News

It.s taken five years but the makers of Stolen feel their documentary.s revelations of slavery in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria controlled by the Polisario Front have been vindicated. After the world premiere at the 2009 Sydney Film Festival, controversy erupted after one of the women interviewed was flown to Australia by the Polisario to say she wasn't a slave. The Polisario began an international campaign to discredit the film, to the chagrin of writers/directors Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw and producer Tom Zubrycki. Last month Human Rights Watch published a report based on a research mission to the remote camps titled Off the Radar. The report concluded that though slavery is not widespread, nevertheless .some practices of slavery have persisted among Sahrawis... in the Tindouf refugee camps and - perhaps in particular - in the remote areas of Western Sahara under Polisario control.. In 2011 the penal...

The 2009 documentary "Stolen" was originally slated to air on public broadcasting's World Channel on February 5th as part of the Gabourey Sidibe-hosted fifth season of the "AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange" film series. But due to controversy surrounding the doc, which started as a portrait of the reunion between a Saharawi refugee and her mother and turned into an exposé about reported modern-day slavery in the Western Sahara, the broadcast of "Stolen" was delayed so that World could produce a wrap-around special to air with the film explaining the complicated issues surrounding it. "Stolen" will be broadcast tonight, February 26th at 7pm Et, on the World Channel, and will be preceeded by a report on the region from journalist Phillip Martin and followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw and Wgbh News' Callie Crossley. Below, Ayala and Fallshaw explain for Indiewire how their...

Dear Sydney, I wanted to let you know we've just launched a campaign to take the story of Stolen (Isa: Odin's Eye) and slavery in Western Sahara to the world. We would like your support in this campaign because we all know that slavery should be a thing of the past, a taboo that should come to light. Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw spent three years making Stolen and there is still so much to do to get the film out there. Unfortunately the film has faced a well organized political and media campaign to silence it and cover up…...

The New York African Film Festival begins Today New Yorkers, and the 2011 lineup is an impressive one!

Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.

Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s explosive Viva Riva!, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and swept the African Movie Academy Awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and dug it! Read me review Here.

New Yorkers will also get to see Besouro (a Shadow And Act Film...

The New York African Film Festival begins tomorrow New Yorkers, and the 2011 lineup is an impressive one!

Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.

Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s explosive Viva Riva!, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and swept the African Movie Academy Awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and dug it! Read me review Here.

New Yorkers will also get to see Besouro (a Shadow And Act Film...

The New York African Film Festival has announced its 2011 lineup, and it’s an impressive one! I’m excited, and hopefully you will be too, especially if you live in New York.

Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film at Sundance in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.

Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s Viva Riva!, which screened at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and Fespaco last month, where it won some awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I haven’t seen it, but I’m really looking forward to doing so.

The line-up for the 18th Raindance Film Festival was announced today at a press launch held at the May Fair Hotel in London. This years line-up includes 77 feature films, 69 UK premieres and 133 short films, special live events, exclusive Q&As and masterclasses.

The festival will run from September 29 – October 10.

Opening the festival on Wednesday 29th September is Jackboots On Whitehall – a satirical animation about an alternative history of World War II where the Nazis seize London and England must band together to prevent a full on invasion. Star voiceover cast includes: Ewan McGregor, Rosamund Pike,Richard E. Grant, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson, Alan Cumming, Richard Griffiths, Stephen Merchant and Richard O’Brien. It will be followed by an after-party with live set from rising Us indie band stars Airborne Toxic Event and DJ set from one of the most influential DJs in the UK – Andrew Weatherall. The following day will...

Director/writer Wanuri Kahiu's "From a Whisper" won the best narrative feature award at the Pan African Film Festival, which concluded Wednesday at the Culver Plaza Theatres in Culver City.

"Whisper" also took home a special award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles.

The audience favorite narrative award resulted in a three-way tie, in which the films "Soul Diaspora," "A Sting in a Tale" and "Speed-Dating" were all recognized.

The documentary "41st Central: The Untold Story of the L.A Black Panthers" won the audience favorite documentary award.

Violeta Ayala and Daniel Fallshaw's "Stolen" received the jury’s doc feature award.

Making a documentary is no easy feat. While it might not demand the same level of production values, or involve masses of special effects, extras and actors that a feature film requires, documentaries have their own extensive list of issues to overcome. In the case of Stolen, the film that proved to be the most controversial at this year's Sydney Film Festival, the creators have had to endure detention, international criticism and public scrutiny after the featured family in the film withdrew their support for the film's claims.   Originally Sydney filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw [pictured centre] had headed into the refugee camps in Algeria in 2006 to make a film about the family reunions that the Un was organising.

• With so much to see and do at Tiff, the five doc titles added to Tiff's Real to Reel section only reminds me that I'll probably leave the festival with that feeling of having "missed out." Word to publicists: keep your screeners handy. Among the five named below, Guo Xiaolu will come to Toronto with a current look on the fascinating country in transition (Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country) and with the buzz of having just won the Golden Leopard Grand Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival for She, A Chinese. Here are the added five. Ahead of Time Bob Richman, USA World Premiere This directorial debut from acclaimed cinematographer Bob Richman (The September Issue, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) creates a vivid portrait of Ruth Gruber. From the time she became the world’s youngest Ph.D. in 1931 at age 20 to her pivotal

...

Toronto -- A day after his documentary "She, a Chinese" picked up the Golden Leopard award at Locarno, the Toronto International Film Festival booked Guo Xiaolu's "Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country" for a North American premiere.

The Chinese novelist-director's portrait of intersecting lives in post-Marxist contemporary China will unspool as part of Toronto's Real to Reel sidebar.

"She, a Chinese," Guo's English- and Chinese-language drama about a young girl's uneasy transition from a sleepy village to the nearest town, was earlier booked for Toronto.

Tiff on Tuesday also added to its September lineup documentaries on Disney animation's 1990s rebirth, Holocaust rescuer Ruth Gruber and stranded Algerian refugees.

Veteran Disney producer Don Hahn will receive a world premiere for "Waking Sleeping Beauty," an inside look at how Walt Disney animation produced a string of hits from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" to "Aladdin" and "The Lion King."

The...