24th Annual Cascade Festival of African Films

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 some of the aspirations, dreams, and hopes of African men, women, and children; the effects of environmental degradation and climate change on the lives of Malian fishermen; the challenges and triumphs of love in cross-cultural relationships and where tradition and modernity collide; religion in politics and its role in the oppression of gays in Uganda; the immigrant experience; xenophobia in South Africa; the struggle for freedom and the promises of democracy; and women’s ongoing quest for independence and empowerment.

The 24^th Cascade Festival of African Films is dedicated to the memory of NELSON ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA (July 18, 1918–December 5, 2013), the world’s last great liberator of the 20th century and South Africa’s first black democratically elected president from 1994 to 1999