Breaking The Chains Film Festival

August – September 2016

Breaking The Chains Film Festival is a programme of screenings to observe the annual African Holocaust Remembrance Day held on 23 August. This date commemorates an uprising of enslaved Africans on the island of Saint Domingue (modern day Haiti) in 1791.

The screenings will highlight the hidden history and legacy of the enslavement of African people through our Maangamizi and the legacy of the enslavement period on Africa and the Diaspora. The word “Maangamizi” is a Swahili term which speaks to the intentionality of the African holocaust of chattel, colonial and neo-colonial enslavement.

The film festival will feature a mixture of feature films and documentaries. We will incorporate presentations and facilitate engaging post film discussions with audience members.

The programme of events are below:

 

BESOURO (15)

Friday 5th August 2016

Based on the life of a legendary capoeira fighter and social leader from Bahia,Brazil, the film tells the mystical tale of this young Afro-Brazilian man and his connection to the Orixás, African deities with mystical powers. Set in the early 1920s, just forty years after the abolition of slavery, Besouro is riddled with fantastic capoeira fighting scenes (choreographed by the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon team) and is set to the traditional rhythm of the “berimbau” capoeira instrument. With Ailton Carmo in the title role and Jessica Barbosa as his lover, the film was nominated for the 2010 Cinema Brazil Grand Prize and winner of Best Art Direction, Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects!

This event will take place on FRIDAY 5TH AUGUST 2016 from 7pm to 10pm.

Doors open at 7.00pm and the film will start at 7.30pm.

The event will be held at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham Green, London, N15 4RX.

For location details go to http://www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/index.php/your-visit

 

North London Premiere: Nanny: Legendary Maroon Chieftainess (U)

Friday 12th August 2016

Conceived by Jamaican-born, New Jersey-based filmmaker, Roy T. Anderson, and history professor, Harcourt T. Fuller, PhD, Queen Nanny: Legendary Maroon Chieftainess, a documentary-film, unearths and examine the mysterious figure that is Nanny of the Maroons; Jamaica’s sole female National Hero, and one of the most celebrated, but least recognized heroines in the resistance history of the New World.Queen Nanny documents the struggle for freedom by the Jamaican Maroons, led by the indomitable 18th century military genius, Nanny of the Maroons. A spiritual leader, skilled in the use of herbs and guerilla warfare tactics, from her mountain stronghold at the source of the Stony River in the majestic Blue Mountains, she directed the warfare that effectively neutralized the vaunted British firepower.

Following on the heels of Akwantu: the Journey (Action 4 Reel Flimworks, 2012), Anderson’s award-winning film on the history of the Jamaican Maroons, Queen Nanny expands on the story of the New World’s first successful freedom fighters by shedding light on to one of the leading figures in that struggle.

This event will take place on FRIDAY 12TH AUGUST 2016 from 7pm to 9.30pm.

Doors open at 7.00pm and the film will start at 7.30pm.

The event will be held at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham Green, London, N15 4RX.

For location details go to http://www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/index.php/your-visit

Tickets for this event are £8 plus booking fee.

Purchase your ticket from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nanny-legendary-maroon-chieftainess-breaking-the-chains-film-festival-tickets-25787814046

(Please note, photographs will be taken at this event and may be used for promotional purposes)



YURUMEIN (Homeland): Resistance, Rupture and Repair; the Caribs of St. Vincent in the Caribbean

and

The Garifuna Journey

Friday 19th August 2016

YURUMEIN (Homeland) is a documentary film which recounts the painful past of the Caribs on the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean, their extermination at the hands of the British 200+ years ago, the decimation of their culture on the island, and their exile to Central America where much of that culture survived, even thrived. YURUMEIN (your -o- main) also explores what few cultural remnants of the Caribs, also known as Garifuna, still exist on St. Vincent and the beginnings of a movement to teach and revitalize Garifuna language, music and dance, and ritual to younger generations of Garifuna/ Caribs on St. Vincent

The Garifuna Journey

A first voice testimony celebrating the resiliency of the Garifuna people and their traditions. Shot entirely in Belize, the filmmakers worked closely with Garifuna tradition bearers, anthropologists and cultural activists during the research, scripting, production and editing phases of this project. The documentary resulting from this “outsider and insider” collaboration is the first of its kind, one that captures the triumph of spirit of the Garifuna people.

Descendants of African and Carib-Indian ancestors, the Garifuna fought to maintain their homeland and resisted slavery. For this love of freedom, they were exiled by the British in 1797. Despite exile and subsequent Diaspora, their traditional culture survives today. It is a little known story that deserves its place in the annals of the African Diaspora. In authentic Garifuna voices, this documentary presents the history, the language, food, music, dance and spirituality of the Garifuna culture. It is a celebratory documentary, with engaging scenes of fishing, cooking, dancing, cassava preparation, thatching a temple, spiritual ritual, ritual music and dance all demonstrating the Garifuna link to the Carib-African past.

In May of 2001, the United Nations awarded the Garifuna community the title: Proclamation of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

This event will take place on FRIDAY 19TH AUGUST 2016 from 7pm to 10pm.

Doors open at 7.00pm and the film will start at 7.30pm.

The event will be held at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham Green, London, N15 4RX.

For location details go to http://www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/index.php/your-visit

Tickets for this event are £8 plus booking fee.

Purchase your ticket from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-premiere-yuremein-and-the-garifuna-journey-breaking-the-chains-film-festival-tickets-25788023673

(Please note, photographs will be taken at this event and may be used for promotional purposes)

They Are We

Friday 26th August 2016

THEY ARE WE is the story of a remarkable reunion, 170 or so years after a family was driven apart by the ravages of the transatlantic slave trade.

In Central Cuba, proud members of the Gangá-Longobá, a small Afro-Cuban ethnic group, have kept their unique heritage alive. Incredibly, through decades of brutal enslavement, independence wars, and then the denying of all religions after the revolution, they have retained a collection of distinct songs and dances that one of their ancestors brought from Africa as a slave. Each December 17th they still perform them at the San Lazaro ceremony.

After a chance discovery while working in West Africa, director Emma Christopher spent two years showing a film of the Gangá-Longobá songs and dances to several thousand people across Sierra Leone. Eventually, in an isolated village with no road access, one man looked at another in joy and wonder as he watched a recording of the Gangá-Longobá songs and said, “THEY ARE WE!” Then the villagers joined in with others of the Gangá-Longobá songs, still recognizing them clearly despite all the years of separation.

Returning to Cuba, Emma showed her findings to the Gangá-Longobá. “We are not so alone anymore”, said one of their number, woodcarver and artist Alfredo Duquesne. Later he would say that knowing where he came from “is divine.” In early 2013, after the law changed allowing them to freely leave Cuba, a trip was at last made to visit Sierra Leone. It turned into a remarkable celebration, a rare recognition of the tenacity and resolve of one young girl who once made the awful journey from Africa to Cuba, but never let her memories of home die.

THEY ARE WE tells the story of the Gangá-Longobá and of the village their ancestor called home.

It is the story of how, just very occasionally, a family separated by the slave trade can reunite for the good of all.

This event will take place on FRIDAY 26TH AUGUST 2016 from 7pm to 10pm.

Doors open at 7.00pm and the film will start at 7.30pm.

The event will be held at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham Green, London, N15 4RX.

For location details go to http://www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/index.php/your-visit

Tickets for this event are £8 plus booking fee.

Purchase your ticket from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-premiere-of-they-are-we-breaking-the-chains-film-festival-tickets-25788996583

(Please note, photographs will be taken at this event and may be used for promotional purposes)

TULA: The Revolt

Friday 2nd September 2016

Tula, an enslaved African on the island of Curacao, is becoming more and more aware of the injustice existing between his people and the white oppressors. In a peaceful way he tries to establish a more equal relationship between Black and white. His peaceful resistance does not find any response with the rulers. But it does with his own people.

Caught by his inspiration, they unite in a passionate struggle for equality, freedom and brotherhood.

“A nation that neglects its history is a nation with no past, with no memory, unable to learn from mistakes in times past and unable to benefit from the achievements and glorious acts of former generations.”

“Tula, The Revolt” is an international English spoken feature length movie about the leader of the big slave uprising on the island of Curacao, a Dutch colony in 1795. It tells the true story of a man who dared to stand up against his oppressors leading his people in a peaceful march for freedom, equality and brotherhood.

An action movie, but at the same time a character movie, giving the audience the insights of a reluctant leader, his hopes, his fears, his values, his love, his faith, but also his inevitable destiny.

Although several movies on the broader subject of slavery have been made, there was never a movie on the essence of slave resistance. The revolt on Curacao began peacefully and was meant to be won by words, rather than arms. This makes this true story unique in its kind.

As many enslaved Africans were transported and traded through the Caribbean transit harbors like the one on Curacao, this story belongs to them and to their descendants. It deserves to be told, for it is an important part of history, identity and in the end, of our society today.

This event will take place on FRIDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER 2016 from 7pm to 10pm.

Doors open at 7.00pm and the film will start at 7.30pm.

The event will be held at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham Green, London, N15 4RX.

For location details go to http://www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/index.php/your-visit

Tickets for this event are £8 plus booking fee.

Purchase your ticket from https://tulanorthlondon.eventbrite.co.uk

(Please note, photographs will be taken at this event and may be used for promotional purposes)

The International Decade for People of African Descent, proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 68/237 and to be observed from 2015 to 2024, provides a solid framework for the United Nations, Member States, civil society and all other relevant actors to join together with people of African descent and take effective measures for the implementation of the programme of activities in the spirit of recognition, justice and development. It is also a unique opportunity to build on the International Year for People of African Descent, which was observed by the international community in 2011, and to further underline the important contribution made by people of African descent to our societies and to propose concrete measures to promote their full inclusion and to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.