NYAFF30: Sisterhood + The Father of the Groom

Friday, May 19 at 7PM

Tickets: $15 General Admission/$7 Reduced Price 

Sisterhood (New York Premiere)
Mohamed Sessy Kamara, 2022, Sierra Leone, 72m
Krio and Fula with English subtitles

Husinatu and Hassanatu, twin sisters living in Sierra Leone, decide to move together to the Middle East to find better lives for themselves, their children, and their parents. Despite Husinatu's frustrating experiences in the Middle East in the past, both sisters are determined to achieve their goal. Faced with the coronavirus crisis, they search for money in order to obtain new passports, visas, and travel arrangements through legal and illegal migration agents. The decision to migrate creates a conflict with their parents. Their father has always been supportive, but their mother, who wants them to get married and build a life in their own country, tries to stop them. But the twins don’t want a man controlling them and seek independence as they are convinced that a better life is not in their home country. This is a film about family relations, the search for independence, and a better future in opposition to family traditions.

Preceded by:

Le père du marié / The Father of the Groom (US Premiere)
Laurence Gavron, 2022, Senegal, 15m
Wolof and French with English subtitles

Pap Ndiaye, a boatman from the village of Djiffer in the Saloum region of Senegal, is an old friend of director Laurence Gavron. He is getting ready for the traditional Serer wedding of his oldest son, which has all of its own rules and customs. Praise singers, a traditional healer, the bride first hidden and then discovered in the evening light—it's the most beautiful party he could have dreamed of to honor his wife, his children, and his son's in-laws. More than anything, this is a film about friendship.

Our friends and neighbors at Revolution Books will join us prior to the screening with a selection of discounted books for sale!

Please note there will be a second screening of SISTERHOOD on 5/21 with a post-screening Q&A with Mohamed Sessy Kamara.