Franco-African film Festival
In French with English subtitles
March 2, 9, 23, 30 at 6 PM.
Lone Star College-CyFair, 9191 Barker Cypress Road, Cypress, TX 77433-1383
ARTS building, room 102
Admissi on is Free
LSC-CyFair presents four documentary films from French-speaking Africa. Where possible, films will be preceded by a brief introduction to French-speaking African countries by international students from the college.
Afrique, je te plumerai
Tuesday, March 2
Cameroon, 88 minutes, 1992
Director: Jean-Marie Teno. In French with English subtitles.
This documentary of repressive political realities in Cameroon begins with the 1990 publication of an open letter to President Biya calling for a national conference - and the immediate arrest of the letter's author and publisher.
The narration then examines the nation's colonial history, beginning with the first German missionary in 1901, the establishment of schools, French occupation following World War I, the paucity of books written by and published by Cameroonians, and the repression of the CPU, a leftist organization of the 1950s and 1960s. Cameroon and its people are the lark, its feathers plucked first by colonialism and then by native strongmen: 'Alouette, je te plumerai.'
Afro@digital
Tuesday, March 9
Congo/France, 52 minutes, 2003.
Director: Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda. In English, French, Jula, and Yoruba with English subtitles.
Afro@Digital asks how digital technology can best serve the interests of Africa. For example, it could be used simply to let the ruling elites and global corporations further monopolize the flow of information within society. Or it could take advantage of the internet’s multi-directionality to become an instrument for increased governmental transparency and citizen participation, including the participation of African professionals who live abroad and who want to assist their native countries.
Young filmmakers point out that the comparative cheapness of high quality digital equipment now allows them to create, preserve and share their own memory of themselves and aspirations for the future. Although the internet and digital television will inevitably open Africa to further globalization, this documentary shows Africans responding positively by developing their own vigorous presence in a new international, digital cultural ecology.
Arlit, Deuxieme Paris
Tuesday, March 23
Niger/France, 75 minutes, 2004
Producer/Director: Idrissou Mora Kpai. In French, Bariba, Hausa, and Tamashek with English subtitles.
Eye-opening documentary about the lives and hopes of African people connected to a uranium mine in Niger.
Le Malentendu colonial
Tuesday, March 30
Cameroon, 73 minutes, 2004.
Producer/Director: Jean-Marie Teno. In French, German, and English with English subtitles.
In The Colonial Misunderstanding Jean-Marie Teno sheds light on the complex and problematic relationship between colonization and European missionaries on the African continent.
The film looks at Christian evangelism as the forerunner of European colonialism in Africa, indeed, as the ideological model for the relationship between North and South even today. In particular it looks at the role of missionaries in Namibia on the centenary of the 1904 German genocide of the Herrero people there. It reveals how colonialism destroyed African beliefs and social systems and replaced them with European ones as if they were the only acceptable routes to modernity. As Prof. F. Kangué Ewané says in the film: "I can forgive Westerners for taking away my land ...but not for taking away my mind and soul."
Through an examination of the work of German missionary societies in Africa whose vocation was to bring Christianity - and by extension, European culture and European rule - to the heathens, Jean Marie Teno reveals The Colonial Misunderstanding.
For more information, contact Georges.J.Detiveaux@LoneStar.Edu (281.290.5975)
Pictures Gallery here.
Organized by
Georges Detiveaux, French Instructor, Lone Star College-CyFair
