AfroLatinos: an Untaught History (documentary)

Another of the films that really stood out for me in this year's Pan African Film Festival was the hour-long AfroLatinos: an Untaught History (director:  Renzo Davia).  It's actually the summation of an entire series the Davia is creating - along with producer and co-writer Alicia Anabel Santos - about Afro-Latinos.

And in case you thought Dr. Louis Gates, Jr., was the one who "discovered" the topic of Afro-Latinos (or black Latinos) for North Americans, Davia started work on his film (as I did mine about Afro-Peruvians)  well before Gates' series came out.  That said, Gates series is not only excellent, but has also brought a huge audience to something that was, up until his first release, a small, niche audience of people interested in what seemed at the time an arcane topic.

I've had trouble finding the perfect trailer for AfroLatinos but in this one, the creators give an introduction to the project.  However, they are also asking for funding.



On the other hand, there is a good, 30-minute summation of the series on Vimeo.  However, I'm not allowed to imbed it;  but if you want to watch it on Vimeo, here's the link:

https://vimeo.com/151897541

It starts with the provocative question:  "How does history get erased?" and answers by saying that when you fail to tell people who they are and where they come from, you remove their identity and they disappear from history.

That was an important part of my thesis in my earlier documentary, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms - that when talking about Latin jazz, if we don't acknowledge the contributions that Afro-Peruvians have made to it, even while using percussion instruments and rhythms that they created, we essentially negate their existence.

Not surprisingly, in view of my own interests, I found AfroLatinos to be a documentary on a timely topic.  It was also well and thoughtfully made, obviously representing a great deal of research and time spent filming some great interviews, great dances and music, great cultural celebrations.  If you have the opportunity, I do recommend that you go to see it, whether on television (which I think is the ultimate goal) or in a movie theater or on-line.
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Next up:  Yamanjá:  Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil (dir. Donna Roberts).

Triangle: Going to America - a drama from Ethiopia

Staying with feature dramas that I saw in the recent Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, Triangle:  Going to America - Sost Meazen (directed by Theodros Teshome Kebede) was a moving tribute to not only Ethiopians but really all people who are forced to leave their country and try to make their was to a safe place.

With all the talk these days about immigrants and refugees, it is a very timely film.

Again, this is a drama, not a documentary, but it is solidly based in reality.  The reality is the perilous journey of those who left Ethiopia (but it could be almost any country) trying to get to the United States.  We don't know much about why these people wanted to leave, but we don't need to.  All we need to know is that there are hundreds of thousands, or in fact, millions, of people these days trying to leave the country of their birth because of various hardships and hoping to get to Western Europe or to the United States.

The film started with a group of about 20 people in a truck crossing a dessert.  We quickly learned that they had recently left their country and had paid money to be smuggled into another country.  (We later learned that the goal was the United States.)


As the film developed, the would-be immigrants encounter various serious problems;  serious enough so that by the end, only four actually make it into the United States.  The rest die in the process.

The filmmaker was there to present the film and he said that in fact, those are the statistics:  only about 20% of the many hundreds of thousands who flee actually live to make it to the country where they hope to live.

A sobering thought.

They die from dehydration and starvation.  They die from fierce sand storms in the desserts.  They die from being killed by smugglers.  The drown trying to cross the Mediterranean in flimsy boats.  They die for many reasons, but most of them do die.

In addition, we see that at every stage of the process, there are smugglers with their hands out, asking for thousands of dollars to help them along their journey.  And we see that in many cases, if they don't pay up, they are shot, or left in some inhospitable environment where they will die.

Of course, being a drama, there was a story - the story of the four individuals who, in this fictitious tale, actually made it into the United States.  There was a love angle.  There was strong friendship which helped the four successful ones complete their journey - and the friendship of one of the would-be immigrants willing to be killed to allow the others to achieve their goal.

The film was well acted, and had a real ring of authenticity to it.  It would be hard to leave this movie without feeling that we should be accepting far more, rather than far less, immigrants and refugees.

ADDENDUM:  The director has made a sequel to this movie called Triangle:  the Dream Realized.  Unfortunately, I did not like this sequel as much as the first one which I have reviewed here.

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Next up:  AfroLatinos, an Untold History (directed by Renzo Devia).

Vaya, a drama from South Africa

Another really compelling drama that I saw at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles was Vaya (directed by Akin Omòtoso, a filmmaker from Nigeria who also helped produce it).  It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016 - a prestigious film festival, a worthy film.  Here's a TRAILER.

This movie wove together the story of three people from small towns in South Africa who came to Johannesburg by train to accomplish a task:  deliver a young child to her mother, find a job, bring the body of a dead father back to his home town for burial.  Each of these people encounters serious problems in Johannesburg, which obviously is a very, very tough city, especially for young and naive people from the countryside.

I didn't get to see more than 3/4s of this film because I had to leave to be present for the screening of my own work (Masters of Rhythm), and it is a tribute to the filmmaker that it was really, really hard to get up and walk out.  I still want to know how each story ends.

And it was obvious that each story would intersect.  This was skillfully done.

The characters were believable, the situations they got in were believable, it was well acted.

If you get the chance, go see it.  I certainly will - then I'll get to find out the ending!

(Next up:  Triangle:  Going to America)

Wúlu, a drama from Mali

I recently attended the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, where one of my documentaries was screening (Masters of Rhythm).  Among the great films that I saw there were dramas Wùlu (dir. Daouda Koulibaly), Vaya (dir. Akin Omotoso), and Triangle:  Going to America (dir. Sost Maezen).  The documentaries that stood out were AfroLatinos:   an Untold History (dir. Renzo Devia) and Yemanjá:  Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil (dir. Donna Roberts).

And there were more (such as Chidren of the Mountains, etc.).

But first, let's look at Wùlu.  Directed by Daouda Coulibaly (who also wrote the script), it's a drama about the cocaine trade in Mali, which I believe is Coulibaly's home country.  It was released in the United States in October but I haven't seen it listed in any movie theaters;  that may be for the future.

This is a fast-paced crime drama based on the current situation in Mali.  In fact, a screen at the end of the movie says that the drug trade has ruined the country.  Not the first country to be ruined by it.

This is one of the few films in which I felt really sympathetic to a hero who is a drug runner.  He's a young man who fell into the drug trade and did quite well in it.  He doesn't end up so well, but I won't go there, in case you get a chance to see it.

It's well acted, and shot on location, obviously by someone who knows the location.  We are not talking about the curious and the exotic.  We are looking through the eyes of someone who has seen, and who knows.

I haven't been able to find any good trailers for this film.  There are a couple of clips on YouTube, but they really don't give much of an idea of the film.  One way or another,  if it comes to a theater near you, try to get to see it.  It's pretty powerful.

FYI:  the two clips can be viewed HERE (#1) and HERE (#2) [subtitles in this second one are hard to read], but as I noted above, neither one gives much of the flavor of the film.  However, something is better than nothing.

(Next up:  Vaya)

Filmmaker in Search of Her Subject - visit to northern coastal Peru #3

part #3

It was also important to Luis Rocca that I understand that Afro-Peruvian culture, including its performance arts, has been heavily influenced by the indigenous cultures.  This is because of the close connection between blacks and indigenous peoples that dates back to the time of slavery, when blacks who managed to escape would live in communities in the jungle where they were in frequent and friendly contact with indigenous peoples. 

part of a collection of masks in the museum

Two other things of note from my time in Zaña:  I took a short, side trip to Cayaltí (in a jitney) to film a young man who performed a decima he had composed;  and I was surprised by how little African heritage still showed in the people of Afro-Peruvian descent in Zaña, unlike the population of el Carmen.  No one looked black!

the kid who recited his decima is wearing the orange shirt

The decima:  I only learned after the fact that the decima is a greatly respected poetic form used to comment on current events.  The word "decima" refers to the number of syllables per line.  The decimas are mostly composed on the spot, improvised;  but I have no doubt that the young kid had thought his out beforehand and them memorized it.

Finally, in Zaña, Luis Rocca took me into the home of a townsperson who was playing a game of skill with his neighbors.  It somewhat resembled horseshoes, and involved drinking a large amount of beer;  if you tossed and lost, you had to drink.  Lots of laughter;  especially when they insisted I try my hand at it.  I was NOT very good.

my hotel, the Don Juanito - more modest than where I stayed in el Carmen!

After we left, Luis Rocca explained that I was the first woman to be invited to watch this game.

a jitney in Zaña;  jitneys are very photogenic

 

cute towns-kids;  you've got to have cute towns-kids, right?

And so, having filmed many interesting things and seen things, some of which I would only later come to understand better, I took the bus cama back to Lima, filmed the documentary Masters of Rhythm with addendum, and returned to California.  A good trip. 

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Eve A. Ma, a former university professor, lawyer, and director of a non-profit cultural organization, is the producer-director of two documentaries about Afro-Peruvians:  A Zest for Life and Masters of Rhythm with addendum.  Sign up for her newsletter to keep up with her work and get a special video:  www.PalominoPro-signup.com

Filmmaker in Serach of Her Subject - visit to northern coastal Peru #2

part #2

But pushing on to Zaña:

From Chiclayo in Lambayeque, and the museum del Señor de Sipán, I continued on by taxi to Zaña where I was to meet with Luis Rocca of that town's Afro-Peruvian museum.  Luis Rocca has done incredible work with the museum, rescuing and recreating a large number of Afro-Peruvian musical instruments - especially drums made out of hollowed logs and a percussion instrument made from a gourd called a checo. 

Luis Rocca relaxing in a room in the museum

 I had met him in Lima, introduced by Nachi Bustamante, wife of percussionist Cotito. 

Zaña is a tiny town, on the scale of el Carmen.  The museum is also small, and seems to be run single-handedly by Luis Rocca.

a street in Zaña

He had a young man named Yim show me around;  he is from Zaña and is studying law in Germany but was home on vacation.  One of the things he showed me were a ruined convent and ruined churches...very large and impressive...which he explained had been ruined by "the flood."

Yim and his sister, who was one of the dancers of "Baila tierra."

I assumed "the flood" had happened a few years ago, but no, it had occurred in the 16th or 17th century, and the convent and churches have never been repaired.  It seems that Zaña was a major commercial center in the first part of the Spanish colonial period...but the flood put an end to that and the glorious buildings were never rebuilt.  Instead, a much smaller, more modest town was constructed higher up from the river and Chiclayo took over the commercial functions formerly enjoyed by Zaña.

part of the ruins of the convent

In the 3 or 4 days I spent in Zaña, Luis Rocca also had a young couple perform an old folk dance (which he encouraged me to film) called "Baila tierra."  It is reputedly the precursor of the immensely popular, current "national dance" of Peru, the Marinera.  This dance comes out of the Afro-Peruvian tradition.

City Hall rather dwarfs the buildings around it

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Eve A. Ma, a former university professor, lawyer, and director of a non-profit cultural organization, is the producer-director of two documentaries about Afro-Peruvians:  A Zest for Life and Masters of Rhythm with addendum.  Sign up for her newsletter to keep up with her work and get a special video:  www.PalominoPro-signup.com