About this Event
Join us on Wednesday, April 22nd at 7:00PM for our Film at The Africa Center screening of Sarrounia presented in partnership with African Film Festival, Inc.
Runtime: 120 minutes
Programs hosted at The Africa Center are free and open to all. Registration does not guarantee entrance, so we recommend that you arrive early.
The Film
Sarrounia (Directed by Med Hondo) Based on historical accounts of Queen Sarraounia, who leads the Azans into battle against the French colonialists at the turn of the century, Med Hondo’s sweeping epic rivals any that American cinema has produced. A brilliant strategist and forceful leader, the queen commands respect from the men she guides into battle and deep loyalty from her people. Hondo contrasts the strong alliances that emerge among African communities with the self-seeking and purposelessness of the Europeans and provides much needed African historical perspective. Sarraounia is not only an engrossing tale of a remarkable woman’s bravery, but also a captivating study of revolution against enslavement and the struggle for peace and freedom.
About the Director
Med Hondo was born in 1936 in Ain Oul Beri Mathar in the Atar region of Mauritania. His mother was Mauritanian and his father Senegalese. In 1954 he went to live in Rabat, Morocco to train to become a chef at the International Hotel School there. He emigrated to France in 1959 and found work first in Marseille and then in Paris, variously as a cook, farm labourer, waiter, dockworker and delivery man. In the late 1960s, Hondo started taking small roles in television and films. At the same time, he began to learn the craft of film making by careful observation of the work of others, and began to get work behind the camera. He began his first film, Soleil Ô in 1965. Made with a budget of $30,000, Soleil Ô was financed by Hondo's work dubbing American films into French. It played at during International Critics' Week at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival where it received critical acclaim. It received a Golden Leopard Award at the 1970 Locarno International Film Festival. In 1981 he was a member of the jury at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival. Some of Hondo's acting work has been as a voice actor, in films and television series like Funky Cops and Asterix and the Vikings. He has worked on the dubbing of many English language films into French, voicing characters of Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover (on the rare occasions when he was not dubbed by white actor Richard Darbois), Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley. He has dubbed several of Eddie Murphy's films including The Nutty Professor and the part of Donkey in 2001's Shrek. He passed away in March 2019 in Paris, France.
About Film at The Africa Center:
The Africa Center is proud to continue its ongoing partnership with African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) to present a selection of films from the vibrant tapestry of African cinema. Since 1990, African Film Festival Inc. has curated a remarkable catalogue of classic films, independent films, blockbuster films, films not widely accessible to the general public, and more. The monthly screenings jointly presented with The Africa Center unsheathe the cinematic universes of Africa and its diaspora for new and growing audiences to experience and enjoy.
About our partners:
African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) is dedicated to advancing an enhanced understanding of African culture through the moving image. It offers diverse platforms for the wide distribution of African media through its flagship annual film festival and complementary year-round programming. AFF is committed to increasing visibility and recognition for African media artists by introducing African film and culture to a broad range of audiences in the United States and abroad, bypassing economic, class and racial barriers. In 1990, AFF’s founders established goals that continue to enrich the organization mission and organizational development: To use African cinema to promote and increase knowledge and understanding of African arts, literature and culture; To develop an audience for African films; To expand the opportunities for the distribution of African films in the United States and abroad.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Africa Center, 1280 5th Avenue, New York, United States
USD 0.00
