Xala (Ousmane Sembène, 1975, DCP, 123 mins)
In a fiery critique of the new African bourgeoisie, a corrupt local bigshot falls prey to an inconvenient xala (curse) on his wedding night. “The jokes and details are delightful, yet there’s real anger behind them, and it bursts spectacularly into view in the concluding frames” (Geoff Andrew). In Wolof and French with English subtitles. DCP from Janus Films.
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung, 2020, 35mm, 115 mins)
Lee Isaac Chung in person! New print! Chung’s finely-observed autobiographical drama sees Steven Yeun as the head of a hardscrabble immigrant family in search of the American dream on a farm in 1980s Arkansas. “A gentle, truthful, and tender story” (Glenn Whipp) that is “funny, sad, inspiring, and ultimately universal” (Ann Hornaday). In English and Korean with English subtitles. 35mm print from the Yale Film Archive.
Emitaï (Ousmane Sembène, 1971, DCP, 103 mins)
When the men are conscripted into World War II, the women of a Diola village hide the rice crop in revolt, blocking French taxation. Named for the god of thunder, Emitaï emphasizes the collective in its politics and its camerawork, and offers one of cinema’s most defiant death scenes. In Diola and French with English subtitles. DCP from Janus Films.
Mandabi (Ousmane Sembène, 1968, DCP, 92 mins)
Tauw (Ousmane Sembène, 1970, 16mm, 24 mins)
Beset by family expectations and modern bureaucratic nightmares, young Tauw looks for work and older Ibrahima tries to cash a life-changing money order. Mandabi “swaggers with a keen awareness of street-level economy and survival, hard on the game and wryly empathetic toward the players” (Guy Lodge). In Wolof and French with English subtitles. DCP from Janus Films, 16mm print from the Yale Film Archive.
The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966, 35mm, 121 mins)
Set during Algeria’s struggle for independence and scored by Ennio Morricone, Pontecorvo’s Golden Lion-winning masterpiece remains tragically relevant and visually astonishing. “Both a how-to manual for guerrilla terrorism and a cautionary tale about how to fight it” (Chris Nashawaty). In Arabic and French with English subtitles. 35mm print from the Yale Film Archive.
Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène, 1966, DCP, 65 mins)
Borom Sarret (Ousmane Sembène, 1963, 16mm, 20 mins)
Post-screening discussion! Sembène’s first short and first feature—both shot in black and white—explore pressures on labor in postcolonial Senegal’s early years, as seen through Borom Sarret’s wagon tour of Dakar and Black Girl’s stifling sojourn to France. “Essential viewing for the well-rounded film lover” (Jordan Hoffman). In French with English subtitles. DCP from Janus Films, 16mm print from the Yale Film Archive.
All are invited to this one day display of collections material and a video screening about an essential story of New Haven in 1831: the visionary – and thwarted – proposal for a Black college that would have been America’s first historically Black college (HBCU).
Zoom webinar registration: https://bit.ly/3qDc1ls
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. The music of Wayne Shorter.
ELM CITY LIT FEST
LITERATURE OF HOPE
Featuring local, regional and national authors in partnership with the Literary Romance Conference of the Yale African American Studies Department
