Houston, Texas USA
FOTOFEST BIENNIAL 2020
FILMS
April 3-5, 2020
Brown Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1001 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX 77005
Presented in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the FotoFest Biennial 2020 is pleased to present a film program inspired by the themes explored in the Biennial’s central exhibition, African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other.
Held over the course of three nights, the program features contemporary cinematic works by directors from around the globe. The selection features four films focused on Africa, and African-Americans, and includes two important re-released restorations from the early 1990s.
Film Schedule
Friday, April 3, 7pm
Hyenas
1992; Directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty; 110 minutes
A once-prosperous Senegalese village has been falling further into poverty year by year until the village’s elders are reduced to selling town possessions to pay debts. Linguère, a former resident and local beauty, now very rich, returns to this, the village of her birth. The elders hope that she will be a benefactor to the village. To encourage her generosity, they appoint a local grocer, Dramaan, as mayor–who once courted her and will now try to persuade her to help. In fact, Linguère has returned with the intention of sharing her millions with the village but only in return for an unexpected action. This plot twist brings human folly and cynicism into sharp focus.
Ticket required. $9 for General Public / $7 for Museum Members and Seniors
Saturday, April 4, 7pm
Daughters of the Dust
1991, Dir. Julie Dash; 112 minutes
At the dawn of the 20th century, a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland, even further from their roots.
This is the 25th anniversary restoration of director Julie Dash’s landmark film “Daughters of the Dust.” The first wide release by a black female filmmaker, “Daughters of the Dust” was met with wild critical acclaim and rapturous audience response when it initially opened in 1991. Casting a long legacy, “Daughters of the Dust” still resonates today, most recently as a major in influence on Beyonce’s video album “Lemonade.” Restored (in conjunction with UCLA) for the first time with proper color grading overseen by cinematographer AJ Jafa, audiences will finally see the film exactly as Julie Dash intended.
Ticket required. $9 for General Public / $7 for Museum Members and Seniors
Sunday, April 5, 5pm
Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman
2018, Dir. Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam; 76 minutes
Rosine Mbakam left Cameroon at 27 to live in Belgium. Seven years later—having studied film and married to a European—she returns, accompanied by her son. Motivated by a desire to better understand her past and the place she grew up, Rosine is nonetheless surprised by the revelations her mother and other women make in startlingly intimate conversations.
Like many immigrants, she finds herself distant from her home country, yet drawn to its rituals and memories. As she spends more time with her mother and the women around her, Rosine reveals the strength of their solidarity and their ability to face adversity—whether hiding for their lives from French soldiers or being committed to a man for marriage at age eight. This world of women’s work and women’s struggles is one that surrounded her in her early years, but she couldn’t recognize it—or its complexity—until she had been away from the social structures of her country.
presented with
Chez Jolie Coiffure
2018, Dir. Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam; 71 minutes
Sabine’s hands move quickly and precisely as she tightly braids hair in her tiny salon. The sign outside offers African, European, or American hairstyles. Sabine is a charismatic, larger than-life personality crammed into a tiny shop in the immigrant Brussels district of Matonge. Here, she and her employees style extensions and glue on lashes while watching soaps, dishing romantic advice, sharing rumors about government programs to legalize migrants, and talking about life back home in West Africa.
More than a place for women to get their hair done, Jolie Coiffure serves as a community hub for West African women—many from Cameroon, like Sabine. Though she has created a home in her own space, Sabine remains an outsider in Belgium. Students and tourist groups made up only of white people walk past, pausing at the window and gawking. When word has it that the immigration police are coming through, she hurriedly turns off all the lights and quickly vanishes out the door.
Ticket required. $9 for General Public / $7 for Museum Members and Seniors
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