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Centre of African Studies Library

 

As part of ‘South Africa at 20: The Freedom Tour’ and in association with the African Studies Film Club, Clare College is hosting two film screenings, next week and the week after. These screenings are free and open to all. Please make a note of the dates and times and come along! Kindly arrive 10-15 minutes before the advertised start time to get seated and settled as screenings will commence promptly. This event has been made possible thanks to the support of the Cambridge African Film Festival and the South Africa at 20 Film Tour - http://safilmtour.uk


COME BACK, AFRICA (1hr 35 mins)

Wednesday 22 April, 5.30pm, Riley Auditorium, Gillespie Centre

 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDFznqweUTQ

 Martin Scorsese describes it as “A heroic film… a film of terrible beauty, of the ongoing life it captured and of the spirit embodied by Rogosin and his fellow artists.”

More details on 'Come Back, Africa': 
After witnessing firsthand the terrors of fascism as a soldier in World War II, director Lionel Rogosin vowed to fight against it wherever and whenever he saw its threats reemerging. In an effort to expose “what people try to avoid seeing,” Rogosin travelled to South Africa in the late 1950s and secretly filmed Come Back, Africa, which revealed the cruelty and injustice with which black South Africans were treated. Much of Come Back, Africa was filmed in Sophiatown, which was being gradually destroyed during the production of the film. 

See more - http://comebackafrica.com

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NELSON MANDELA: THE MYTH AND ME (1hr 25 mins)


Wednesday 29 April, 5pm, Riley Auditorium, Gillespie Centre (note earlier start time!)


Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb0uRXlHdjs

More details on ‘Nelson Mandela: The Myth and Me’

South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane was an idealistic teenager with fanciful ideas about a post-apartheid era of freedom and justice when Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990. In a personal odyssey encompassing an imaginary letter to Mandela and conversations with politicians, activists, intellectuals, and artists, including Henry Kissinger, Albie Sachs, Ariel Dorfman, Nuruddin Farah, Pumla Gqola and the Dalai Lama, Matabane questions the meaning of freedom, reconciliation, and forgiveness—and challenges Mandela's legacy in today's world of conflict and inequality. The film juxtaposes Matabane's inner quest for coherence with the opinions of people who both knew Mandela and those whose political perspectives were shaped by him, as well as survivors of Apartheid.