Geneva, 21 March - To mark the inter-agency commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
UNHCR and UNOPS/StopTB have selected 3 films from the NY African Film Festival for their staff to watch online.
The films will be available online from 21 March to 21 April 2023 and will be accessible through the links below by UNOPS personnel.
.
Mthunzi
by Tebogo Malebogo
South Africa / 2019 / 9mins / Drama / English
Inspired by the director’s own experience, Mthunzi is the story of a young man who, on his way home from the store, notices a woman having seizures in her driveway. When her niece asks Mthunzi to help bring her aunt inside, the complex social fabric of South Africa is felt as his act of kindness is met with tension.
Manuscripts of Timbuktu
by Zola Maseko
South Africa, Mali and Morocco / 2009 / 52mins / Documentary / French and Arabic
Featuring knowledgeable commentary by African scholars, rich reenactments and an original musical score by Vieux Farka Toure, the essential documentary The Manuscripts of Timbuktu critiques the limited view about Timbuktu by firmly demonstrating that the region was a leading cultural, economic, scientific and religious center that made a significant and lasting impact on Africa and the entire world. It also establishes the importance of preserving the thousands of manuscripts from long ago as an exciting and empowering legacy for African scholarship today.
Familiar Faces / Unexpected Places: A Global African Diaspora
by Sheila S. Walker
USA / 2018 / 31mins / Documentary / Various Languages
Tens of millions of Africans were scattered throughout the world during the centuries of the notorious process of enslavement. The African Diasporan communities that resulted used knowledge and skills brought from Africa to contribute to the building of new societies. Torn from the world they knew, Africans and Afro-descendants forged new identities and created new cultural forms that have enriched global civilization. They preserved ancestral worldviews to which they adapted the cultures of others to create dynamic new fusions. This documentary highlights African knowledge and technologies that helped develop the Americas, visits unsuspected African Diasporan societies, and reveals cultural commonalities uniting African Diasporan communities in distant lands.