WATCH OUT FOR SCREENINGS
IN 2019
 

Watch-Africa Cymru is...

...the Welsh, African Film Festival

WATCH-AFRICA CYMRU is Wales’ Annual African Film Festival celebrating the best of African cinema. Launched in 2013, the festival provides a platform for African films, art and culture in Wales. It brings a wide-range of films covering areas across the continent, as well as engaging and interactive activities and events related to the festival. It provides a platform for works by African, African diasporas as well as Welsh and international directors and artists which bring fresh perspectives on Africa to its economic, social, political and cultural life...

WATCH-AFRICA CYMRU 2019
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Join us throughout the year for the 7th edition of Watch-Africa; Wales African film festival! Celebrating African cinema across Wales!

We listened to our audience and they have encouraged us to bring #WatchAfrica365 to venues across Wales. From major independent cinemas to community halls and unusual locations, Watch-Africa will bring you the best cultural experience, celebrating African cinema and storytelling.

CAIRO STATION

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The Gates Arts Centre:

25th July from 2019

Dir: Youssef Chahine

 

Egypt/1958/95 mins/Arabic with English Subtitles

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Qinawi, a crippled newspaper vendor working in the Cairo train station, becomes infatuated with Hannuma, an engaged beverage seller. When Hannuma rejects Qinawi’s fantasy of their future together, Qinawi’s obsession turns into madness. Hanuma is one of a group of unofficial female vendors who dodge the authorities to sell soft drinks to passengers.

 

She is about to marry Abu Seri, a loud and heavy-handed porter who is trying to form a trade union. Meanwhile, newspapers report on a gruesome murder... Chahine a pioneering Egyptian filmmaker who made his first film in 1950 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at Cannes in 1997 - explores sexuality, obsession, madness and violence in this film, regarded as one of his masterpieces.

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NJINGA QUEEN OF

ANGOLA

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Ty Pawb, Wrexham:

Arrival & Red Carpet: 18:00

Short Films: 18:30

Screening: 19:00

Aftershow - Q&A Presented by Watch Africa Cymru.

Dir: Sergio Graciano

Angola/2013/ 109 mins/ Portugese with English Subtitles

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In the 17th century a warrior woman fights for the independence of Angola. After witnessing the murder of her son and watching her people being humiliated by Portuguese colonizers, Njinga will become a Queen and struggle for their liberation embodying the motto: those who stay fight to win. English subtitles.

 

Cinema 73 is a community-led cinema programme. Every other Thursday from September-Christmas we will screen a different film, providing access to independent and world cinema, from classics to new releases as well as in-competition short films, Q&As + more.

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THE BEAUTIFUL

GAME

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The Oasis Centre:

6th October from 1830

Dir: Victor Buhler

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Across some African countries/2014/90 mins/English

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Soccer is more than a game. All across Africa people are using soccer to lift themselves up, to create change in their communities and to pave the way for progress.

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This visually stunning documentary creates a new vision of Africa whether soccer fan or not, The Beautiful Game will inspire and move you.


Also West African cuisine will be on sale half price for ticket holders from 6:30 by The Refugee Mobile Kitchen who bring together authentic flavours from across the globe to share their love of food with the Cardiff Community.

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BORDERS

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Taliesin Arts Centre:

13th November from 2000

Dir: Apolline Traoré

Senegal – Mali - Burkina Faso - Benin/2017/90 mins/ French with English Subtitles

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The paths of four very different women converge in this free spirited road movie across western Africa. Each is making the long trip from Bamako in Mali to Nigeria’s bustling capital Lagos, passing through Burkina Faso and Benin on the way. Crammed together on a stifling bus, they take in the breathtaking landscapes of coastal and Sahelian countries. But when bus breakdowns, traffic jams, highway robbers, fights between passengers and, worst of all, corrupt and violent border customs officers ensues, these initially private women join forces. Borders is an affecting and at times funny drama about female friendship and empowerment, which also highlights a growing regional problem in west Africa, where lack of integration is thwarting policies on the free circulation of people and goods.

AKasha & THIS IS NOT A POEM FOLLOWED BY Q&A

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Taliesin Arts Centre:

13th Nov from 1800

AKasha
Adnan is a Sudanese revolutionary who is considered a war hero. His love for his AK47 rifle is equalled only by his feelings for Lina, his long-suffering sweetheart. When Adnan is late to return to his military unit after his leave, army commander Blues launches a kasha: the rounding up and arresting of truant soldiers...

This is Not A Poem
What does it mean to be a migrant – with emotions split between a longing for your homeland and a desire to make a new life for yourself?
This Is Not A Poem is a film-poem based on the works of Cameroonian poet Eric Ngalle Charles and described as a “hymn to tolerance and diversity” by film-maker Greg Lewis.

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ANOTHER DAY OF

LIFE

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Chapter Arts Centre:

12th October 1630

Dir: Raúl de la Fuente, Damian Nenow Poland | 2018 | 85’ | TBC | FL

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Based on Ryszard Kapuściński's Another Day Of Life, an account of the writer’s experiences during the Angolan Civil War in 1975, this astonishing film is part animation, part live action. Forty years after the events described, characters are brought to life once more and the documentary footage adds depth to our understanding of a country ravaged by internal conflict.

 
 

WATCH-AFRICA CYMRU FILM CLUB

...the WAC Film Club

The WAC FILM CLUB is an informal community of people interested in watching, exploring and getting involved in African film. The club which is part of Watch-Africa will reach out to undeserved areas for cultural/foreign screenings, especially BAME communities. It will allow African films to reach these communities outside the core festival. It will overcome barriers to engagement by bringing African film to BAME communities in venues and settings familiar to them, rather than requiring them to visit venues that are unfamiliar. It will foster engagement among BAME communities by providing opportunities to discover African film, to connect with developments in film on the continent, to become active participants and grow skills and confidence. The Wales Africa Film Club will complement the Watch Africa Film Festival with informal and BAME centred/led opportunities to explore and become involved in film, thereby creating spaces to expand and sustain existing and core festival audiences.

© 2018 by WATCH-AFRICA CYMRU