2006 Southeast Africanist Network Conference - January 27-29
"The African Experience in Europe through Cinema"
The UF Center for African Studies and the Center for European Studies, in conjunction with the 2006 meeting of the Southeast Africanist Network, are pleased to present a film festival with discussion roundtables on "The African Experience in Europe through Cinema." The program runs from Friday January 27th through Sunday January 29th and will include a keynote address by noted film scholar Professor Manthia Diawara of New York University. Seven films, exploring multiple aspects of the experiences of African immigrants in six different European countries, will be shown on the UF campus. All events are free and open to the public.
Friday 27 January
3:30pm Film: Names Live Nowhere. A griot traveling from Dakar to Brussels weaves a tale about African expatriates and offers a candid look at the life of African immigrants in Belgium (76 min. French w/ subtitles, 1994) (NOTE: Film will be shown in 471 Grinter Hall)
7:00pm Keynote Address: Manthia Diawara, New York University. Film: Rouch in Reverse. Manthia Diawara directed this film, the first to look at European anthropology from an African perspective. (52min. French w/ subtitles, 1995) (219 Dauer Hall)
Saturday 28 January (all films will be shown in the Reitz Union Auditorium 2nd Floor)
9:00am Film: Otomo. Provides a convincing look at the everyday
world of refugees in Germany, who are continuously surrounded by tension
and insecurity (84 min. German w/ subtitles, 1999)
10:45am Roundtable: The Political Economy of African Transnationalism
in Europe
Alin Ceobanu, University of Florida
Abdoulaye Kane, University of Florida
Amie Kreppel, University of Florida
Gregory Fonsah, University of Georgia
1:45pm Film: Waalo Fendo. A story of immigration to Italy
like many others but one that most people are unaware of, which illustrates
the dehumanization faced by immigrants all over the world (65 min. Wolof
w/ subtitles, 1998)
3:00pm Film: Ainsi meurent les anges. Portrays the familiar
figure of the "lost" African, at home neither in France nor in Africa, denied
a family and a narrative on both continents (56 min. French & Wolof w/ subtitles,
2001)
4:15pm Roundtable: African Popular Culture in Europe - 349 Reitz Union
Fiona McLaughlin, University of Florida
Victoria Rovine, University of Florida
Ermitte St. Jacques, University of Florida
Babacar Mboup, Valdosta State University
Sunday 29 January (all films will be shown in the Reitz Union Auditorium 2nd Floor)
9:00am Film: Black Dju. 20-year-old Cape Verdean Dju Dele
Dibonga must track down his dad, whose yearly visits and monthly guest worker
checks have stopped arriving from Luxembourg (Portuguese & French w/ subtitles,
1995)
10:45am Roundtable: Using Cinema to Teach about Africa and Europe
- 349 Reitz Union
Naana Banyiwa Horne, Santa Fe Community College
Linda Beito, Stillman College
Ernesto Silva, Kennesaw State University
Alioune Sow, University of Florida
1:00pm Film: Dirty Pretty Things. Fuses taut suspense with
an unsettling portrait of life among the British underclass of immigrant
service workers (English, 2002)
3:00pm Film: La Promesse. The jarring, visually unpolished
appearance of the film reflects the raw, emotionally honest, and often disturbing
examination of the dehumanizing plight of illegal immigrants in Belgium
(French w/ subtitles, 1996)
