8th ANNUAL BOSTON AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL: February 1-29, 2008

NOTE: Films not shown everyday; see film schedule below

Showcasing highlights from the New York African Film Festival and new releases from the California Newsreel - the country's leading distributor of African Cinema - this festival combines dramatic features, compelling documentaries, and smart short films.

Thirteen new films, making their Boston premieres, are from nations throughout the continent including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

AT: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

INFO: mfa.org [1] or 617-267-9300

SOME HIGHLIGHTS:
FEATURE FILMS:
Feb 1 & 2: Tradition, destiny, and duty clash in Clouds Over Conakry, by Cheick F. Camara
Feb 9 & 15: Forgiveness by Ian Gabriel, a drama about truth and reconciliation in South Africa.
Feb 21 & 24: Les Saignettes, by Jean-Pierre Bokolo, is Africa's first sci-fi film.
DOCUMENTARIES:
Feb 2 & 8: A Love During the War, by Osvelde Lewat-Hallade, studies the effects of wartime rape on African women.
Feb 2 & 24: Ezra by Newtowne Aduaka's documentary about Sierra Leone's child soldiers.
Feb 23 & 29: Robin Shuffield's Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man examines the life and ideals of a revolutionary martyr.

MEET THE FILMMAKER:
Feb. 9: Boston's own Franco Sacchi presents his film, This Is Nollywood.

TICKETS
Members, seniors and students $8; general admission $9. Discount matinee prices (weekday until 5 pm; weekends until 12:30 pm) are $6, $7.

FILM SCHEDULE:

To see the full descriptions of films below, please visit www.mfa.org [2].

Friday, February 8, 2008, 6 pm Film
A Love during the War
What are the consequences when rape is used as a weapon of war? A moving documentary explores the question from the perspective of women in Africa....

Saturday, February 9, 2008, 10:30 am Film
This Is Nollywood
First came Hollywood, then Bollywood, and now Nollywood....

Saturday, February 9, 2008, 12 pm Film
Testing Hope: Grade 12 in the New South Africa
Testing Hope: Grade 12 in the New South Africa chronicles the lives of four young people in Nyanga township as they work toward their crucial...

Saturday, February 9, 2008, 1:15 pm Film
Forgiveness
One of the most moving and complex films about truth and reconciliation to be produced in South Africa....

Sunday, February 10, 2008, 10:30 am Film
Have You Heard from Johannesburg? Apartheid and the Club of the West
Have You Heard From Johannesburg chronicles the history of the global anti apartheid movement that took on South Africa's entrenched regime and...

Friday, February 15, 2008, 5:45 pm Film
Forgiveness
One of the most moving and complex films about truth and reconciliation to be produced in South Africa....

Saturday, February 16, 2008, 12 pm Film
Juju Factory
A writer struggles to find inspiration....

Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 4:45 pm Film
Have You Heard from Johannesburg? Apartheid and the Club of the West
Have You Heard From Johannesburg chronicles the history of the global anti apartheid movement that took on South Africa's entrenched regime and...

Thursday, February 21, 2008, 6 pm Film
Les Saignettes
A metaphoric science fiction/action/horror film about two young femmes fatales who set out to rid a futuristic country of its corrupt, powerful, and...

Saturday, February 23, 2008, 10:30 am Film
Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man and Menged
A detailed history of the late African leader Thomas Sankara....

Saturday, February 23, 2008, 12 pm Film
SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Series of shorts....

Sunday, February 24, 2008, 12 pm Film
Ezra
Ezra is the first film to present an African perspective on the disturbing phenomenon of abducting child soldiers into the continent's recent...

Sunday, February 24, 2008, 2 pm Film
Les Saignettes
A metaphoric science fiction/action/horror film about two young femmes fatales who set out to rid a futuristic country of its corrupt, powerful, and...

Friday, February 29, 2008, 10:30 am Film
Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man and Menged
A detailed history of the late African leader Thomas Sankara....

Friday, February 29, 2008, 4 pm Film
SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Series of shorts....

PHOTO IMAGE (below): from the Web site of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, at
mfa.org/calendar/event.asp?eventkey=31809&date=2/9/2008 [3]:

Forgiveness (South Africa, 2005, 118 min.)
by Ian Gabriel
"Tertius Coetzee, a former policeman, tortured and murdered ANC activist Daniel Grootboom. Coetzee has confessed his crime and been granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but does not feel his guilt can be assuaged until Grootboom's family has exonerated him. He travels to their home in the fishing village of Paternoster on the windswept coast of South Africa's Western Cape, to seek forgiveness."