| African Studies Releases Recommended by EMRO
TWN is pleased to announce that
Educational Media Reviews
Online (EMRO) recommended two
of our African Studies releases! Who's
Afraid of Ngugi?,
directed by African scholar and filmmaker
Manthia Diawara, is a revealing look at
Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o's return to
his country after decades of exile and Living
the Hiplife, is a music documentary about
the influence of
hip hop in the music scene in Accra, Ghana.
Read the reviews below!
Purchase any of the titles featured in
this newsletter and receive a 10% discount
when you mention promo code ENAS2008. Offer
is good until March 31st, 2008. To
place your order, please
visit our website, print
out an order
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to Third World Newsreel, 545 8th Avenue, 10th
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Remember to add $20 for shipping and
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| African Studies Essentials
NEW Who's Afraid of
Ngugi? Available on
DVD
This documentary follows acclaimed author
Ngugi wa Thiong'o as he and his political
activist wife Njeri journey back to Kenya
after years of exile. As they are welcomed
home by joyous and hopeful crowds, they also
must cope with those who still find their
revolutionary words and deeds
threatening.
Special Mention, Zanzibar International
Film Festival,
2007
"[A] useful film for discussions of
African literature, post-colonial literature
and experiences, the challenges facing exiled
authors, and the politics of language.
Recommended."
--Martha Kelehan, Binghamton University,
Educational Media Reviews Online
Manthia Diawara |
documentary | 83 minutes | 2007 | $225
| $202.50
view
in catalog
--------------------------------------------------
NEW Living the
Hiplife Available on
DVD
"This highly-engaging documentary looks at
the development of the Ghanaian popular music
known as Hiplife. A mixture of Ghanaian
Highlife music and American Hip Hop, Hiplife
is thought to have started with the return of
Reggie "Rockstone" Ossei to Accra in the
mid-1990s. He is thought to be the first
Ghanaian to rap in Twi and on topics related
to Ghanaian life, earning himself the moniker
"the Godfather of Hiplife."
While much of the film focuses on Reggie
Rockstone and his attempts to foster the
career of three young artists known as the
Mobile Boys, the documentary does an
admirable job of showcasing the diversity of
ideas and talent in the movement. One newer
current is for artists to draw from Ghanaian
parables and incantations, or to use more
"African" beats rather than beats coming out
of London or New York. Also briefly addressed
is the commercialization of the culture, with
many Hiplife stars doing advertisements for
major European multinationals. A short
interview with one of Hiplife's premier
female artists, Abrewa Nana is included, but
it is just enough to whet one's appetite for
more on the fascinating topic of gender in
Hiplife.
Directed by Bard Professor of Anthropology
and Africana Studies, Jesse Shipley, the
credits also list Reggie Rockstone as
consultant on the film. The production
quality is high, with judicious use of
archival footage from Ghana's history
interspersed with contemporary concert
footage, music video clips, shots from the
recording studio, and interviews at home with
Rockstone and the Mobile Boys.
Living the Hiplife could be used in
classes to discuss topics such as
syncretization, popular/youth culture, the
globalization of hip hop, Africa's
relationship to the Diaspora, and music
history in Ghana. Highly
recommended.
Jesse W. Shipley |
documentary | 61 minutes | 2007 | $225
| $202.50
view
in catalog
| Also Available
NEW The Mseyas
Available on
DVD
AIDS kills more than two million people every
year
in Africa. As a result of this epidemic,
there are
more than 11 million orphans. This documentary is
the story of the Mseyas, AIDS orphans from
Iringa,
Tanzania. Alberina, Maria, Amos and Orsolina live
on their own and face a life of struggle
without resources.
Gustavo Vizoso |
documentary | 52 minutes | 2007 | $225
| $202.50
view
in catalog
--------------------------------------------------
Conakry Kas Available on DVD
In January 2003, Director Manthia Diawara visited
Guinea-Conakry to see what was left of the
artists
and intellectuals of the Guinean Cultural
revolution,
and how the citizens of Conakry were coping with
globalization.
Best Documentary, FESPACO, 2005
Best Documentary, Zanzibar International
Film Festival, 2004
Manthia Diawara |
documentary | 82 minutes | 2003 | $225
| $202.50
view
in catalog
--------------------------------------------------
Bamako Sigi-Kan Available on DVD
This documentary brings a new look to the modern
African city and discusses how democracy takes
root in Mali.
Manthia Diawara |
documentary | 76 minutes | 2002 | $225
| $202.50
view
in catalog
--------------------------------------------------
Diaspora Conversations Available on
DVD
Actor Danny Glover and director Manthia Diawara
travel through West Africa, from Goree to Dogon,
creating conversations that link different
sides and
accounts of the African diaspora. Both
anthropology
and recollection, this film travels a terrain
that
provokes the viewer to interrogate "cultural
tourism".
Manthia Diawara |
documentary | 47 minutes | 2000 | $225
| $202.50
view
in catalog
--------------------------------------------------
In Search of Africa Available on
DVD
In 1996, the filmmaker and writer Manthia
Diawara,
now living in New York, returns to Guinea
thirty two
years after he and his family were expelled
from the newly liberated country.
Manthia Diawara |
documentary | 26 minutes | 1997 | $225
| $202.50
view
in catalog
--------------------------------------------------
Sembene: The Making of African Cinema
Available on
DVD
In this rich documentary legendary Senegalese
filmmaker Sembene Ousmane reminisces about his
career and discusses his craft.
Manthia Diawara & Ngugi Wa Thiong'o |
documentary | 60 minutes | 1994 | $225
| $202.50
view
in catalog
| View TWN's 2007-2008 Releases eBrochure
TWN's 2007-2008 e-Brochure is now
available online!
view
brochure
| TWN Thanks
TWN is supported in
part by The New York State Council on the
Arts, The
National Endowment for the Arts, The New York
City
Department of Cultural Affairs, The Ford
Foundation, The North Star Fund, The Funding
Exchange, Manhattan Neighborhood
Network , as well as individual donors.
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phone:
212.947.9277
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TWN is a 501(c)3 nonprofit
organization dedicated to fostering the
creation,
appreciation, and dissemination of
independent media
by and about people of color.
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