Films for African Heritage Month Vancouver International Film Centre

WEBSITE: http:\\www.vifc.org

YEELEN (Brightness) Feb 24-27

Fri: 9:15pm; Sat: 4pm, 9:00pm; Sun: 1:45pm, 7pm; Mon: 4pm, 7pm 

Director: Souleymane Ciss // Cast: Issiaka Kane, Soumba Traoure // Mali 

1987 // 105 minutes // 35mm // In Bambara with English subtitles

Nothing in previous African cinema - or in Euro American cinema, for 

that matter - has prepared us for Souleymane Ciss's Yeelen. Suffused in 

the warm, golden light of dawns and dusks, the film recounts a young man's

 passage from adolescence to manhood. Nianankoro stands on the threshold

 of adult knowledge, but his father, a shaman of the Bambara tribe, 

cannot accept that his son could ever equal him and determines to kill 

him. Warned by his mother, Nianankoro flees and embarks on the quest 

that will confirm his stature. Along his way, he effects a fragile 

rapprochement with the Peul tribe, traditional enemies of the Bambara, 

and, without even realizing it, immerses himself in the komo, the 

ancient wisdom of his people that embodies a profound understanding of 

the world around us and the worlds inside us. When father finally 

confronts son, each with his magic totem, the result is an explosion of 

cataclysmic forces. The first unqualified masterpiece of African cinema.

 - Tony !

 Rayns, Time Out

"Apart from creating a dense and exciting universe that should make 

George Lucas green with envy, Ciss has shot breathtaking images and 

accompanies his story with a spare, hypnotic, percussive score. 

Sublimely mixing the matter-of-fact with the uncanny, this wondrous work

 provides an ideal introduction to a filmmaker who is, next to Ousmane 

Sembene, probably Africa's greatest director." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, 

Chicago Reader

3 FILMS by JEAN ROUCH

Presented with the support of the Alliance Franaise

MOI, UN NOIR Feb 24-26

Fri: 7pm; Sat: 1:45pm; Sun: 9:15pm

France/Niger/Ivory Coast 1959 // 73 minutes // DVD // In French with 

English subtitles

Winner of the Prix Delluc in 1959, and in many ways the lost film of the

 French nouvelle vague, Jean Rouch's groundbreaking "ethno-fiction" 

follows two young Nigerian immigrants who have arrived in Abidjan, the 

Ivory Coast, in search of work. Settling in the impoverished quarter of 

Treichville, they assume names drawn from popular culture (Edward G. 

Robinson and Eddie Constantine-a very Godardian gesture), and quickly 

find themselves marginalized. But along with charting their despair, 

Rouch also leaves room for hope, handing over the narration to Edward G.

 Robinson, a simultaneously tragic and impressive figure, who interlaces

 his dreams with a trenchant commentary on the basic injustices he faces

 day after day.

"The best French film since the liberation." - Jean-Luc Godard

Followed by: LES MATRES FOU

Director: Jean Rouch // France/Ghana 1955 // 30 minutes // DVD // In 

French with English subtitles

Shot in a single day, this is a controversial filming of a graphic 

African tribal ritual, posited by Rouch as a response to colonial 

oppression.

PETIT  PETIT (Little by Little) Feb 25-27

Sat 7pm; Sun 4pm; Mon 9:15pm

Director: Jean Rouch // Cast: Damour Zika, Lam Ibrahima Dia // France/Niger

 1972 // 90 minutes // DVD // In French with English subtitles

A humorous, exhilarating fable that stands as an example of Rouch's 

famous "reverse ethnography," Petit  petit examines the often discordant

 relationship between African and European cultures. The film was 

improvised in collaboration with Rouch's friends and regular 

contributors, Damor Zika and Lam Ibrahima Dia, here starring as two 

African businessmen who run an import-export company (called "Petit  

petit"). Spurred by the news that a seven-storey building is going up in

 Niamey, the capital of Niger, Damor decides that he and his associate 

will build an even higher building, and proceeds to travel to Paris to 

investigate how Europeans live in these newfangled skyscrapers. While 

abroad, Damor practises his own brand of anthropology, investigating the

 ways of living, thinking and being of this exotic Parisian tribe, 

regularly sending "Parisian postcards" back to his friends in Niger that

 detail odd customs of the Parisians, leading his friends to think he's 

gone crazy. S!

 o they send the ex-herdsman Lam to bring him back...

Call the Starbucks Hotline 604.683.FILM for the latest info and listings.

Tickets can be purchased in advance on-line at www.vifc.org or in person

 30 minutes before showtime.

Adult tickets: $9.50  Student/Senior $7.50

Vancity Theatre is located at 1181 Seymour St. (at Davie)

As a registered non-profit society, the VIFC screens films that have not

 always been seen by the BC Film Classification Board. Under BC law, any

 person wishing to see these unclassified films must belong to the VIFC 

Society and be 18 years or older.Valid for one year based on the date of

 purchase, the VIFC basic membership cost is $12, but includes the 

ticket price of your first film.

phone #: 604.683.FILM