Abderrahmane Sissako is a Mauritanian-born Malian film director and producer whose themes include globalization, exile and the displacement of people. His films have received global recognition: Waiting for Happiness (Heremakano) screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival official selection under Un Certain Regard, winning the FIPRESCI Prize. His next film, Bamako (2006), received the first Film Award of the Council of Europe. In 2014 Timbuktu was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in the main competition section at the  Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Discussants will include Danny Hoffman (African Studies, University of Washington), Rich Watts (French, UW), Catherine Cole (Divisional Dean of the Arts, UW), Sudhir Mahadevan (Cinema & Media Studies, UW), Berette Macaulay (Museum Guide Program Manager, Henry Art Gallery, UW), and Jazmyn Scott (LANGSTON Seattle).  

Conversation will be in French and English.

More on Simpson Center website

In anticipation of Simpson Center’s upcoming Katz Lecture featuring African director Abderrahmane Sissako, the Black Cinema Collective will be watching his Oscar nominated film TIMBUKTU on Scener.

This beautiful film meets the current social and political moment, poetically interrogating the complexities of humanity, extremism, and resistance. Come watch with us.

▷ ABOUT the FILM

TIMBUKTU, 2014 | 96 mins
The film explores the denizens of the city of Timbuktu, Mali, West Africa, who are living under strict sharia law around the year 2012 during the brief occupation by Ansar Dine. Islamic militants impose a regime of absurd living restrictions and real terror in the ancient Malian city. Just beyond the city in peaceful tent settlements of the dunes, the lives of a Malian cattle herder and his family are also threatened by fundamentalists after a tragic accident.

This film was also inspired by the true story of a young, unmarried couple who were stoned by Islamists in the northern region of Mali that was known as Aguel'hoc. During the summer of 2012, the couple was taken to the center of their village, placed in two holes that had been dug in the ground, and stoned to death in front of hundreds of witnesses.

Languages | Tamasheq, Bambara, Arabic, French, some English.
Subtitles | English

▷ ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Abderrahmane Sissako (born 13 October 1961) is a Malian director and producer, born in Mauritania and trained in Moscow, Russia. Themes of his work include poverty, globalization, exile, interfaith tolerance, multiculturalism, and the displacement of peoples. His award-winning films include Life on Earth (1998), Waiting for Happiness (Heremakano - 2002), Bamako (2006), and Tiya’s Dream, (2008). In 2014 his film Timbuktu was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in the main competition section at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the François Chalais Prize at Cannes. In 2015, the film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language at the British Academy Film Awards.

Sissako is regarded as one of the foremost thinkers on Global South cinema as well as one of Africa’s leading filmmakers sharing the uncommon achievement with the likes of Ousmane Sembène and Djibril Diop Mambety in bridging African cinema with international audiences. His “work is as unsparing and it is visually stunning in examining the global forces that shape African lives.” Sissako has also served as president of the Cannes Short Films and Cinefondation Jury.
He is married to the Ethiopian film director Maji-da Abdi.

▷ ABOUT SIMPSON CENTER KATZ LECTURE:

Abderrahmane Sissako In Conversation: “Africa Worlds / World Films,”

*Sissako* joins scholars of film and African Studies for a conversation on world cinema, post-colonialism, thinking ‘Africa’ beyond the confines of the continent, and in particular his 2014 film Timbuktu.

*Conversation will be in French and English.*

▷PANELISTS

Catherine M. Cole, Danny Hoffman, berette s macaulay, Sudhir Mahadevan, Jazmyn Scott, Richard Watts

More on the Simpson Center website.

Three weekends - October 2020

Only with BCC on SCENER

We’re teaming up with SCENER to host a series of horror and sci-fi watch parties via Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

• Oct 17th - Horror/SciFi Shorts | On SCENER via YouTube

• Oct 24th - Classic Horror featuring Lisa Evans | On SCENER via Amazon Prime

• Oct 31st - Contemporary Horror  | On SCENER via Netflix.

RSVP to receive watch party links!

About the Artist

Lisa Evans is a black non-binary performance artist and cultural worker based out of Oakland, CA.

Media Design by Chile Dulce

Three weekends - October 2020

Only with BCC on SCENER

We’re teaming up with SCENER to host a series of horror and sci-fi watch parties via Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

• Oct 17th - Horror/SciFi Shorts | On SCENER via YouTube

• Oct 24th - Classic Horror featuring Lisa Evans | On SCENER via Amazon Prime

• Oct 31st - Contemporary Horror  | On SCENER via Netflix.

RSVP to receive watch party links!

About the Artist

Lisa Evans is a black non-binary performance artist and cultural worker based out of Oakland, CA.

Media Design by Chile Dulce

Three weekends - October 2020

Only with BCC on SCENER

We’re teaming up with SCENER to host a series of horror and sci-fi watch parties via Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

• Oct 17th - Horror/SciFi Shorts | On SCENER via YouTube

• Oct 24th - Classic Horror featuring Lisa Evans | On SCENER via Amazon Prime

• Oct 31st - Contemporary Horror  | On SCENER via Netflix.

RSVP to receive watch party links!

About the Artist

Lisa Evans is a black non-binary performance artist and cultural worker based out of Oakland, CA.

Media Design by Chile Dulce

Drive-in at On the Boards

A four-night series featuring independent artists, films, music, performance, and creative futures we are dreaming about.

Tickets: Cars and Pods | Audio via FM transmitter.

Sunday, October 4:  Sci-Fi Horror Night with BCC

• Black Widow, 2019, UK - Writer/Director Rhondda Rhiannon

• Lost, 2015,USA - Writer/Director Tananarive Due

• The Quiet Room, 2018, USA - Writer/Director Sam Wineman

• Urban Stories, 2018, UK - Director Ken Uehara-Plas; Writer/Producer Mohamed A. Mohamed

• RETCH, 2019, USA - Director Tifa Tomb; Writer/Producer Nicole Pouchet

Audio: English | Closed Captions

The Black Cinema Collective invites you to an online screening of the award winning film, (Seattle Black Film Festival for Best film 2020) RETCH and a post-discussion with director Tifa Tomb.

▷ ABOUT THE FILM

In an area like Seattle, the bus is many things to many people; it is transportation, it is a warm shelter for the homeless, an easy ride for the commuter. It is also a political statement for today’s liberal. And on a Monday morning, when the bus breaks down, it’s a living tomb where the passengers die one by one from a sudden retching sickness. Everyone is suspicious when no one is to blame. And if they want to survive every individual on the bus must figure out who’s next in line for death, and which person to sacrifice.

Watch the Trailer

FB @retch.shortfilm
IG @retchshortfilm

Audio: English

▷ ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Tifa Tomb is a Director, Writer and Editor in the Seattle area, whose most recently directed short film, Retch, was an official selection at SIFF 2019, and the winner of the Best Film Award 2020 at the Seattle Black Film Festival 2020. She works as a Media Producer at University of Washington. In 2017, she was a part of the Oculus LaunchPad group for emerging VR makers, and directed the short film, Party Goers, a selection at Local Sightings in 2017. She edits feature length non-fiction, and narrative work, as well as music videos, corporate, and non-profit projects. Her work as a writer was recognized by the San Jose Cinequest film festival – she was a top ten finalist in 2004, and a top 3 finalist of the Hollywood Black Film Festival for her feature film script, The Bridge Café. She is currently in post-production for her mixed media film, CREAK!

Visit tifatomb.com to explore more of Tifa Tomb’s work.

The Black Cinema Collective invites you to an online community screening of BLAQ ARTED: ESSENTIAL BEINGS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 and discussion with director Kin Folkz.

▷ ABOUT THE FILM

BlaQ Arted: Essential Beings in the Time of COVID-19 offers an unfiltered look at the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of emerging and established Black and Brown LGBTQ+ artists living in the Bay Area—each attempting to create both art and meaning while in self-quarantine.

Director: Kin Folkz ne Monica Anderson
Executive Producer: Spectrum Queer Media
Film + Sound Editors: Kin Folkz, Nkosi Smith, Imani Smith

▷ ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Kin Folkz is an award-winning educator, human rights artivist, art producer, community organizer and the founder/director of the Racism Under the Rainbow™ workshop series, working with multiple communities and agencies to bring both the conversation and practice of equity to the forefront.

Visit www.SpectrumQueerMedia.com + QueerArtsCenter.com to explore more of Kin Folkz’ work.

L’Appel a la Danse (Trans.The Call of Danse) is a raw, immersive collection of moments in modern and urban Senegalese dance that captures the complexity of this new era of multiplicity. It is a sensory and philosophical journey through the Senegal of today. It clearly and brilliantly draws the lines that link dance to self-transcendence and cultural heritage.

** Sliding scale admission: $0–25 **

Please pay what you can; proceeds support our move to a virtual platform!

Northwest Film Forum is SCREENING ONLINE! NWFF and Henry Art Gallery’s physical spaces are temporarily closed in light of public health concerns around COVID-19, but community, dialogue, and education through media arts WILL persist.

• • HOW TO WATCH • •

Purchase a ticket through Brown Paper Tickets in advance of the listed showtime (PDT). Registration ends 1 hour before the start time.

30 minutes before each screening, NWFF will send a link and password to your registered e-mail address! (Don’t see it? Check your spam filter.) The password will expire at the end of the screening. No late seating!

If by showtime you do not receive an e-mail with details, please contact louie@nwfilmforum.org for a quick follow-up. (But please, check your spam!)

Also available on VOST!

• • ABOUT • •

** Curated by Berette Macaulay for Black Cinema Collective **

In Senegal, traditional dance forms preserved for generations mix with modern dance influences from around the world. The interaction between tradition and globalization, catalyzed by creative young dancers, fuels an intense new cultural context for artistic expression. The Call of Dance is a raw, immersive collection of moments in modern Senegalese dance that capture the complexity of this new era of multiplicity.

Throughout the film, dancers’ movements embody individuality, history, emotion and aspiration, sharing everything from solitary meditations on the nuance of the everyday to the kinetics of collective experience. At the Dakar Cultural Center, in a Krump battle, by the ocean, before a wrestling contest, at a village initiation ceremony – all of life is a site for the medium of dance, and every stage contributes its own energy.

The Call of Dance is a sensory and philosophical journey through the Senegal of today. It clearly and brilliantly draws the lines that link dance to self-transcendence and cultural heritage.

(Diane Fardoun, France, 81 min)
DOP: Hugo Bembi
Journalist: Pierre Durosoy
Composer: Julien Villa

** This program is presented in collaboration with the Black Cinema Collective, and co-presented with Henry Art Gallery as part of the In Plain Sight Film Series. Learn more about In Plain Sight at bit.ly/henrynwff **

Woven (2017)

Ethiopian-born Elenie struggles to integrate her mother's traditions with her own American dreams. When a tragic accident thrusts her into the life of American-born Logan, Elenie realizes that one's search for a sense of place is universal.

Writers/Directors: Salome Mulugeta & Nagwa Ibrahim

Audio: English

About the Artist

Salome Mulugeta an Ethiopian and Eritrean American educated in England, is a filmmaker, actor, journalist, the recipient of the Ambassador Award 2019 and a Mayor Muriel Bowser proclamation honoree. WOVEN first premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

wovenfilm.net | Available on Prime!

Spirits of Rebellion (2015)

A group of  UCLA filmmakers from the late 60s to 90s created an alternative to the dominant American mode of filmmaking, realizing a cinema of informed, relevant and unfettered Black expression. The LA Rebellion filmmakers collectively imagined and created a new Black cinema against the conventions of Hollywood and Blaxploitation films by attending to narratives from everyday experiences  and interior lives of people in their communities.

Audio: English

About the Artist

Zeinabu irene Davis is an award winning  independent filmmaker and Professor of Communication at University of California, San Diego.

• African Oscar for Best Diaspora Documentary at the African Movie Academy in Nigeria

• Best Feature Documentary

• Audience Award for Best Film from the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia.

Discussion & Q+A with Zeinabu irene Davis, facilitated by Black Cinema Collective.

Event sponsors: African Studies Program (Jackson School of International Studies, UW), School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (UW Bothell), Cinema and Media Studies (UW Seattle), and the Simpson Center for the Humanities.

Available from Cinema Guild.