wonderful and exciting gift.

Recently on a Facebook thread, a filmmaker friend posed the question about what African foreplay was like.

There have been so few depictions of romantic intimacy in African film, and due to religious taboo, multiple generations have never been taught about sexual intimacy from an African standpoint. What does that even look like? The only examples we’ve ever seen were about Caucasian people, but never Africans.

Do we kiss? Do we hold hands?

Whisper soft nothings?

My answer to my friend’s question is that she might have to use 8 | 5 years of Connecting Communities, Cultures & Continents | www.svaff.org

The future is bright and it’s HERE! We are only getting started and thus far, things are looking quite promising. If we continue to have our way, this revolution will be televised far and wide.

Ekwa Msangi won the SVAFF 2011 Emerging Filmmaker Award. You can see her new film Soko Sonko at SVAFF 2014 on Saturday October 18 at 3:00pm - Tateuchi Hall

Redefining Narratives of Africa

by Prof. Chika Anyanwu & Prof. Jude G. Akudinobi

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frican cinema’s emergence in the waning days of colonialism uniquely embodied the spirit, aspirations and dramas of nation-building. Not surprising, the African film pioneers, especially mindful of the omissions, marginalization and skewering of African perspectives, through storylines, characterizations, and themes in colonial and mainstream Western films, adopted advocacy roles within their respective communities as critical chroniclers of the times. With their artistic visions shaped, fundamentally, by feelings of necessity, duty, and responsibility, they were unconcerned with fantastical stories and banal ‘marketable’ versions of African social realities.

For the pioneers, it was not enough to merely depict reality, it was more important, insofar as reality is dynamic, to engage it in thoughtful and provocative ways.

Hence, their films, in style and aesthetics, incorporated elements of African theatrical and story-telling traditions, not merely for visual flair but to contest and subvert narrow definitions of cinematic practice and, crucially, the place of Africa in it. Taking inspiration from their lives and times, issues of the day were

generally blended into narratives in manners that were entertaining but served, in engaging ways, as social commentaries too.

Nudging the audience towards a cinema not aloof from social realities, the camera became in the hands of these pioneers, a tool of redefining those realities and reconstructing African identities, values and traditions. However, these inclinations to challenge the generic expectations and representations of Africa ensured in part that African cinema, even though it found tenuous footholds or grips in art festival circuits, was sidelined in dominant distribution and exhibition networks.

While changes in African cultural milieus, partly through ‘globalization’ and evolving socioeconomic dynamics, have considerably shaped contemporary African cinematic practices, new digital technologies provide unique enabling conditions and creative stimuli for the filmmakers to explore novel concepts, standpoints and frontiers.

In creatively intermingling themes, genres and styles, contemporary African filmmakers foster wider narrative palettes and ambitions where artistic endeavours are

becoming more audaciously commercial, with sights set on global competitiveness and success.

In the latter, popular genres, like melodrama, are given unique African inflections.

For the younger generation, redefining narratives of Africa involved more than mirroring of realities. Through intricate links, perspectives, themes, forms, styles and concepts, they strive to imbue realities with nuances and imaginative verve largely by use of creative amalgamations that invite audiences to appreciate the various elements of the film independently and in juxtaposition with others.

As such, the new wave of African filmmakers do not just represent the eclectic breadth of African realities and identities; they are more open to a wider range of influences, the integration of cinema into the national, continental and global economic systems.

Insofar as digital technologies have affected the mode of production, distribution and consumption, contemporary generation of filmmakers are geared towards exploring more fruitful and relational ways of mixing their craft with the dynamics of contemporary African

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social realities, in addition to seeking wider and diverse audiences. For them, like the pioneers, redefining narratives of Africa is not just be about tools and techniques but also about enabling authorial voices, asserting the Africans’ prerogative and power to speak for themselves and, crucially, define own realities.

changing topics and challenging stereotypes, but from the pioneering ethos that favoured a ‘cinema of social consciousness’, it is a complicated project entangled in the tensions between realities and their representations, and how films implicate their makers and audiences.

Overall, African filmmakers deem it more valuable to open the spectators’ eyes, literally speaking, to the network of elements that engender a better understanding of Africa’s rich cultures through reference points like myths, folklore, history, culture, tradition, memory, symbols, art forms, dramatic forms, narrative forms, allegories, and, of course, complexities of contemporary African social and political imagination as they engage the intricate layers of the ‘real’.

It will, therefore, be mistaken to see African films necessarily as ‘illustrations’ of social realities.

Hence, redefining filmic narratives of Africa is not merely about

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Professor Chika Anyanwu, Head of School of Communication and Creative Industries, Charles Sturt University, Australia, and member of the SVAFF Advisory Board.

Prof Jude G. Akudinobi, an SVAFF Advisory Board member, teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Opening Night Film The Mice Room 80 minutes / 2013 Narrative Feature Directors: Hend Bakr, Mohamad El-Hadidi, Ahmed Magdy Morsy, Nermeen Salem, Mayye Zayed and Mohamed Zedan Country: Egypt North America Premiere Oct 17 at 8:00PM Tateuchi Hall

General Audience

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Closing Night Film The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo 78 minutes / 2014 Documentary Feature Director:Yaba Badoe Country: Ghana North America Premiere Oct 19 at 5:00PM Tateuchi Hall

General Audience

Official Selections

Documentary: Feature

Documentary: Short

Gold is Here 70 minutes / 2014 / Documentary Feature Director: David A. Masterwille / Ghana Synopsis: Gold Is Here explores the lives of artisanal gold miners in the rainforests of Ghana. The film takes a critical look at the impact of unlicensed mechanized gold mining on Ghana’s beleaguered environment, whiles shedding light on the involvement of children mining in dangerous mine pits.

Who Will Stand for Me 9 minutes / 2014 / Documentary Short Director: Sive Runeli / South Africa Synopsis: In this very personal film, young filmmaker, Sive Runeli raises questions about Itlawulo – an age long tradition where a man pays damages to a girl if he gets her pregnant before marriage. When cultural protocol is not followed the girl, her house and the child is "shamed".

North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 6:00PM | Raey Room | PG

North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 5:30PM | Tateuchi Hall | PG

The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo 78 minutes / 2014 / Documentary Feature Director:Yaba Badoe / Ghana Synopsis: The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo explores the artistic contribution of one of African’s foremost woman writers, a trailblazer for an entire generation of exciting new talent. The documentary charts Ama Ata Aidoo’s creative journey in a life that spans 7 decades from colonial Ghana through the tumultuous era of independence to a more sober present day Africa where nurturing women’s creative talent remains as hard as ever. North America Premiere | Oct 19 at 5:00PM |

Life Framed 25 minutes / 2013 / Documentary Short Director: Liz Fish / South Africa Synopsis: Life Framed is the story of Lindeka Qampi, a street photographer in Khayelitsha, Cape Town and a remarkable woman who fell in love with her camera and transformed her life from living on the margins to the centre frame. North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 6:00PM | Raey Room | General Audience

Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

A Culture of Silence 108 minutes / 2013 / Documentary Feature Director: Raouf J. Jacob / Sierra Leone Synopsis: A documentary about the human condition in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The film follows two independent documentary filmmakers, as they travel across Sierra Leone exploring sensitive cultural issues that the nation deems as untouchable and even a taboo. Could the silence be broken in a world where culture is currently at war with human rights? Regional Premiere | Oct 19 at 12:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | PG-13

Blood Money 9 minutes / 2014 / Documentary Short Director: Xolani Tulumani / South Africa Synopsis: Vuyo is an unemployed young man from Gugulethu. He stabs another young man during a fight and as custom demands has to pay restitution (Blood Money) to the victim's family. However,Vuyo doesn't have the money but even if he finds it, his bigger problem is that the young man he stabbed does not care about custom and tradition and is bent on seeking revenge to regain his pride.

North America Premiere | Oct 19 at 1:00PM | Raey Room | PG-13

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Official Selections

My Zulu Lessons 10:30 minutes / 2014 / Documentary Short Director: Muchaneta Manyegavana / South Africa Synopsis: Alpha Mthembu is a Zulu young man who was sent to a children's home at age eight where he grew up only able to speak English and Afrikaans. Now as a teenager, he undertakes a journey back to his Zulu roots to fulfill a lifelong desire to learn his Zulu culture and language.

North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 4:00PM | Raey Room | General Audience

Fare Ta - Land of Dance 17 minutes / 2014 / Documentary Short Director: Idrissa Camara / Guinea Synopsis: Fare Ta - Land of Dance is a first attempt to document some of the dance practices in Guinea, West Africa and pose the question on what is meant by "traditional" African-dance. Idrissa Camara is a dancer and musician from Guinea Conakry and founder of Ballet Nimba, a UK- based African-Dance Theatre company. North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 3:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

Dogo Masai (The Young Masai) 110 minutes / 2014 / Narrative Feature Director: Timoth Conrad Kachumia / Tanzania Synopsis: In defiance of an abusive uncle, James, a young Masai decides to shed his urban lifestyle and clothing and embraces his Masai roots and traditional clothes. How will this new found identity affect him and the people around him? North America Premiere | Oct 19 at 11:00AM | Raey Room | PG-13

B’ella 102 minutes / 2014 / Narrative Feature Length Directed by: Tawonga Taddja Nkhonjera / Malawi Synopsis: A coming of age story about B'ella, a 17 year-old girl from the outskirts of Malawi's cosmopolitan city of Blantyre. B'ella wrestles with intersection of traditional life and the new role of girls in modern day Malawi as she artfully navigates her various roles of daughter, sister, student, advocate and a girl who just wants to grow up.

North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 4:00PM | Raey Room | PG-13

Narrative: Feature

The Superstition 118 minutes / 2014 / Narrative Feature Director: Paresh Gondaliya & Zziwa Aaron / Uganda Synopsis: Infidelity and mistrust leads war veteran Wawuyo to separate with his wife shortly after he returns from war-torn Iraq. But a short time affair with a prostitute presents him with a bigger problem as he now has to struggle to make a living while raising a child that he is not sure belongs to him.

North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 8:00PM | Raey Room | R

The Mice Room 80 minutes / 2013 / Narrative Feature Directors: Hend Bakr, Mohamad El-Hadidi, Ahmed Magdy Morsy, Nermeen Salem, Mayye Zayed and Mohamed Zedan / Egypt Synopsis: Six different characters roam the city of Alexandria along with their fears - a father on a death bed, a wedding day blues, a travel to a foreign country, a husband’s death, etc. They never meet but in brilliant imagery, their lives connect through their shared anxiety and internal struggle to break free. North America Premiere | Oct 17 at 8:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

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Narrative: Short

Dazzling Mirage 125 minutes / 2014 / Narrative Feature Length Director: Tunde Kelani / Nigeria Synopsis: Dazzling Mirage is an inspiring story centered around an advertising executive- a talented beautiful young sickle cell sufferer who overcomes social stigma; prejudice and her own low self esteem to achieve career success, marriage and motherhood.

North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 8:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | PG-13

Official Selections

When is it Enough 23 minutes / 2014 / Narrative Short Director: Daniel Ademinokan / Nigeria Synopsis: The film is based on the true story of Amaka, a Nigerian woman who is being brutalized and abused in her home by her husband. She seeks help from the Nigerian Police, family and even the church but they all fail to protect her. How long could she continue to endure the brutality when the society and system fail to protect her?

Regional Premiere | Oct 18 at 3:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | PG-13

Accident 92 minutes / 2013 / Narrative Feature Director: Teco Benson / Nigeria Synopsis: Chy, a successful Nigerian female attorney takes on a case that may well be the last case of her career. A client wants to divorce his wife after 15 months of marriage, but when the woman turns up dead, Chy finds herself entangled in a web of deceit, scandal and jealousy. Accident is a fascinating courtroom drama with twists and turns that will keep the audience guessing. Winner of the 2014 Best Nigerian Film (AMAA) Award.

Save 5:35 minutes / 2014 / Narrative Short Director: Emnet Mulugeta / Eritrea Synopsis: The story follows a young girl, passionate about football, and a shopkeeper living in remote village in the desert of Eritrea, on the east coast of Africa. It's a film about harsh reality, dreams and the blurred line between the two seen thru the eyes of a 6 year old.

Regional Premiere | Oct 18 at 3:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 5:30PM | Tateuchi Hall | PG-13

Horizon Beautiful 91 minutes / 2013 / Narrative Feature Director: Stephan Jager / Ethiopia Synopsis: A soccer magnate on a promotion tour in Addis Ababa gets mixed up in a fake kidnapping. His supposed liberator is a 12-year old street kid with a plan: To have the Godfather of soccer take him to ballplayer's heaven.

Regional Premiere | presentation courtesy of tellfilm GmbH | Oct 19 at 3:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | PG

Entropya 20 minutes / 2013 / Narrative Short Director:Yassine Marco Marroccu | Morocco Synopsis: A man gets back home at sunset. The dinner table is set. It's a special occasion, his 20th wedding anniversary. His wife is quietly trimming her roses, while they look back at the last 20 years of their life. The movie focuses on the mismatches engendered by a complicated love story between two diametrical ethnic backgrounds. The film has a timeless atmosphere where mirror games and optical illusions suggest the final entropy.

North America Premiere | Oct 19 at 1:00PM | Raey Room | PG

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Official Selections

Stressed 7 minutes / 2013 / Narrative Short Director: Kafuba Patrick / Rwanda Synopsis: Gato's is having the worst day of his life as nothing he planned seems to be working out. Everything has been going wrong from the moment he opened his eyes in the morning and so he decides to end his life. Will that go wrong as well?

North America Premiere | Oct 19 at 11:00AM | Raey Room | PG

Motorbike Dreams 18 minutes / 2013 / Narrative Short Director: Ella Liliane Mutuyimana / Country: Rwanda Synopsis: A humble and hardworking taxi motorcyclist loses everything dear to him during a forced eviction. Is he right to persist in the city rather than going back to the village? A meditative reflection on the merits of the appeal of cities in an Africa during modernization.

North America Premiere | Oct 19 at 1:00PM | Raey Room | PG

Beleh 26 minutes / 2013 / Narrative Short Director: Eka Christa Assam / Country: Cameroon Synopsis: Ekema's hard and uncompromising attitude toward his very pregnant wife, Joffi, is quickly revised when he has to spend an entire day in her shoes.

Regional Premiere | Oct 19 at 1:00PM | Raey Room | PG-13

Soko Sonko 22 minutes / 2014 / Narrative Short Director: Ekwa Msangi / Kenya Synopsis: When her mother falls sick, Kibibi's father, Ed, is tasked with taking her to the market to get her hair braided before school begins. Soko Sonko is a hilarious, fish out of water roller coaster of a journey, about a well intended dad who braves the fires and goes where no man has gone before...because only women have been there!

Regional Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance | Oct 18 at 3:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

Eyes 7 minutes / 2014 / Narrative Short Director: Moustafa El Meligy / Egypt Synopsis: A young woman is tired of the suggestive eyes of the men she encounters. When she decides to do something about it, she learns a lesson that will open her eyes to a new way of seeing things. North America Premiere | Oct 19 at 3:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

3 Candles 16 minutes / 2013 / Narrative Short Director: Ahmed Fouad / Egypt Synopsis: 3 young brothers living in an isolated poor village are faced with a challenge of keeping the light on so they can study. In a show of selfless love and sacrifice, the oldest of the siblings gets creative and proves that necessity begets invention. But it is how his younger brothers show him their appreciation that will melt your heart.

North America Premiere | Oct 18 at 3:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

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Official Selections

Animation

Domestic Disturbance 5 minutes / 2011 / Animation Short Director: Gatumia Gatumia / Kenya Synopsis: When a father of three and husband to one tries to escape attending a relative's wedding and enjoy some time off, he finds himself repeatedly reminded that domestic life will inevitable bring with it some degree of disturbance. In this short, things go a bit awry for dad as his hopes of spending a relaxing, quiet day alone quickly come undone.

Oct 19 at 5:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

Greedy Lords of the Jungle 7 minutes / 2011 / Animation Short Director: Gatumia Gatumia / Kenya Synopsis: Not so long ago, in a beautiful land, there lived a man. Unfortunately not everyone who visited the land was honest and true. Some were very greedy and sought to take as much as they could from the man. Eventually, the man had suffered so much that he decided to find a way to deal with the problem. Originally the story was an allegory about the disenfranchisement of the Africans by the Europeans especially during and after ‘the Scramble for Africa’.

Oct 17 at 8:00PM | Tateuchi Hall | General Audience

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Presenting Organizations: Oriki Theater is a Mountain View, California based 501(c)3 nonprofit performing arts company dedicated to the promotion of Africa’s culture and heritage through a unique combination of dance, drama, music, folk stories, chants and the DRUM. From outreach programs in schools to theatrical productions and workshops, Oriki brings to our community a shared experience of Africa, its people and their way of life. www.oriki.org Founded in 1968, Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) is Northern California’s largest non-profit provider of arts education programs. With a $4.9 million budget and 160-member staff and faculty, it is one of the ten largest community schools in the United States. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, one of the global capitals of creativity, CSMA is dedicated to instilling, training and nurturing creativity for all stages of life. Headquartered in the awardwinning Finn Center in the City of Mountain View, CSMA directly serves over 22,000 people of all ages, skill levels and economic means each year, including over 15,000 students at 32 schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. www.arts4all.org Thanks to: Mayor Christopher R. Clark (City of Mountain View) | Santa Clara County Supervisor, S. Joseph Simitian (5th District) | Assemblyman Rich Gordon (24th District) Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (14th District) | David Anthony | Jude Akudinobi | Hana Baba | Greg Bridges | Gail Bond | Y’Anad Burrell | Hugh Burroughs Christine Catura | Joy Candace | Dr. Jacqueline Copeland-Carson | Sheila Correa-Ortiz | Alicia Crank | Keith Crawford | Stacy Cusulos | Fiifi Deku | Robin Donovan Keisha Evans | Ben Frandzel | Anil Gupta | Jazz Johal | Patty Juanes | Terri Khonsari | Tacuma King | Kristina Lee | Safi wa Nairobi | Almaz Negash | Stephen Ozoigbo Christine Padilla | Carl and Brenda Ray | Helen Sims | Pamala Springs | Katranker Thompson | Walter Turner | Chinwe Ukaegbu | Monique Walton | Barbara Waugh Rufus White | Vickie Wilson | Shelley Wolfe | Wanda Wong | Malaika Young | Emmanuel Nado | Mahen Bonetti | Uzo Maxim Uzoatu | Dr Sam Dede | Ogo & IK Nnebe.

Community Partners: TechWomen | Pride Museum | Frew Sells Homes | Ethiopia Reads | tellfilm GmbH | Akoma Arts | Africa Today on KPFA 94.1FM | LaunchPad Africa Institute of International Education (IIE) | KPOO 85.9FM | Crosscurrents - KALW Public Radio 91.7FM | Worldreader | Families Without Borders One World Children’s Fund | Talisman | Houston Museum of African American Culture | BigFish School of Digital Filmmaking | African Film Festival New York.

Sponsors: City of Mountain View Human Relations Commission | NetApp | Uber | Crayola | Stanford Live | Rhesus Media Group | Relativity Media | KMVT Channel 15 Hotel Avante | Wild Palms Hotel | The Grand Hotel | Sheraton Sunnyvale Hotel | Hobees | Starbucks | Honest Tea | Trader Joe’s | Chipotle | The Milk Pail Market Morocco’s Restaurant | Ankara Fest LA | Glass House Communications | San Jose Chapter of the Links, Inc. | NAACP San Jose Chapter | Agonafer Mekonen Regga and Almaz Tekeste | Monique Walton Family Trust | Pan African City Alive | Costco Mountain View | African Technology Foundation | Global Fund for Women.

AD SPONSORED BY DR. & MRS. KHONSARI

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