Archive for April, 2007

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April 29 & May 1: “Abeni”

Friday, April 27th, 2007

April 29 & May 1: “Abeni” 

Sun Apr 29 6:15pm Indy Men’s Magazine Screening Room (Landmark) 

Tues May 1 4:00pm NUVO Screening Room (Landmark) 

Ticket info: http://indyfilmfest.org/tickets.html 

See the best of “Nollywood” (Nigeria’s

Hollywood) with “Abeni.” In a country where fifty new films are produced every week and a movie mad population voraciously consumes them all with unparalleled ferocity, filmmaker Yunde Kelani sets himself apart from the formidable pack with this enthralling tale of long lost love set against the backdrop of the Yoruba culture. Abeni (Sola Asedeko) has lived a charmed life. The ambitious daughter of a wealthy father, she is set to be married and all signs point to a healthy and prosperous future. In contrast, Akanni (Abdel Hakim Amzat) was born into poverty, but has since managed to improve his lot in life through steady determination and a healthy dose of hard work. When Akanni was a child, his father worked for Abeni’s father and the two youngsters became sweethearts. Akanni was a reckless boy though, and as a result of his foolish actions his family was eventually forced to relocate across the Nigerian border and set up a new homestead in

Cotonou, Benin. When fate brings Abeni and Akanni together once again after years of separation and the childhood bond that the pair once shared proves as powerful as ever, both their well-planned futures - and their commitments to their respective fiancées - soon begin to crumble as the childhood sweethearts finally realize that they truly were meant to be together A subplot involving two young men recently returned from the United States in full hiphop regalia is hilarious; one of them becomes Abeni’s unwanted suitor. On a broader level, Kelani offers a fascinating portrait of the Yoruba culture that flows between Nigeria and

Benin. His trilingual characters may have arrived in the urban middle class, but still display proud traditions in their actions and in their spectacular clothes. Abeni represents the best of Nollywood, right up to the cliffhanger ending. 

If you like this film…See “Eagle vs. Shark,” another odd romantic tale. “War/Dance” shows another aspect of African life.  

You should know before you go… You might want to know a bit about Nigerian cinema (Nollywood). Learn about Yoruba culture to understand the pressures the characters are experiencing.

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April 29 & May 3: Fraulein

Friday, April 27th, 2007

April 29 & May 3: “Fraulein” is a German, Swiss, and Bosnian film about three Eastern European women who all seem to be both psychologically and physically displaced. 

Sun Apr 29 8:15pm Indy Men’s Magazine Screening Room (Landmark)

Thur May 3 9:15pm Key Cinemas 

Fraulein is a tale of three displaced and quietly sorrowful women. Their age difference means little – each has been ripped away from their homelands. Ana, the youngest of the trio, sadly declares, “No one calls it

Yugoslavia anymore.” Despite her youth Ana has the most to teach the women and makes a deep impression on Ruza. 

Writer/director Andrea Staka’s Das Fräulein paints an exceptionally sensitive, multilayered, and richly textured portrait of a blossoming friendship between two adult women. Mirjana Karanovic is Ruza, a Slavic émigré in her fifties, who years ago transplanted herself from her native Serbia to

Zurich, Switzerland. Quiet, introverted, and stoic, she runs a canteen business in the city and trusts absolutely no one, building her life exclusively around income. She and her Croatian associate, Mila (Ljubica Jovic), are confronted with the sudden arrival of Ana (Marija Skaricic), a much younger Bosnian drifter, who enchants Ruza with her fresh spontaneity and zest for life, but still draws some coldness from the Serbian woman. Despite a shared ethnic background, Ruza initially insists on communicating with Ana in German and scarcely acknowledges their common cultural identity. Nonetheless, in time, barriers begin to recede, and a tenuous, delicate bond of friendship forms between the two women. Staka uses the bulk of the drama to explore this relationship in all of its nuances and complexities, conveying the women’s inner emotional landscapes with an intelligent use of cinematic language and visual flourishes. Instead of simply using

Zurich as a backdrop, Staka employs the city — both cosmopolitan and yet somewhat distancing — as one of the story’s central characters.  

If you like this film, see “Adrift in Manhattan” for a perspective of similar characters in the

US.  

 

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May 23: Dr. Chuck Dietzen

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Dr. Chuck Dietzen, Founder of the Timmy Foundation, discusses children and international conflicts  (more…)

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April 29 & May 2: “The Journey of Vaan Nguyen”

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

April 29 & May 2: “The Journey of Vaan Nguyen”  Sun Apr 29 7:30pm WTTS Screening Room (Landmark)  Wed May 2 5:45pm Indy Men’s Magazine Screening Room (Landmark) Ticket info: http://indyfilmfest.org/tickets.html  How does a Vietnamese refugee growing up in Israel handles the multiple layers of alienation? Watch the documentary “The Journey of Vaan Nguyen” to find out. Vaan Nguyen’s story is the result of one of those quirks of history that trumps fiction. Her parents were Vietnamese refugees who fled the country after the fall of Saigon, and in 1979 were among a group of 200 “boat people” granted permanent refuge in

Israel. Hanmoi Nguyen desires to return to his village, reclaim his ancestral land and confront the man who forced him to flee. His daughter Vaan has grown up in

Israel, speaking Hebrew and living as an Israeli – and yet she is alienated from Israeli society and resents being treated as a cultural
curio.

  When the opportunity arises for her to travel back to Vietnam with her father in an attempt to determine the fate of some land that used to belong to his family, Vaan jumps at the chance. She bids a less-than-fond farewell and sets off with her father, hoping to find a new life – and a sense of belonging – in a land she barely knows. Balancing surreal archival footage of Vietnamese refugees being assimilated into Israeli culture with scenes of the affection and conflict between Hanmoi’s four other daughters, The Journey of Vaan Nguyen conveys the emotional tolls that war and displacement inflicts upon individuals. As the family’s story unfolds through the poetic voices and writings of father and daughter, their personal journeys lead them to the most unexpected places, and some surprising discoveries.  Filmmaker Duki Dror is an Israeli of Iraqi ethnicity. The Journey of Vaan Nguyen continues his interests in examining the social and ethnic dilemmas of contemporary

Israel, and in exploring the subtle, yet profound complexities of maintaining cultural identity in an increasingly interconnected world. If you like this…Check out “Bridge over the Wadi,” another film dealing the amalgamation of ethnic heritage in an Israeli setting You should know before you go…Information on Vietnamese exodus to Middle East.  

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May 4 & 5: Let Freedom Ring: Voices of Immigration

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

May 4 & 5: Let Freedom Ring: Voices of Immigration: An original theatre piece by the Broad Ripple Theatre Department (more…)

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May 4 & 5: Let Freedom Ring: Voices of Immigration

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

May 4 & 5: Let Freedom Ring: Voices of Immigration: An original theatre piece by the Broad Ripple Theatre Department (more…)

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April 28 & May 3: “Dare Not Walk Alone”

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

April 28 & May 3: “Dare Not Walk Alone”An exploration of how a moment of tragic heroism forty years ago resonates today 

Sat Apr 28, April 28 5:45pm IUPUI Herron

School of

Art

Thur May 3 3:45pm NUVO Screening Room (Landmark) 

Ticket info: http://indyfilmfest.org/tickets.html 

Dare Not Walk Alone documents the gap between Martin Luther King’s generation of civil rights activists and today’s Hip Hoppers. Dare Not Walk Alone reveals the untold history of the civil rights movement in the town of St. Augustine, FL. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his non-violent protesters’ escalating struggle against the racial establishment led to the battle to integrate one motel, culminating in a horrific incident in the motel’s pool in which the proprietor, James Brock, poured acid on a group of wading protesters. Photographs of the incident made front-page news around the world and led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the first piece of civil rights legislation. More than 40 years later, several African-American teenagers in

St. Augustine dream of a better life while trying to survive impossible home situations, failing schools, and an unfair criminal justice system. Their story reveals that when all is said and done, not much has changed. One of their escapes from these harsh realities is to turn to the world of Hip Hop, which they feel is their only voice in society. “Dare Not Walk Alone” bridges the gap between the ideals of the Civil Rights generation and the new struggles of the Hip Hop generation. 

If you like this film … See a couple of movies in the Film festival about the history of race in

America: “American Fugitive: The Truth about Hassan” and “LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton” 

You should know before you go…Articles about the making of the film: http://www.darenotwalkalone.com/news/folio_02.pdf and the impact of the film on

St. Augustine: http://www.flagler.edu/magazine/articles/fall05_dean_story.html  

For more information after seeing the movie … Information about the civil rights struggle in 1963 and 1964: http://www.crmvet.org/info/staug.htmDavid R. Colburn, Racial Change and Community Crisis: St. Augustine, Florida, 1877-1980  

Indy experts: Rod Bohannan is wise, insightful, and experienced in the struggles for civil rights in

Indiana. 

Get involved: The Indianapolis Urban League is always seeking volunteers and members.  

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April 27 & May 2: “Rain in a Dry Land”

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Documentary about the resettlement of one of the world’s most abused groups of refugees to the

US Fri Apr 27 3:45pm IMM Screening Room (Landmark)

Wed May 2 9:45pm IMM Screening Room (Landmark)  Ticket info: http://indyfilmfest.org/tickets.html 

“Rain in a Dry Land” examines the multiple layers of culture shock facing Bantu Somali refugees when they arrive in the US. In 2004, thirteen thousand Somali Bantu refugees realized their dream of coming to

America. They are now living in fifty cities across the country, becoming the largest African group from a single minority to settle in the

United States at one time. Rain in a Dry Land chronicles two years in the lives of two Somali Bantu families as they leave behind a legacy of oppression in

Africa to face new challenges in a strange land. At the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, the refugees are stunned by what they learn about

America in their “Cultural Orientation” class. As their awe and excitement grows, so does their fear. How will illiterate Muslim farmers who speak no English survive in

America? Both families are dynamic, charismatic, and very different in nature. Arbai is a single mother of four with a great sense of humor despite her devastating past. Madina and her husband

Aden are a volatile couple, determined to provide for their huge family but uncertain about the life that lies ahead.  Despite racism, poverty, failures of the school system, and severe culture shock, both families find ways to survive in America, and create a safe haven for their war-torn families.  If you like this film … See the film “The Journey of Vaan Nguyen” for a story of how a Vietnamese refugee was resettled in Israel.  

You should know before you go…The Somali Bantu are descendants of six African tribes in East Africa … the Somali Bantu are not native Somalis. Their ancestors were taken from their native lands by Arab slave traders in the 18th and 19th centuries and sold through the

Zanzibar slave market. The Bantu endured several centuries of toil and deprivation as slaves in

Somalia. Even after slavery ended there in 1930, they continued to exist on the lowest rungs of the social ladder. During the Somali civil war in the 1990s, their situation worsened. Their farms were raided and rival Somali clans routinely raped Bantu women and killed the men. That led to an exodus to neighboring

Kenya. They have nowhere else to go.

Kenya, the country they fled to, has refused to allow them to stay permanently. Tanzania accepted some Somali Bantu who fled via ship from

Somalia, but that country is already swamped by refugees fleeing the Rwandan civil war. The

United States, which accepts a set number of refugees annually, agreed to take those left.  For more information after the film …

National Somali Bantu Organization (MUKI) Serves Somali immigrants in the United States and Canada.

For more on Somali Bantu history and culture: http://www.cal.org/co/bantu/   Indy experts: Mary Spink of the International Center of Indianapolis has been working closely with the large number of Somali Bantus settled in

Indiana.

 Get involved

Exodus works to integrate refugees in Central Indiana and always needs volunteers.  

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Indianapolis International Film Festival

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Indianapolis International Film Festival
The Bigger Picture

When: Wednesday April 25 to Friday May 4

•    Landmark’s Keystone Art Cinema & Indie Lounge at The Fashion Mall at Keystone at the Crossing 8900 Keystone Crossing Indianapolis, IN 46240
•    Key Cinemas 4044 South Keystone Avenue Indianapolis, IN 46227
•    IUPUI - Herron School of Art 735 West New York Street Indianapolis, IN 46202
Click here for Film Passes, All-Access Passes, and Coupon Books.
This is getting BIG! No way anyone can see all the 191 movies that will be screened. Nor should anyone … so much diversity is guaranteed to toss up some films that won’t be to your liking. But it’s almost guaranteed to offer some great movies that you had never imagined watching, some that might change your life. Five categories of films shown during the festival: American Spectrum, which features narrative films by independent filmmakers from throughout the U.S.; World Cinema, which features narrative films from outside the U.S.; Real Visions, which features nonfiction cinema from throughout the world; Special Presentations, which are non-competing films backed by U.S. and international studios that are making Indiana, Midwestern, U.S. or world premieres during the festival; and Shorts, which compete for prizes in the above categories.

This year’s lineup, which boasts 191 films from 45 countries, selected from 526 submissions. While nearly half of this year’s films are foreign-made, many of them come from American independent film companies and star actors such as Parker Posey, David Duchovny and Jeff Goldblum. American and international documentaries pepper the schedule, covering topics from playing video games to landing on the moon. The festival features a retrospective of the trailblazing documentaries of Albert and David Maysles, best known for their film “Gimme Shelter,” which was about the Rolling Stones.

If you like this…You should buy a series pass and clear your calendar for the 11 days.

Volunteer for IIFF: http://indyfilmfest.org/volunteer.html

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