African Film Festival 2012

Overview

Year after year, we unthinkingly trod along to Tropfest and the Alliance Francaise Alliance French Film Festival. But what about something different, huh? Australia's first annual African Film Festival is here in Sydney. It will showcase some enlightening, thought-provoking and diverse African features, documentaries, animation, shorts, experimental films and classics to audiences across Australia.

The opening night features the Australian premiere of Restless City. A visually stunning tribute to New York City, the film had its global premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Nigerian director Andrew Dosunmu creates a kaleidoscope of colour and print as he tells the story of an African immigrant living on the fringes of American society and trying to realise his dreams. When he falls in love with a beautiful prostitute, his life becomes extremely complicated.

The opening night will also feature a spectacular dance performance by SAEA Banyana (South Africa, Ethiopia and Angola). The 'SAEA' represents the African nations that these young women hail from, and 'Banyana' means 'the girls' in Nguni. These girls will stomp and shake up a storm as they fuse African roots, Afrofunk and beat, RnB, dancehall and hip hop into an explosive interpretation.

Ugandan film Kengere, which features as part of the African Shorts Session, explores many tense political issues through the medium of puppetry. Director Peter Muhumuza Tukei unravels the black history the governments attempted to erase, including a bizarre ruse to justify the murder of an entire village.

Liberia 77, filmed in Liberia and Canada, shows the stark changes that have occurred across recent decades in this challenged nation. For director Jeff Topham and his brother Andrew, 1970s Liberia was a childhood paradise of endless beaches, thick jungle — even a pet chimp. Thirty years later, Jeff and Andrew return to Liberia, but what starts as a personal journey, quickly evolves into something they didn't expect.

Closing the festival is the Australian premiere of Kinshasa Symphony, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's only symphony orchestra. The film follows the determined, captivating and inspiring members of the orchestra as they overcome daily struggles and celebrate life through the power of music.

Image: Restless City.