Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Co-Directors Mary Holmstrom, 503.292.3685,
or Michael Dembrow, 503.914.9723,

 

The Eighteenth Annual Cascade Festival of African Films presents Family Film Day on Saturday, February 16, 2008, at 2 p.m. at McMenamins Kennedy School Theatre, 5736 N.E. 33rd Avenue, Portland, Oregon. The event is free of charge. Although not rated, Family Film Day films are appropriate for children of all ages.

Family Film Day will showcase The Legend of the Sky Kingdom directed by Robert Hawkins, a Zimbabwean filmmaker who uses a unique stop-motion animation technique known as Junkmation to tell a universal story with African origins. Also showing will be The Red Glasses directed by Yinka Djin of Ghana, a charming short film about a young sister and brother who find a pair of magic sunglasses, which are later stolen by two local bullies, and the lessons they learn.

Local artist and storyteller Baba Wagué Diakité will host the event and tell several folktales from his homeland Mali, West Africa. Diakité is the author/illustrator of several children's books including The Magic Gourd: A West African Folktale, a Library of Congress Africana Book Award Honor Book. The Hunterman and the Crocodile was named a Coretta Scott Honor Book. Diakité is also known internationally for his ceramic pottery. He has created large-scale installations for the Oregon Zoo, Oregon State University, and Disney World.

For children in attendance at Family Film Day, a drawing will be held for a Diakité book.

Family Film Day is sponsored by Providence Health & Services.

The Eighteenth Annual Cascade Festival of African Films, held in honor of both Black History Month and Women's History Month at Portland Community College Cascade Campus, will run from February 1 to March 1, 2008 and offers films from the African continent and the Diaspora. Since its inception in 1991, the festival has been organized and run by volunteers and offered to the public free of charge.

For complete information about the festival and descriptions of the films, visit the festival Web site: www.africanfilmfestival.org or phone 503-244-6111, extension 3630, for a brochure. For ongoing media updates, including visiting filmmaker information, visit the Press Page of the Web site.

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