African film festival debut

KATHMANDU, May 11: Come Monday May 23, and the Russian Culture Center at Kamaldi will raise the curtains to the first ever African Film festival to be held in Nepal.

The three day festival will showcase a total of ten films. The selected films are from Nepal and six different countries in Africa.[break]

“We share a lot of similarities in culture and geography with Africa, which is the basic reason behind the festival,” said Manju Mishra founder and representative for College of Journalism and Mass Communication, CJMC, also the organizer of the festival.

Below is a sneak peak at various films to be showcased during the festival.

Cry freedom

Following a news story depicting the demolition of a slum in East London, South African journalist Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) seeks more information about the incident and ventures off to meet a black activist Steve Biko (Denzel Washington) who is officially banned by the government of South Africa.

Down this road I walk

Exploring issues surrounding forced and arranged marriages inspired by greed, poverty and exploitation the movie’s story line is a simple one: Parents marry off their daughter at a very young age for selfish gains. But since the story is relevant and compelling, the way it evolves is more theatrical than cinematic hence depicts no suspense nor tension.

Congo River

The film travels from the mouth to the source of the second largest river basin in the world, that of the Congo River. All along its 4371 kms, we discover places that have seen turbulent history of Africa, while talking of mythological figures that created its destiny: explorers such as Livingstone and Stanley, the colonial kings Léopold II and Baudouin I and leaders such as Lumumba, Mobutu and Kabila.

Katanga Business

The movie is based in Congo in Central Africa the country that sustained a global reputation as one of the most fundamental sources of several key minerals, notably copper, uranium and cobalt - minerals that could be shipped to developing countries such as China and India in exchange for economic sustenance.

Yet tragically, very little of that wealth extended to the country’s people, who battled dire straits of poverty despite the richness of natural resources surrounding them.

With his documentary Katanga Business, filmmaker Thierry Michel explores this sad case of socioeconomic injustice.

The movies at the festival are to be screened from 11am to 5pm everyday.