| MPENZI: Black Women’s International Film
and Video Festival ®
A celebration of work by Straight and Queer Black women, and Black Transgender, Transexual, and Intersexed women and men
4th Annual
Friday, March 28th, 2008
Reception 5:30pm
Screening 6:30pm – 9:00pm
(Doors open at 5:30pm)
Medical Sciences Building Auditorium at the University of Toronto
1 King’s College Circle
Toronto, Ontario
Festival Program: Click Here to download the Mpenzi 2008 Festival Poster
Welcome
Trinity Square Video Trailer Mentoring Project
Rape For Who I Am, Lovinsa Kuvuma, Director (South Africa 2005, 26 min.) *Toronto Premiere*
Every twenty-nine seconds a woman is raped in South Africa. An insight into the lives of South Africa’s black lesbians, raped because of their sexuality. With courage and a remarkable resilience, the disturbing details of hate crimes, intended to teach lesbians to “act like women”, exposes them to sexually transmitted diseases, often ignored by the authorities. An honest and unapologetic portrayal of African women: shattering preconceptions of homosexuality in Africa. These four courageous women – Keba, Bathini, Mary, and Buhle – also discuss how they have embraced their identity since their attacks and decided to publicly speak out against this hate crime.
Legacy, Campbell Blackman, Director (United Kingdom 2006, Mini HDV 18 min.) *Toronto Premiere*
Legacy is a visually and aurally sumptuous exploration of the legacy of slavery on mother/daughter relationships in African Caribbean culture. As they pay tribute to their ancestors, a daughter asks her Caribbean-born mother why she was taught both Afro-Caribbean and European religious traditions. The mother admits that there was conflict about which ideology to teach, so a mix of Cumina, Catholicism and Anglicanism resulted. Though alienated by the beating she suffered as a child, the now-adult daughter describes her mother's understanding when, during college, she told her mother about her sexuality and her mother was lovingly accepting.
Black Men and Me, Michèle Clarke, Director/Producer/Writer
(Canada 2006, DVD, 6 min.)
In Black Men and Me a woman explores her position as a Trinidadian dyke and her complex relationship with Black men. Shot in a barbershop, a traditional gathering place for black men, she has her head shaved while she reflects on her black masculinity.
Intermission
TSV Trailer
Before Nine, Hana Abdul Director, (Canada. 2006, DigiBeta 26 min.)
Two young people's lives become intertwined in this part-satire, dramatic narrative about familial and personal transitions, memory, violence and the scars of adolescence. Through a non-linear structure, repetition and overlaps, Before Nine brings together three stories: two young girls' attempt to cope with the psychological trauma of racialized homophobia; a mother's search for a new job; and a grandmother's attempt to overcome the loss of her home and business.
Pariah, Dee Rees, Director (USA 2007, 35MM 27 min.)
A Bronx lesbian teenager juggles multiple identities to avoid rejection from friends and family, but pressure from home, school, and within corrodes the line between her dual persona with explosive consequences.
Panel Q & A
Jennifer Hodge de Silva Award & Best Short Film Award
Thanks to our Sponsors
Silent Auction Results
Closing
2008 Mpenzi Ticket Table
Annemarie Shrouder and Kike Roach
2008 Mpenzi Volunteers
2008 Mpenzi advisory committee
Top row: Collette Browne, Annemarie Shrouder (program Coordinator) Adonica Huggins (program Director) Bottom row: Aisha Fairclough, Kike Roach, Yvonne Huggins
MEDIA
To view the Mpenzi 2008 media release, click here: WORD or PDF
Rape For Who I Am, Lovinsa Kuvuma, Director *Toronto Premiere*
Film Press Release (Word Doc)
Film Stills
Director Bio (Word Doc)
Legacy, Campbell Blackman, Director *Toronto Premiere*
Film Press Release (Word Doc)
Film Stills
Director Bio (Word Doc)
Black Men and Me, Michèle Clarke, Director/Producer/Writer
Film Press Release (Word Doc)
Film Stills
Director Bio (Word Doc)
Before Nine, Hana Abdul Director
Film Press Release (Word Doc)
Film Stills
Director Bio (Word Doc)
Pariah, Dee Rees, Director
Film Press Release (Word Doc)
Film Stills
Director Bio (Word Doc) |