"Bamako" African Cities Through Film Screening

The Center for African Studies presents: African Cities Through Film Series

Join us for an evening of film, food and discussion.

We are kicking off the “African Cities Through Film” Series with screenings of “District 9” and "Bamako" (see synopsis below). The screening will be followed by a discussion of the themes explored in the film and the issues it raises.

February 24: District 9 (2009, Neill Blomkamp) In 1982, a massive star ship bearing a bedraggled alien population, nicknamed "The Prawns," appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. Twenty-eight years later, the initial welcome by the human population has faded. The refugee camp where the aliens were located has deteriorated into a militarized ghetto called District 9, where they are confined and exploited in squalor. In 2010, the munitions corporation, Multi-National United, is contracted to forcibly evict the population with operative Wikus van der Merwe in charge. In this operation, Wikus is exposed to a strange alien chemical and must rely on the help of his only two new 'Prawn' friends.

March 9: Bamako (2006, Abderrahmane Sissako) Bamako. Melé is a bar singer, her husband Chaka is out of work and the couple is on the verge of breaking up... In the courtyard of the house they share with other families, a trial court has been set up. African civil society spokesmen have taken proceedings against the World Bank and the IMF whom they blame for Africa's woes... Amidst the pleas and the testimonies, life goes on in the courtyard. Chaka does not seem to be concerned by this novel Africa's desire to fight for its rights.