Chadian film director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun will open the festival with his Cannes award-winning film, A Screaming Man\/Un Homme Qui Crie<\/em>. Mr. Haroun has become one of Africa\u2019s most acclaimed filmmakers, and the festival has been proud to showcase his films over the years, starting in 2001 with his documentary Bye-Bye Africa<\/em>, the first film ever made in Chad, followed by Abouna\/Our Father<\/em> in 2004, Darratt\/Dry Season<\/em> in 2008 and the wildly popular Sex, Okra and Salted Butter<\/em> in 2010.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s documentary films will cover a wide range of topics and issues, including a tribute to the great Senegalese actor Sotigui Kouyat\u00e9, slavery in Western Sahara, albinism in Kenya, hair salons in Ghana, a solar energy project in Mali, and a homeless World Cup soccer team in South Africa. Cambria Matlow, a recent transplant to Portland, will be on hand to present her documentary Burning in the Sun<\/em>. And Demetrius Wren, from New York City, will present his documentary Streetball<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Centerpiece film is The Athlete\/Aletu, <\/em>which is based on the life of the Ethiopian runner, Abebe Bikila, the first black African to win an Olympic gold medal. It will be shown at the Hollywood Theatre on February 18.<\/p>\n StudentFest presents films with special appeal to students of high school and college age in a matinee program. This year\u2019s StudentFest will be at noon on Thursday, February 17 and will feature The Athlete<\/em> and a series of African short films. Pumzi <\/em>is a science fiction film set in Africa, 35 years after World War III, when life has gone underground; Ousmane<\/em> provides a creative twist to begging on the streets of Dakar; and Saint Louis Blues<\/em> is an old-fashioned musical that takes place in a Senegalese taxi.<\/p>\n Family Film Day focuses on films that appeal to younger audiences (ages 5 and up). This year\u2019s selection is White Lion<\/em>, the remarkable story of a rare white lion\u2019s struggle to survive alone on the wild African plains and the young boy who is determined to protect the animal at all costs. Artist\/storyteller Baba Wagu\u00e9 Diakit\u00e9 of Mali will carry on the tradition of introducing the film with a traditional story from West Africa.<\/p>\n The final week of the Festival features a variety of films by women directors, this year with documentaries and feature films made in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, South African and Uganda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Opening night with director Mahamet-Saleh Haroun at the Hollywood Theatre Chadian film director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun will open the festival with his Cannes award-winning film, A Screaming Man\/Un Homme Qui Crie. Mr. Haroun has become one of Africa\u2019s most acclaimed filmmakers, and the festival has been proud to showcase his films over the years, starting in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":797,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1016","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africanfilmfestival.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africanfilmfestival.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africanfilmfestival.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africanfilmfestival.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africanfilmfestival.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africanfilmfestival.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1016\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africanfilmfestival.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africanfilmfestival.org\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Two documentary filmmakers present their films about solar energy and soccer<\/h3>\n
Centerpiece Film showcases The Athlete<\/em> about first black African to win Olympic Gold Medal<\/h3>\n
StudentFest<\/h3>\n
Family Film Day <\/em>at <\/em>the Kennedy School with Baba Wagu\u00e9 Diakit\u00e9<\/h3>\n
Women Filmmakers Week<\/h3>\n