Balafon Film Festival: the 33rd edition begins at Cinema Esedra

Balafon Film Festival: the 33rd edition begins at Cinema Esedra.

Bari. Starting tomorrow, Wednesday November 15, at the Cinema Esedra, the 33rd edition of the Balafon Film Festival. Organized by the Community of Corte Altini in collaboration with the Abusuan Intercultural Center Bari, Comboni Missionaries Bari, Parish of San Giuseppe Bari, Archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto, Murattiano Bari, CGIL Bari, Aldo Moro University of Bari, Fondazione Migrantes, GEP Gruppo Educaciamoci alla Pace ODV and the African Film Festival of Verona, with patronage and support of the Puglia Region and the Municipality of Bari – Departments of Culture and Educational and Youth Policies, the festival offers a packed program of films from Southern countries of the world so that knowledge can represent the first step for the promotion of peaceful coexistence between peoples.

Far from being a simple sequence of screenings, the cinematographic proposal that has characterized Balafon Film Festival since its first edition in 1990 intends to cross the geographical and cultural horizons of its audience to promote the spread of a culture of peace between different peoples.

Balafon Film Festival, which is an integral part of the network of the most important festivals dedicated to African cinema in Italy - including the African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival of Milano and the Verona African Film Festival – as usual includes afternoon and evening screenings of feature films and short films chosen from recently made African films: 8 films in competition for this 33rd edition, including 4 short films and 4 feature films. These proposals are then added 4 screenings out of competition. Works of art from African filmography that tell stories of men and women, in their most intimate or spectacular details, investigating the depths of their daily lives and of a social context as familiar as it is hostile, cradle of ancient and incurable difficulties but also of intimate desires. Among the most important directors is Nganji Mutiri, an award-winning artist born in Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the French-Tunisian journalist, documentary maker and producer Erects Sehiri.

“Starting way back in 1990, Balafon opens a window on the arts and cultures of the black diaspora in Bari - Explains Koblan Amissah, promoter of the festival – to allow knowledge that acts as a bridge between peoples. We do it starting from an immediate and universal language, such as that of images, aware that audiovisual and cinematographic language are capable of making inroads into the deepest conscience of the public. An audience, ours, which is made up of the many fans and followers of the festival for years, but also and above all of all the young and very young generations thanks to a selection specifically designed for schools which allows students to travel in space and time , among the folds of a culture that is distant but very close to humanity”.

“For thirty-three years the Balafon has united the cultures of the world thanks to the power of cinema - comments Ines Pierucci, municipal councilor for Cultures -. The words, languages ​​and traditions of African cultures enrich a paradigm of universal language made up of rights, bodies and the future. We ourselves are the South of the world, with the awareness of how much wealth can come from the countries on the other side of the Mediterranean, with which we can build a culture of peace together. I am convinced that the planet is a great forest, and all of us are plants whose different origins are part of the same nature, the human one".

BALAFON FILM FESTIVAL 2023

Film Out of Competition
· Toute la nuit by Fayçal Hammoum (Algeria, 2021)
· Lusala by Mugambi Nthiga (Kenya, 2019)

Short films in competition
· The town by Lindiwe Makgalemele (South Africa, 2021)
· Twin lakes haven by Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo (Rwanda, 2022)
· Young man rumble by Karima Elba (Belgium, 2022)
· Zaffa by Ahmed Samir (Egypt, 2022)

Feature films in competition
· Borga di York – Fabian Raabe (Ghana/Germany, 2021) 7'
· Juwaa by Nganji Mutiri (Belgium, 2021)
· The last shelter by Ousmane Zoromé Samassékou
(France/Mali/South Africa, 2021)
· Under the fig trees by Erige Sehiri
(Tunisia/France/Switzerland/Germany/Qatar, 2022)

School section
· Aloe vera by Peter Sedufia (Ghana, 2020)
· You don't know Papicha by Mounia Meddour
(France/Belgium/Algeria/ Qatar, 2019)

ROOM PROGRAMME

Wednesday November 15

· 18.30pm Selection out of competition
Lusala by Mugambi Nthiga (Kenya, 2019)

· 20.00pm Selection out of competition
Toute la nuit by Fayçal Hammoum (Algeria, 2021)

· 20.30pm Competition selection
The town of Lindiwe Makgalemele (South Africa, 2021)

· 21.00pm Competition selection
Hamlet of York-Fabian Raabe (Ghana/Germany, 2021)

Thursday 16th of November

· 18.00pm Competition selection
· Hamlet of York-Fabian Raabe (Ghana/Germany, 2021)

· 20.00pm Competition selection
The town of Lindiwe Makgalemele (South Africa, 2021)

· 20.30pm Competition selection
Zaffa by Ahmed Samir (Egypt, 2022)

· 21.00pm Competition selection
The last shelter by Ousmane Zoromé Samassékou (France/Mali/South Africa, 2021)

Friday 17 November

· 17pm Selection out of competition
Aloe vera by Peter Sedufia (Ghana, 2020)

· 19.00pm Competition selection
The last shelter by Ousmane Zoromé Samassékou (France/Mali/South Africa, 2021)

· 20pm Competition selection
Zaffa by Ahmed Samir (Egypt, 2022)

· 20.45pm Competition selection
Young man rumble by Karima Elba (Belgium, 2022)

· 21.15pm Competition selection
Juwaa by Nganji Mutiri (Belgium, 2021)

Saturday November 18

· 17.00pm Selection out of competition
You don't know Papicha by Mounia Meddour (France/Belgium/Algeria/ Qatar, 2019)

· 19.00pm Competition selection
Juwaa by Nganji Mutiri (Belgium, 2021)

· 20pm Competition selection
Young man rumble by Karima Elba (Belgium, 2022)

· 21.00pm Competition selection
Twin lakes haven by Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo (Rwanda, 2022)

· 21.30pm Competition selection
Under the fig trees by Erige Sehiri (Tunisia/France/Switzerland/Germany/Qatar, 2022).