![Why Are They Here? Chines Stories in Africa focuses on Chinese immigrants in Africa. While Chinese immigrants have always lived in Africa in the past, hundreds of thousands have come to the continent in recent years, with more on their way, hoping to open small businesses and to prosper. However, their lives don’t always turn [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why-are-they-here-chinese-stories-in-africa.jpg "WHY ARE THEY HERE? CHINESE STORIES IN AFRICA")
![The Letter: An American Town and “The Somali Invasion” takes place in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. A firestorm erupts when Mayor Larry Raymond of Lewiston, Maine, sends a letter to 1,100 newly arrived Somali refugees advising them that, due to strained city resources, additional Somalis should not move to the city. The film [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/the-letter.jpg "LETTER: AN AMERICAN TOWN AND “THE SOMALI IN...")
![In Faro, Goddess of the Waters, Zanga returns to his village in rural Mali as an engineer trained to bring development to his community. Born out of wedlock, Zanga was cast from his village for the curse of being a bastard. Villagers link his reappearance to a recent village tragedy; they believe that Faro, the [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/faro-goddess-of-the-waters-375x250.jpg "FARO, GODDESS OF THE WATERS")
![On a mission to forge a relationship with his estranged son, a father and his son arrive from the big city to the dusty town of Hopeville, which proves to be anything but hopeful. When the father decides to restore the public swimming pool so his son can pursue a swimming career, he is met [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/hopeville.jpg "HOPEVILLE")
![Animations of three award-winning children’s books round out the Family Film Day program: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears is a tall tale that sets off a chain of mishaps in the jungle. A Story, A Story relates how the Sky God once kept all the stories of the world in a box, until Ananse [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/why-mosquitoes-buzz-in-peoples-ears.jpg "WHY MOSQUITOES BUZZ IN PEOPLE’S EARS … AN...")
![This globally acclaimed feature film introduces us to Riva, a handsome dreamer who once had nothing. That was until his return to the pulsating nightlife of Kinshasa after being away for a decade. With his pockets full of someone else’s cash, Riva is determined to have the time of his life. He soon meets and [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/viva-riva.jpg "VIVA RIVA!")
![The Manuscripts of Timbuktu directed by Zola Maseko (Drum, The Life and Times of Sarah Baartman) brings to life the historical city of Timbuktu, which flourished as part of the Mali Empire as a great center of commerce, learning, and religion. Scholars, doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men both wrote and owned manuscripts containing [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/the-manuscripts-of-timbuktu.jpg "MANUSCRIPTS OF TIMBUKTU, THE")
![For the Best and For the Onion! captures the rhythms of agricultural life in Niger, where Galmi purple onions, prized throughout West Africa, are grown. Shot over the course of one growing season in director Elhadj Magori Sani’s home community, the film shows how the vagaries of the global market price and harvest can affect [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/for-the-best-and-for-the-onion.jpg "FOR THE BEST AND FOR THE ONION!")
![State of Violence tells the story of Bobedi, a member of South Africa’s new black business elite. On a night he and his wife Joy are celebrating his latest job promotion, an intruder murders Joy in a seemingly random act of violence. Frustrated by the slow pace of the police investigation, Bobedi tries to take [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/state-of-violence.jpg "STATE OF VIOLENCE")
![Perseverance, determination, and communal cooperation keep the Kimanguiste Symphony Orchestra, the only orchestra in the Democratic Republic of Congo, going. This self-made classical orchestra in Kinshasa comprises 200 musicians who have retained their passion for classical music for the last 15 years in spite of the ongoing wars and turmoil in their country. This inspiring [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/kinshasa-symphony.jpg "KINSHASA SYMPHONY")
![The 22nd festival opens with Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story, a film by one of Egypt’s foremost directors that dramatically captures the fusion of oppressive politics, repression, and the desire for freedom and creativity that have fueled the Arab Spring. Framed like The Arabian Nights and set in modern-day Cairo, the film centers on a [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/scheherazade-tell-me-a-story.jpg "SCHEHERAZADE, TELL ME A STORY")
![Restless City is a stunning look at New York’s West African immigrant community. The film tells the story of Djibril, a Senegalese immigrant surviving on the fringes of New York City. He dreams of being a musician but ekes out a living selling CDs on the street. When he falls in love with a prostitute [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/restless-city.jpg "RESTLESS CITY")
![Malawi’s first professionally produced feature film, Seasons of a Life tells the story of Sungisa, a housemaid who is sexually abused and impregnated by her employer, Kondani. Kondani agrees to give her financial support if she will not disclose that he is the father of her child. She uses the money to get an education, [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/seasons-of-a-life.jpg "SEASONS OF A LIFE")
![In the summer of 2006, Issa Sesay, a former Sierra Leonean rebel leader, sits in the defense docket at the international tribunal on war crimes in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He is accused of crimes against humanity. Yet Sesay was also one of the key players in the peace negotiations that led to the long-awaited end [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/war-don-don.jpg "WAR DON DON")
![Broken Dreams delves into questions about the disappearance of young Somali men from Minneapolis, Minnesota, home to the nation’s largest Somali immigrant population. Families and community members were shocked to learn that many of these bright young men had returned to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabab, the terrorist group linked to Al-Qaida. Questions abound about [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/broken-dreams-2.jpg "BROKEN DREAMS")
![This year’s Family Film Day showcases a program of charming animated African folk tales. Tinga Tinga Tales is inspired by traditional animal stories from Africa and Tingatinga artwork, named for the Tanzanian artist Edward Saidi Tingatinga. From these engaging tales, we learn why the frog croaks, why the crocodile has bumps, and why the woodpecker [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tinga-tinga-tales.jpg "TINGA TINGA TALES")
![Xoliswa Sithole, an accomplished filmmaker in her own right who was once proud to call Zimbabwe her home, has produced a wrenching documentary chronicling the economic, olitical, and social degradation of her country, and the devastating impact this is having on children. The film focuses on three children: Grace, Esther, and Obert, who show us [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/zimbabwes-forgotten-children.jpg "ZIMBABWE’S FORGOTTEN CHILDREN")
![In the midst of Mozambique’s devastating civil war, an orphaned refugee wanders the countryside in search of his mother. His only companion is an elderly storyteller, and his only guide to finding his mother is a dead man’s diary. Together, the storyteller and the diary lead him on a magical, and sometimes macabre, journey across [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/sleepwalking-land.jpg "SLEEPWALKING LAND / TERRA SONÂMBULA")
![Ghana’s top-grossing film, Perfect Picture is a romantic comedy about three beautiful young women struggling together through life, love, and marriage. One discovers, upon getting married, that she and her husband are sexually incompatible. The second settles down with a man but soon realizes she is not the only woman in his life. And the [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/perfect-picture.jpg "PERFECT PICTURE")
![This award-winning film, starring some of Ghana’s top actors, is set in the time of the ancient Mali Empire, blending historical epic and timeless romantic melodrama. To protect the Kingdom of Kotengbi from slave raiders, Prince Wenambe decides to build a wall around his kingdom and pledge allegiance to Mansa Musa, the great Muslim king [...]](http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/i-sing-of-a-well.jpg "I SING OF A WELL")
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Welcome to the 22nd Cascade Festival of African Films
February 3 – March 3, 2012
Free and open to the public on a first-come, first-seated basis
We are very pleased to present a variety of feature and documentary films from the African continent. The majority of films were made by African directors. The films celebrate Africa’s achievements, expose Africa’s failures, and reveal the possibilities for change and a more hopeful future. They show us pictures of Africa through the eyes of Africans, rather than a vision of Africa that is packaged primarily for western viewers. The films represent African concerns that are political, historical, and social. This year’s films cover a wide range of themes and topics, including political oppression and the desire for freedom; the new African diaspora and issues of immigration, assimilation and identity; violence, revenge, peace and reconciliation; onion farming in Niger; the ancient history and manuscripts of Timbuktu; art, culture and music; love and marriage; and the struggle for women’s and children’s rights.
We view film as a medium for artistic expression and illumination. These films were chosen on the basis of their quality as film and their ability to captivate and move audiences. We also chose them because they represent different countries and cultures and a range of lifestyles from pre-colonial to modern times, including both rural and urban settings. Although it is impossible to represent a whole continent with only a few films, it is our hope that through this annual film series we will encourage American viewers to become interested in African cultures and to study them further.
