About this Event
African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) is thrilled to announce the 31st anniversary of its iconic New York African Film Festival (NYAFF), which runs from May 8 - May 30, 2024. Under the banner, Convergence of Time, NYAFF31 will celebrate with a program of over 90 films from more than 30 countries, with screenings taking place at three collaborating venues: Film at Lincoln Center (May 8-14); Maysles Cinema in Harlem (May 17-19), and Brooklyn Academy of Music (May 24-May 30). This live, interactive festival kick-off event will feature one-on-one conversations with artists who will explore the festival's theme in relation to their work, and will conclude with a group panel discussion and Q&A with the audience.
Doors open at 6PM and conversation begins at 6:30PM. Pre-conversation live DJ set!
Participants include Taiwo Aloba, Nigerian dramatist and founder and executive director African Theater Inc.; Christian Nyampeta, New-York based artist, filmmaker and community organizer; Sierra Leonean-American multi-disciplinary photographer and visual artist Adama Delphine Fawundu,; and moderator Paulette Young, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist specializing in African and African Diaspora visual arts, exploring expressions of power and meaning through textiles and fiber arts. As Director of the Young Robertson Gallery in NYC, she focuses on traditional African fine art, textiles, and photography.
A rtists:
A native of Ilesha, Osun, Taiwo Aloba is a New York-based Theatermaker and a culturally committed dramatist. She is an alumna of Lagos State University (BA, Theatre Arts, and Music), New York Film Academy (Musical Theatre), and Southern New Hampshire University (MFA, Creative Writing and English). She writes plays on various subjects, frequently about cultural responsibility and the struggle between individual will and the common good. She has sung in an African ensemble and ran a marathon in Coney Island. She is a member of the Dramatist Guild. Taiwo Aloba is the Founder and Executive Director of African Theater Inc.
Christian Nyampeta is an artist living in New York from where he organizes programs, exhibitions, screenings, performances, and publications, which are conceived as hosting structures for collective feeling, cooperative thinking, and mutual action. Nyampeta convenes the Nyanza Working Group of ARAC—Another Roadmap School which participated in documenta fifteen, and he is the convener of Boda Boda Lounge 2022-2024, a trans-African film and video art festival co- initiated by Centre d’art Waza in Lubumbashi. In New York, Nyampeta convenes the African Film Institute at e-flux in Brooklyn.
Adama Delphine Fawundu, a Brooklyn-based photographer and visual artist, is renowned for her work centered on themes of indigenization and ancestral memory. She co-published the acclaimed book MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora and has exhibited globally for decades. Among her accolades are the Catchlight Fellowship, Anonymous Was A Woman Award, NYFA Photography Fellowship, and Rema Hort Mann Artist Grant. Fawundu's works are housed in prestigious collections including the Brooklyn Museum of Art and Princeton University Museum, and she serves as an Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at Columbia University.
After refining his photography skills in Paris, Arie Esiri returned to England, contributing to diverse projects for brands like Audi and Vivienne Westwood, as well as the BBC. Inspired by Vittorio De Sica's storytelling, he sought to amplify untold Nigerian narratives. With a Master's of Fine Arts from Columbia University, Arie collaborated with his brother Chuko, co-directing their short film "Goose," featured at the 2017 LA Film Festival. He produced acclaimed films like "Besida" and "B for Boy," earning recognition from Vogue and Essence.com. As an IFP Narrative Lab Fellow, Arie splits his time between Lagos and New York. His debut feature film "Eyimofe" made history as the first Nigerian film inducted into the Criterion Collection, receiving widespread acclaim and critics' picks in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Variety magazine, following its successful festival run in over 30 countries.
Moderator:
Paulette Young, Ph.D. is a cultural anthropologist, curator and independent scholar in the visual arts and artistic cultural practices of communities in Africa and the African Diaspora. Her research centers on the historical and contemporary roles of global dress, design and style as an expressive artistic and cultural form. She examines the ways that people of African descent articulate power and meaning through the visual and verbal arts, particularly as presented in textiles and fiber arts. Paulette holds a doctorate from Columbia University. She is an educator and advisor in the visual and performing arts for a diverse range of universities, museums, galleries and community-based organizations. Paulette lectures and provides ethnographic and archival research for local and international cultural, educational, and business institutions and publications. Young is Director of the Young Robertson Gallery in New York, NY. The gallery specializes in fine arts from Africa and the African Diaspora, focusing on traditional African fine art, textiles and photography.
About The Africa Center
The Africa Center is transforming the world’s understanding of Africa, its Diaspora, and the role of people of African descent in the world. Serving as the hub for the exchange of ideas related to the continent, and in the spirit of collaboration with individuals and institutions who share our values, The Africa Center inspires enthusiasm, advances thought, and empowers action around Africa’s global impact on our collective futures. theafricacenter.org
About AFF
Since 1990, African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) has bridged the divide between post-colonial Africa and the American public through the medium of film. AFF's unique place in the international arts community is distinguished not only by leadership in festival management but by a comprehensive approach to the advocacy of African and diaspora film and culture. Launched in 1993, the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) is presented annually by African Film Festival, Inc. and Film at Lincoln Center, in association with Brooklyn Academy of Music. AFF also produces a series of local, national, and international programs throughout the year. africanfilmny.org
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Africa Center, 1280 5th Avenue, New York, United States
USD 0.00
