Feb. 8-13 Film Festival to Mark Black History Month

WHEN: Sunday-Friday, Feb. 8-13, 7 p.m. each night
WHERE: Nebraska Union, 1400 R Street (room posted)

Lincoln, Neb., Jan. 28, 2004 -- The African American and African Studies program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will celebrate Black History Month in February with a six-night film festival at the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.

A different film will be presented at 7 p.m. each night Feb. 8-13, each depicting a significant element of African or African-American history. The viewings are free and open to the public. After each showing, Kwakiutl Dreher, UNL assistant professor of English and ethnic studies, will facilitate a discussion. The schedule of films:

Feb. 8: "Sankofa" is the story of the transformation of Mona, a self-possessed African-American woman sent on a spiritual journey in time to experience the pain of slavery and the discovery of her African roots. The title is an Akan word meaning "one must return to the past in order to move forward."

Feb. 9: "Keita: The Heritage of the Griot" introduces Americans, young and old, to one of the most important works of African oral history, "The Sundjata Epic." The film is a dramatization of legend within the story of a contemporary young African's initiation into the history of his family.

Feb. 10: "Pieces D'Indentities," based in colonial Belgian Congo, raises some of the most troubling issues of identity facing all Africans in the ever-widening diaspora.

Feb. 11: "Faat Kine," based in Senegal, is a tribute to the "everyday heroism of African women."

Feb. 12: "Daresalam: Let There Be Peace" is the first African feature film to focus on the civil wars convulsing the continent from Sierra Leone to Somalia.

Feb. 13: "The Middle Passage" is a poetic rumination on the route that carried slaves from Africa to the New World. Narrated by Djimon Hounsou, who starred in Steven Spielberg's "Amistad," it tells the story through the voice of an African slave whose spirit haunts the ocean route.

CONTACT: Nancy Knapp, African American and African Studies, (402) 472-5126