ADIFF CHICAGO 2021
The African Diaspora International Film Festival – Chicago (ADIFF Chicago), in collaboration with Chicago based longtime partner Facets Cinémathèque, will celebrate its 18th anniversary virtually exclusively in the Midwest from June 18 to 24, 2021 with 14 narratives and documentaries from 13 countries, all Chicago premieres.
Since its inception, ADIFF has spotlighted culturally and socially meaningful feature and documentary films about the human experience of people of color all over the world. The films in ADIFF Chicago 2021 explore the full humanity and range of the Black and Indigenous experience, giving a multidimensional voice to often misrepresented and misunderstood realities and peoples. Titles in ADIFF Chicago 2021 come directly from important domestic and international film festivals such as Tribeca, Toronto, Berlinale, Durban, the Pan African Film Festival and The Trinidad and Tobago film festival. Others are independent productions made by filmmakers eager to share their message with an audience.
Special events in ADIFF Chicago 2021 will spotlight the work of women filmmakers of color.
OPENING NIGHT – BETRAYAL OF A NATION is an experimental documentary that indicts the U.S. Government on 18 charges, for crimes committed against Black and Brown citizens. The Opening Night virtual screening to be held on Friday, June 18 @ 7PM CDT will be followed by live Zoom Q&A with director Brandi Webb.
CENTERPIECE – 2 WEEKS IN LAGOS is romantic comedy drama that captures the excitement, vibrancy, and complexity of everyday life in Lagos, Nigeria, a dynamic city where anything is possible in 2 weeks. The screening at 3PM CDT on Sunday, June 20 will be followed by a live Zoom Q&A with director Kathryn Fasegha.
In CLOSING NIGHT romantic comedy MAYA AND HER LOVER, the mundane life of a 39-year-old introvert is disrupted when she begins a steamy but contentious affair with a much younger man. The 7PM CDT screening on Thursday, June 24 will be followed by live Zoom Q&A with director Nicole Sylvester.
Two other films directed by women of color in the festival are SHE HAD A DREAM by Raja Amari, about a young black Tunisian woman who decides to go into politics to fight against sexism and racism in today’s Tunisia and MYOPIA, a beautifully observed meditation on faith, perseverance, and integrity by Moroccan director Sanaa Akroud. “The impressive richness of this simple yet subtle film is thought-provoking” ~ Oliver Barlet – Africultures
TICKET INFO
Opening, Centerpiece, Closing Night: $15;
Regular Screenings: $10.
FULL LINE-UP
click on film title for details and tickets
OPENING NIGHT FILM:
Betrayal of a Nation by Brandi Webb (USA)
CENTERPIECE FILM:
2 Weeks in Lagos by Kathryn Fasegha (Canada/Nigeria)
CLOSING NIGHT:
Maya and Her Lover by Nicole Sylvester (USA)
The Cuba-Mali Connection / Africa Mia by Richard Minier and Edouard Salieris (France/Cuba/Mali)
The Esmeraldas Beach by Patrice Raynal (France/Ecuadaor)
Kuessipan by Myriam Verreault (Canada
Lil’ Buck, Real Swan by Louis Wallecan (USA)
Marighella by Wagner Moura (Brazil)
A Taste of our Land by Yuhi Amuli (Rwanda)
She Had a Dream by Raja Amari (Tunisia)
Myopia by Sanaa Akroud (Morocco)
#LANDOFTHEBRAVEFILM by Tim Heubschle (Namibia)
A Bruddah’s Mind by Déo Cardoso (Brazil)
Panamá Al Brown by Carlos Aguilar Navarro