St. Nicholas Park (135th St. / St. Nicholas Ave.)
Sembène Under the Stars!
GUELWAAR
Tickets: FREE
Wednesday, July 31th 7PM
Co-presented with African Film Festival and The Africa Center
Join us for a live DJ Set at 7pm, films start at 8:30pm!
St. NicholasPark. (@ 135th St. and St. Nicholas Ave.)
Harlem, NY 10030
GUELWAAR
Ousmane Sembène, 1992, 115 min.
On the morning of the funeral of political activist, Guelwaar, his friends and family discover that his body has disappeared from the morgue. Being that he died violently, theories on the whereabouts of the corpse multiply wildly before the truth is revealed. The remains of this baptized Catholic have been mistakenly buried in a Muslim cemetery. The confusion that ensues due to this bureaucratic mix-up and the amazing attempts to rectify this error add up to a razor sharp critique of contemporary politics and the fractious religious dogma that still exists in many places, including the Sahel, a drought stricken belt in Senegal. The Sahel, being the area in which the film takes place. Inspired by a true story, Sembène uses the death of this champion of an independent, unified Africa to symbolize the petty jealousies and deeply rooted conflicts that are the enemies of that cause.
Preceded by:
WHY SOME PEOPLE BE MAD AT ME SOMETIME
Mahlet Cuff 2024, 3 min.
A meditation on the misappropriation of Dancehall music while using Black Feminist Citational praxis.
