ADIFF CHICAGO 2023

Get ready for an extraordinary event that will captivate your senses and ignite your passion for meaningful cinema! Join us from June 15-18 as the Chicago African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF Chicago) proudly celebrates its momentous 20th anniversary. Prepare to be transported to a world of cinematic wonders at the prestigious Film Center and Facets, where a remarkable lineup of programs and screenings awaits you.

ADIFF Chicago is renowned for curating a collection of groundbreaking films that explore the rich tapestry of the Black and Indigenous experience. This year, we continue our mission of giving voice to often misrepresented realities and peoples, showcasing culturally significant films that amplify diverse narratives.

All tickets for screenings happening at FACETS available on the FACETS WEBSITE

ADIFF CHICAGO FILM SERIES FACT SHEET

WHAT: 20th Annual ADIFF CHICAGO

WHERE: Facets Cinema – 1517 West Fullerton Ave, Chicago; Gene Siskel Film Center - 164 N State St, Chicago

WHEN: From June 15 to 18, 2023

TICKETS: All Access Festival pass $65; Opening and Closing Nights: $15;

Spotlight on New African Cinema & The Magic of the Blues programs: $20

Regular Screenings: $13. Groups of 10 or more, Students, Seniors, Siskel/Facets members: $10

10 FILMS – 7 COUNTRIES:

USA, Cape Verde, South Africa, France, Guadeloupe, Mali & Senegal.

WEB SITES: http://www.NYADIFF.org or https://facets.org/programs/adiff-chicago-2023/

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

Thursday, June 15 - FACETS

6pm Opening Night Reception

7pm + Q&A

Celebrate the opening of ADIFF Chicago 2023 with a special reception & screening of Edson Jean’s award-winning film Ludi followed by a Q&A with the director.

After a half-truth lands her under immense financial pressure, Ludi Alcidor embarks on a frantic scour through Miami’s private care-taking world in an increasingly desperate attempt to send money to her family in Haiti. Ludi’s interaction with her Cuban landlord and her senior Jewish client, offers a glance at the life of Haitian immigrants in Miami.

Edson Jean | U.S.A. | 2021 | 81min

Presented in English and Haitian Creole with English subtitles

Friday, June 16 - FACETS

Spotlight on New African Cinema Program – Complementary desert during intermission

6pm

The Africologist is a young 3D character impersonating the subconscious curiosity we all have lingering inside of us, the need to understand who we are, where we come from and where we are going.

Together with the Africologist, we travel along a chronological timeline starting with the birth of the universe, the origins of life and humanity's first steps, here in Africa followed by Africa's Golden Age, from Kemet to Great Zimbabwe and other great civilizations. Then comes slavery and colonialism followed by the return to independence. Finally, we take a look at our place in humanity's twenty-first century and the possible future that we are shaping.

Valerio Lopes | Cape Verde | 2022 | 72 mins

Presented in English and Swahili with English subtitles.

8pm

Blind Eye tells a simple story that tries to make sense of the complex corruption in a democratic South Africa and is inspired by the brave people who continue to fight, even under threats of violence.

Zandile, a young vibrant auditor with the Auditor General is driven to root out corruption wherever she finds it. She is dispatched to go and verify assets of a notorious municipality before its audit begins. Standing in the way is Gogo Dlamini, a fearless and corrupt businesswoman.

Mengameli Nhlabathi | South Africa | 2021 | 75 mins

Presented in Zulu with English subtitles

Saturday, June 17 - FACETS

2pm

YAFA, Forgiveness explores the social and economic dynamics at work in the relationship between an African immigrant in Paris and a Caribbean policeman from Guadeloupe as they seek to understand each other.

Demba is an African who has fled an oppressive regime in his own country and is seeking asylum in Paris. One night he encounters Lucien, a policeman from the Caribbean, who speaks to him in the voice of the dominant class. But in his country Demba is a professor of History and Geography while Lucien left school early to help his mother, a cleaning lady. YAFA, Forgiveness focuses on their relationship as they learn to understand each other, aided by Welcome, a Baule Komian who does not hesitate to officiate as the parties meet on the Quai de l’Oise, in the centre of Paris.

Christian Lara | France | 2019 | 85 mins

Presented in French with English subtitles

4pm Angels on Diamond Street spotlights three women fighting for social justice in an African-American church in Philadelphia.

We follow head cook Mamie Mather, former Black Panther Barbara Easley-Cox and Pastor Renee Mackenzie at the soup kitchen of the Church of the Advocate: a national monument with a rich history in the civil rights movement. When an undocumented Mexican immigrant family – Carmela Apolonio Hernandez and her children – asks the church for sanctuary, they are welcome with open arms.

Petr Lom | U.S.A. & Netherlands | 2019 | 88 mins

Presented in English and Spanish with English subtitles

The Magic of the Blues Program – Complementary desert during intermission

6pm

Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? follows Xavier a 51-year-old survivor living his “third rebirth” as Fantastic Negrito, a bluesman making an album about the mental health crisis devastating his family and community in Oakland, California.

Mercurial blues-man Fantastic Negrito faces his demons amidst the mental health crisis ravaging his Oakland community. As he creates his most personal album, Negrito searches to answer: in a sick society, how do you keep from going crazy?

Francisco Núñez Capriles & Yvan Iturriaga | U.S.A. | 2022 | 93 mins

Presented in English without subtitles

8:30pm Music Pictures: New Orleans gives us legacy portraits and rare backstage access into the lives and craft of four New Orleans music legends: Irma Thomas, Little Freddie King, Ellis Marsalis, and The Tremé Brass Band.

Now in their 80s, these local masters continue their practice, for the love of the music, in the city that made them who they are. This musical documentary follows these four artists one by one as they rehearse, perform, and talk about their lives as it celebrates 100 years of New Orleans musical history with rare historical footage and testimonies.

Ben Chance | U.S.A. | 2022 | 72 mins

Presented in English

Sunday, June 18 SISKEL

12noon Spotlight on Mali:

Malian-French director Daouda Coulibaly's auspicious debut is a pulse-pounding political thriller. Wùlu tells the unsettling tale of a man's rise from the bottom rung of the social ladder to the heights of criminal power.

Daouda Coulibaly | Mali | 2016 | 95 mins

Presented in Bambara, French with English subtitles

2pm Spotlight on Mali:

Mali, 1960. The youth of Bamako dance the twist to rock and roll music newly imported from the West and dream of political renewal. Samba, a young socialist, falls for spirited Lara during one of his missions to the bush. To escape her forced marriage, she secretly flees with him to the city. But Lara’s husband won’t let them be and the Revolution soon brings painful disillusions as they dream of a future together.

Robert Guédiguian | Senegal | 2022 | 129 mins

Presented in Bambara, French, Wolof with English subtitles

4:30pm Closing Night – Screening + Panel + reception after the screening

Dorothy Foreman Cotton was a bold and highly effective civil rights leader, who educated thousands about their citizenship rights and inspired generations of activists with her powerful freedom songs. The only woman on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s executive staff, Dorothy was a charismatic, courageous and consistently overlooked key player in the Civil Rights Movement, whose freedom schools, freedom songs and messages of empowerment are profoundly needed today.

Ry Ferro, Deborah C. Hoard | U.S.A | 2023 | 87 mins

Presented in English without subtitles

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State Street, Chicago, United States