Media Release Some of the best of African film will be screened at the Shetland Museum and Archives on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th November, thanks to a collaboration between the Africa in Motion Film Festival, Shetland Film Club and Shetland Arts. Supported by Regional Screen Scotland, the festival proper is taking place in Edinburgh this weekend, but then goes on the road to Dumfries and Galloway, the Isle of Skye and Drumnadrochit, before finishing its tour in Lerwick. The festival aims to increase the public’s awareness of the richness and variety of African cinema, whilst challenging some of the misconceptions about Africa, and the way it is represented in more mainstream cinema.
All the films will be introduced by festival director Lizzie Bisschoff, who will also give an introductory talk on the Friday evening. In addition, Lizzie Bisschoff will conduct a Q and A session at the end of Bamako on Saturday evening.
Films to be screened in Lerwick include the documentary Like A Man on Earth, made by a young man who fled Ethiopia to escape violent political repression, showing the tremendous struggles and suffering borne by refugees; Tilai (The Law) made by the acclaimed African director Idrissa Ouedraogo, which is the story of an illicit love affair and its consequences for a small village in Burkina Faso, and Bamako, an offbeat, satirical comedy written and directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, in which the director imagines how it would be if Western powers were forced to answer for the damage they have done in the Third World; in the courtyard of a shared house in a village in Mali, African civil society spokesmen decide to take proceedings against the World Bank and the IMF, whilst all around them, village life goes on.
There will also be a free programme of short, animated films for children and young people on Saturday, to which adults are also welcome!
Stuart Hubbard from Shetland Film Club said that the club was delighted to be able to assist in bringing African film to a wider audience. “As part of our outreach partnership work with Shetland Arts, we feel this is a perfect opportunity to celebrate the film makers of Africa, who rarely make it to the screen in the UK.” This leg of the festival has also been supported by Unison (Health Branch) and Shetland Amnesty International Group. The Film Club outreach work is funded by Shetland Arts, the Shetland Charitable Trust’s Arts Fund and by the Co-op Community Fund.
Tickets will be on sale from the Shetland Box office at Islesburgh from Monday 2nd November onwards, tel. 01595 745555. For those over 15 years old there is a festival ticket costing £10 (£7 concessions) which will get you in to all screenings and talks. Otherwise, individual tickets cost £4 (£3 concessions) and the young people’s animation session is free.
For further information contact Kathy Hubbard at Shetland Arts on 01595 743843 or e-mail [email protected] or Stuart Hubbard at Shetland Film Club on 01950 477235, e-mail [email protected].
