WOMEN WHO FIGHT BACK FILM SERIES

From Mali to the USA, from Colombia to Canada, there are Black women everywhere fighting to defend women's right to exist as full human-being. ADIFF has compiled a few powerful films that tell stories of women who fight to keep their family, their culture and their integrity alive and strong. Come share with us these inspiring stories!

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 @ 6PM

Faraw, Mother of Dunes by Abbdoulaye Ascofaré (Mali, 90mins)
Zamiatouis the mother of two quarrelsome boys and a depressed teenage girl. She is also the wife of a man arrested for political reasons who returns from prison mentally and physically destroyed. She struggles hard to survive in a poor and desolate area. She is ready to face anything to keep the family alive except prostituting her beautiful daughter. Her determination will take her far from her family. FREE SCREENING

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 @ 8:30PM

Josephine Baker- Black Diva in a White Man's World- by Annette von Wangenheim (Germany/USA, 45mins) - Back by popular demand!
A tender, revealing documentary about one of the most famous and popular performing artists of the 20th century. Her legendary banana belt dance created theatre history; her song “J’ai deux amours” became a classic, and her hymn. The film focuses on her life and work from a perspective that analyses images of Black people in popular culture. It portrays the artist in the mirror of European colonial clichés and presents her as a resistance fighter, an ambulance driver during WWII, and an outspoken activist against racial discrimination involved in the worldwide Black Consciousness movement of the 20th century.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 @ 2PM

Family Motel by Helene Klodawsky (Canada, 88mins)
Raising teenaged daughters is not easy, especially for Ayan, a Somalian refugee living in Canada who also supports a husband and two sons left behind in Somalia. Living in her small Vancouver apartment with her daughters -- Nasrah, 17, and Leila, 15 -- Ayan is trying to keep everything together, but is evicted from her apartment for late payment. Because Ayan is unable to afford the soaring rents on her two service jobs, and the Canadian social services are unable to assist in placing her, she and her two daughters must move into a Family Motel. Ayan keeps her faith and dignity throughout these challenging times and, with great fortitude, strives to make the best of her difficult situation.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 @ 4PM

Soraya, Love Is Not Forgotten by Marta Rodríguez and Fernando Restrepo  (Colombia, 52mins)
In the violent and complex conflict that has racked Colombia, the most vulnerable are always the most affected. Soraya Palacios’ story is that of many Afrocolombian peasants displaced from their land in the armed conflict between the national army, Colombian guerillas, and the right-wing paramilitary. Soraya has to abandon her homeland after her husband's assassination by paramilitaries. As a mother of six children, she does her best to provide as much as she can for them. Likes many other Afro-Colombian women displaced from Choco, her daily struggle reflects her desire to resist for getting her culture and history.
Shown with
Susana Baca : MemoriaViva by Mark Dixon (Peru/Belgium, 54mins)
Susana Baca is not only a champion in the performance and preservation of Afro-Peruvianheritage, but also an elegant singer whose shimmering voice sings of love, loss and life. Susana and her husband Ricardo Pereira have founded the Instituto Negrocontinuo “Black Continuum” in Lima, a spirited facility for the exploration, expression, and creation of Black Peruvian culture. While Baca has dedicated herself to researching and performing virtually all forms of Afro-Peruvian folklore, it is the lando that has become her trademark. This slow to mid-tempo, highly evocative mix of Spanish, Indigenous and African rhythms has become what the son is to Cuba, or the samba to Brazil--the lando is the sound of Black Peru.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 @ 7PM

Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story by YousryNasrallah (Egypt, 134 mins)
Hebba Younisis a contemporary, fiercely independent talk-show host. She is married to Karim Hassan, an opportunistic newspaper editor for a government-owned daily. Hebba is asked to forfeit the success of her career for the professional ambitions of her husband. She must soften the critical tone of her reports on governmental affairs. As Hebba finally complies and shifts away from hard politics to devote her program to social issues - the so-called "women's stories,” she discovers lives and struggles that may be even more damaging to reveal. Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story is a surprising, engrossing and thoughtful film about modern gender politics in Egypt.

SUNDAY, JUNE 5 @ 1PM

Hearing Radmilla by Angela Webb (USA, 82mins)
This film is a portrait of Radmilla Cody, who was Miss Navajo Nation from 1997 to 1998. It follows her reign as the first biracial Miss Navajo, then explores her pursuit of a singing career, and finally addresses the cruel realities that led to serious legal consequences for her.

SUNDAY, JUNE 5 @ 3PM

Umoja- the village where men are forbidden by Jean Crousillac and Jean-Marc Sainclair (France/Kenya, 52mins)
The film tells the story of brave Samburu women who were raped by British soldiers based in Northern Kenya between 1970 and 2024. Dishonored, the women were beaten and renounced by their husbands. In 1990, a few of those women gathered and created Umoja, a village forbidden to men, which rapidly became a refuge for those in a similar plight. Since then, jealous men have frequently attacked Umoja and causing trouble and harassing its founder and matriarch, Rebecca Lolosoli.  

SUNDAY, JUNE 5 @ 4:30PM

Compensation by Zeinabu irene Davis (US, 92mins)
Compensation the first feature by award-winning filmmaker Zeinabu irene Davis (Cycles and A PowerfulThang), presents two unique African-American love stories between a deaf woman and a hearing man. Inspired by a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, this moving narrative shares their struggle to overcome racism, disability and discrimination. An important film on African-American deaf culture, Davis innovatively incorporates silent film techniques (such as title cards and vintage photos) to make the piece accessible to hearing and deaf viewers alike, and to share the vast possibilities of language and communication.

SUNDAY, JUNE 5 @ 7PM

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks by Lisa Gay Hamilton (USA, 90mins)
Beah, A Black Woman Speaks, the directorial debut of actress Lisa Gay Hamilton, celebrates the life of legendary African American actress, poet and political activist Beah Richards, best known for her Oscar nominated role in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. While Richards’ struggled to overcome racial stereotypes throughout her long career onstage and onscreen in Hollywood and New York, she also had an influential role in the fight for Civil Rights, working alongside the likes of Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois and Louise Patterson. Enlightening and moving, the film is a fitting tribute to Richard’s life of integrity, leadership and service to the two cultures she loved so deeply—the arts and the African American community.

RECEPTION WILL FOLLOW LAST SCREENING

TICKETS: 

FREE FRIDAY, June 3 @ 6PM only
FRIDAY @ 8PM, SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Weekend pass $20; Day pass $15; $6 per show.

SECURE YOUR SEAT TODAY! ONLINE

WHERE: Teachers College, Columbia University
525 West 120th Street - Room 263 Macy
Take train 1 to 116th street and walk uptown four blocks. Entrance between Broadway and Amsterdam. Picture ID requested to enter building.

DVDs and VHS of films from Africa and the African Diaspora will be on sale at the venue. $15 per DVD; $25 for 2 DVD; $35 for three DVD and $10 for each additional DVD.