From India to Brooklyn: Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival
at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, September 27-30
- Singer/actress Irene Cara to receive Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award -

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Cinematic works by more than 30 women filmmakers from India to Brooklyn will be among the impressive offerings at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus. Academy Award-winning songwriter/actress Irene Cara will receive a special award, as will filmmaker Susan Robeson, co-founder of Third World Newsreel, and arts promoter Kojo Ade.

The Brooklyn Campus’s Media Arts Department and African Voices magazine are co-sponsoring the four-day festival, which will be held at the Campus’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts from Thursday to Sunday, September 27 to 30. The Campus is located in downtown Brooklyn, on the corner of DeKalb and Flatbush avenues. For ticket prices and conference schedule, visit www.kumbletheater.org or www.reelsisters.org; or call (718) 488-1624 or (212) 865-2982.

The theme of this year’s festival, which marks its 10th anniversary, is “From Mammies to Action Heroines: A Celebration of Sistas in Cinema, Art & Politics.” On Thursday, the festival will kick-offwith a feature presentation of screenwriter J.E. Franklin’s classic “Black Girl,” a 1972 film directed by Ossie Davis that celebrates the aspirations of three generations of women. It will be followed by a panel discussion exploring the dynamic roles of actresses like Pam Grier (“Foxy Brown”) and Tamara Dobson (“Cleopatra Jones”) in films of the 1970s blaxploitation era.

On Friday, film lovers can join Reel Sisters in saluting young filmmakers Nicole Franklin, director of “Double Dutch Divas,” and Kim Singleton, director of “Scorned,” for consistently bringing inspiring stories about women to the big screen. A screening and discussion of the two films will be followed by a live performance by the Double Dutch Divas and after party.

On Saturday and Sunday, Reel Sisters will welcome filmmakers Suman Haripriya, Bujupraha and Ranajit Chakraavorty from India, for the American premiere of their film “Kadamtole Krishna Nache (Lord Krishna Dances Under Kadamba Tree).” Other notable films include Sonia Gonzalez’s “Bragging Rights,” a documentary on the nearly 100-year-old New York City street sport stickball, Marcia Fingal’s “Hurricane Katrina: Life After the Storm,” and Faith Pennick’s “Silent Choices,” about the impact of abortion on the lives of African-American women.

Also being screened is “Sparkle,” featuring Academy Award-winning songwriter/actress Irene Cara. Cara will receive the Reel Sisters Trailblazer’s Awards at Sunday’s award ceremony that will also honor filmmaker/activist Susan Robeson, the co-founder of Third World Newsreel, and arts promoter Kojo Ade. The festival will close with a 1970s Hair Show, sponsored by Khamit Kinks. Audience members are invited to come dressed in their best 1970s gear and hair (10-inch Afros are allowed!)

Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival is supported in part by the New York City Council and Speaker Christine Quinn, Council Member Inez E. Dickens, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Target, Brooklyn Arts Council, Comfort Inn Brooklyn, Long Island University Gender Studies Dept., Khamit Kinks, Penn State University, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and KISS-FM.

A list of films from Reel Sisters 10th Anniversary and film schedule are available online at www.reelsisters.org. Some of the notable films are:

Film Title: Kadamtole Krishna Nache (2005)
Director/Writer: Suman Haripriya, Bujipraha, Ranajit Chakraavorty
Synopsis: This is a story of devotees whose love, devotion and duties towards Lord Krishna form the central theme of the film. This is also an eternal love story of Gopies (women of Gokul) for Lord Krishna projected against a contemporary background.

Film Title: Silent Choices (2007)
Director/Writer: Faith Pennick
Synopsis: Silent Choices is about abortion and its impact on the lives of African American women. The film is a "hybrid" documentary: part historical piece, part social and religious analysis and part first-person narrative.

Film Title: Bushwick Homecomings (2006)
Director/Writer: Stefanie Joshua
Synopsis: In a project inspired by the tragic death of a friend, Bushwick Homecomings touches on themes of gentrification, poverty and hope for the future.

Film Title: Queensbridge: The Other Side (2006)
Director/Writer: Selena Blake
Synopsis: This documentary is based on the lives of the people living in “The Bridge” - the Queensbridge Housing Project, whose residents are hardworking multi-cultural, multi-ethnic families trying to make ends meet.

Film Title: Mine & Tablou (2002)
Director/Writer:  Hossein Jehani
Synopsis: This documentary is the touching story of artist Sarwet Sawz, who lives in Iraqi Kurdistan. In order to survive, he dismantles bombs by day and paints at night.

Film Title: Hurricane Katrina: Life After the Storm (2006)
Director/Writer: Marcia Fingal
Synopsis: Documentary filmmaker Marcia Fingal takes a hard look at the storm’s destruction in Biloxi, MS and New Orleans, LA, as survivors and community activists press forward with the Herculean task of rebuilding their lives and communities.

Film Title: Bragging Rights (2006)
Director/Writer: Sonia Gonzalez
Synopsis: This documentary tells the story of the street sport called stickball, while underscoring the struggle to embrace differences and triumph over adversity.

Film Title: Black Girls Face: R. Kelly (2006)
Director/Writer:  Tokumbo Bodunde
Synopsis: Part documentary, part personal essay, this piece features four women candidly discussing the conflicts raised by listening to controversial singer R. Kelly.

Film Title:  A Period Piece (2005)
Director/Writer: Camille Holder-Brown
Synopsis: If only Sionne could beam herself away to a world where young girls never got their periods, then she would be happy.

Film Title:  Sticks & Stones (2006)
Director/Writer:  Rehema Imani Trimiew
Synopsis: During a parent teacher conference, Darryl and Dolores confront their daughter's maligned teacher, Mrs. Martin. Though their daughter is illiterate Mrs. Martin refuses to accept this obvious reality because of her own misperceptions.

Film Title: American Red and Black (2006)
Director/Writer: Alicia Woods
Synopsis: This intimate film follows six Afro-Natives from around the U.S. as they reflect upon the personal and complex issues of African and Native heritage.

Film Title: Sexy Thing (2006)
Director/Writer: Denie Pentecost
Synopsis: Standing on the hot metal roof of the garden shed, twelve-year old Georgie watches the endless blue sea of a summer sky. Georgie will slip between the reality of sexual abuse and the imaginary underwater world into which she escapes to survive.

Film Title: AWOL (2005)
Director/Writer: Brigid Maher
Synopsis: Keisha Johnson, an African American soldier, goes AWOL in Iraq after she flees a violent incident.

Film Title: Monsieur Etienne (2005)
Director/Writer:  Yann Chayia
Synopsis: An old man who spent his life arbitrating the arguments of his two best friends finds himself on the way to their funerals.

Film Title: Lifted (2007)
Director/Writer:  Randall Dottin
Synopsis: A young dancer meets her spiritual guardian on a subway platform after she abandons her child.

Film Title: LadyLike (2006)
Director/Writer: Safiya Songhai
Synopsis: Two women, one a daring exhibitionist and another a devout Muslim, initially see each other as the antithesis of a proper woman but eventually learn there is not only common ground between them but fertile ground to build a friendship.

Film Title: Woodshed (2006)
Director/Writer: Ella Turenne, T. Tara Turk
Synopsis: When two artists just can't communicate, they let art and music do the talking in this semi-silent short film.

Film Title: Alma (2007)
Director/Writer: Yuri Makino, Gretchen Maurer
Synopsis:  A high school student in the Southwest has no idea that she’s an illegal immigrant, with potentially disastrous consequences.

 

 

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