Scotland's major celebration of African cinema showcases classic and contemporary fiction features, diverse short films, documentaries and animations in a range of venues across Glasgow and Edinburgh, including the Glasgow Film Theatre, the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Summerhall and Filmhouse.
The festival opens in Edinburgh on 24 October with the UK premiere of Soleils (Suns) a philosophical film that takes people on a journey across Africa through time, created by director Dani Kouyate from Burkina Faso.
A major strand of this year's festival will be a focus on 20 years of South African democracy, featuring live performances as part of Afrovibes, a UK-wide tour of South African live performance, with accompanying 'township cafés' which will act as festival hubs in the Centre for Contemporary Arts (Glasgow) and Summerhall (Edinburgh). Each café will host a lively mix of late-night music, pop-up performances, debates, South African food and free family workshops. The films featured in South Africa at 20 will then embark on a UK-wide tour entitled South Africa at 20: The Freedom Tour from October 2014-February 2015.
Other strands include a focus on Rwandan cinema (marking 20 years since the Rwandan genocide) which will feature a masterclass from pioneering Rwandan filmmaker, Eric Kabera; a retrospective of overlooked African classics including the 1928 silent film Siliva The Zulu, performed with a specially composed live soundtrack from Nigerian musician Juwon Ogunbe, launching the new book Africa's Lost Classics: New Histories of African Cinema; and the rare chance to catch African science fiction movies, in conjunction with the BFI's Days Of Fear and Wonder nation-wide sci-fi season.
In addition to the main city centre venues, throughout the festival the AiM Nomad Cinema will wander into new venues around Scotland, unpacking cinema magic and enthralling a diverse range of audiences with African cinema. It will journey across communities, holding free screenings everywhere from pubs to churches.
Festival founder and adviser, Lizelle Bisschoff, says, "This year we are very excited to bring to Scotland a diverse array of inspiring, innovative and beautiful stories from across the African continent. With multi-genre film screenings, special events, masterclasses, guest filmmakers from across the continent and the Afrovibes live performances, this year's festival has something for everyone!"
Since its inception in 2006, the festival has introduced nearly 20,000 audience members to the brilliance and diversity of African cinema. To view the full programme and book tickets, go to www.africa-in-motion.org.uk.
