Wanda's Picks Radio Show: African Film Festival Inc. at PFA

We have Mahen Bonetti, director, African Film Festival, Inc. on the air this morning to talk about the African Film Festival tour at the Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley, Jan. 23-Feb. 5, 2013. The PFA series, curated by Kathy Geritz, offers a wonderful opportunity to audiences to see Africa through African eyes, most of the directors young and for this series, women. The concerns of African filmmakers are often aesthetic and political—the desire to depict the realities of their everyday lives and to interpret their history from their own perspective. A number of the featured documentaries look to the past to examine forces that continue to influence the present. Our Beloved Sudan traces the complex history leading to the partition of Sudan; The Unbroken Spirit focuses on the courageous fight for a multiparty democracy in Kenya; and the arc of Black Africa, White Marble moves from colonial-era to present-day Republic of Congo. All three take the vantage point of one individual in order to bring to life a larger history. Other documentaries observe life as it unfolds and portray collective experience: the poetic Broken Stones depicts Port-au- Prince, Haiti after the earthquake and Africa Shafted focuses on Johannesburg, South Africa as it absorbs immigrants from all over Africa. Microphone celebrates Egypt’s vibrant youth culture of hip-hop and graffiti art, while How to Steal 2 Million, a stylish noir, and a number of short films highlight the creative spirit of younger filmmakers.Visit http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/tickets/ and http://www.africanfilmny.org/  Music: Wolf Hawk Jaguar "Esu Exit;" Leon Thomas's "The Creator Has a Master Plan."