By Dwight Casimere
Africa’s most important films and filmmakers will be featured at the 32nd New York African Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center May 7 through 13. This year’s festival features a record number of films, with more than 100 films presented. The festival will feature not only screenings of the films throughout the New York area, but in-person appearances and discussions with the filmmakers from Africa.
This year’s theme, “Fluid Horizons: A Shifting Lens on a Hopeful World”, “honors the resilience of African youth and htier forebears who have paved the way.” stated NYAFF founder and AFF Executive Director Mahen Bonneti.
There is also a special focus on films from the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as shorts form South Africa. Among the featured DRC films is Nelson Makengo’s Rising Up at Night, his first feature documentary which premiered at the 2024 Beerlin Film Festival Panorama. The opening night film is Afolabi Olalekan’s debut film, Freedom Way. “In a world of uncertainty, the 32nd New York African Film Festival presents a vision of the future through the eye of African youth,” said AFF Executive Director Bonneti, “not just as reflections of today’s challenges, but as blueprints for a future shaped by resllience and possibility.” For more information, visit africanfilmny.org.
The Opening Night selection is the New York premiere of Afolabi Olalekan’s feature debut, Freedom Way, a powerful tale of the limitless drive of Nigerian youth, which follows the lives of nine individuals set on a collision course in a fast-paced, electric thriller shot on location in Lagos. The Centerpiece film is Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine’s Memories of Love Returned, an intimate, nuanced documentary about the transformative power of photography, executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and named Best Documentary at the Africa International Film Festival. Closing Night will feature the shorts program “In the Arms of the Mother,” which spotlights films by or about African women from all walks of life, including the world premiere of Kounkou Hoveyda’s We Will Be Who We Are; the North American premieres of Dika Ofoma’s God’s Wife and Anil Padia and Michael Mwangi Maina’s Temple Road; the U.S. premiere of Zoé Cauwet’s Le Grand Calao; the New York premiere of Mariame N’diaye’s Sira; and Kagure N. Kabue’s Iron Fist.
The festival will also host the North American premiere of Furu by Fatou Cissé, the daughter of legendary filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, which explores the impact of forced marriage on young women in Mali. Two additional features making their U.S. debuts include Awam Amkpa’s The Man Died, based on the harrowing prison memoir by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka; and Ndar, Saga Waalo, Ousmane William Mbaye’s powerful documentary about Saint-Louis, Senegal, the port of colonial penetration into West Africa.
This edition of the festival celebrates the African youth who have turned to their cameras to document their experiences and the influence of those who came before them. With a multitude of genres ranging from comedies to experimental films, the 32nd New York African Film Festival offers a multidimensional take on African culture, history, and cinema.
NYAFF has selections for those who need inspiration to stand up to tyranny drawn from the stories of some real freedom fighters and notables like Wole Soyinka, Ousmane Sembène, Malcolm X and Arturo Alfonso Schomburg; women’s films; LGBT films; French films; Caribbean-themed films; Spanish-language films; South-African films; an animated film; a horror film; art exhibitions and so much more!
Among the featured filmmakers and stars are many who are already familiar to film and TV lovers here at home.
Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine — who many may know as Ronnie in the hit show The Chi and who is currently filming Dexter: Resurrection in NYC — whose beautiful documentary, exec produced by Steven Soderbergh, about Mwine’s decades-long crusade to preserve the photos and legacy of master Ugandan photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo, is the festival’s Centerpiece.
Zoe Martinson, who directed several episodes of the viral sensation series Ziwe, has a film named The Fisherman.
Academy Award- nominated director Abderrahmane Sissako, whose film Black Tea is about to open theatrically, will also be screening his film in the festival.
Fatou Cisse, a daughter and filmmaker will present a tribute to her father, Souleymane Cissé, one of Africa’s most celebrated filmmakers, who died earlier this year.
The festival will also host the North American premiere of Cissé’s latest film, Furu, which explores the impact of forced marriage on young women in Mali. Two additional features making their U.S. debuts include Awam Amkpa’s The Man Died, based on the harrowing prison memoir by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka; and Ndar, Saga Waalo, Ousmane William Mbaye’s powerful documentary about Saint-Louis, Senegal, the port of colonial penetration into West Africa.
Special programs include a free panel presented by AFF and OkayAfrica on May 10 entitled “From Then to Now: Celebrating 15 Years of African Cinema,” featuring a discussion with four acclaimed filmmakers from this year’s festival and offering a rare opportunity to reflect on the creative shifts and enduring themes shaping African cinema today.
Two free art exhibits running May 8–13 in the Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center include “Congo RE-Vue: A Fresh Perspective by Emerging Congolese Talent,” a dynamic digital photo exhibition dedicated to highlighting the vibrant talent of the next generation of Congolese artists; and Bereket Adamu’s “All Night We Waited for Morning, All Morning We Waited for Night,” a welded steel light sculpture and animated video that reflects on African resistance, migration, and global inter-connectedness.
For more information on the 32nd New York African Film Festival visit africanfilmny.org.
