As a volunteer at GWL and a former student of Lizelle Bisschoff, the founder of AiM, it is great for me to see we are hosting an event in collaboration with Africa in Motion.
African cinema has a history as diverse and multifaceted as the continent itself; from British-owned West African ‘English etiquette’ educational films to ‘Nollywood’, Nigeria’s film industry, which as of the mid 2000s, was the second most prolific film industry in the world.
Africa in Motion has an ethos similar to GWL; while GWL aims to promote and archive materials, texts and artwork by women that may have been overlooked or forgotten, AiM is a festival that brings to UK audiences the best of African films that have been neglected, forgotten or lost. Studying contemporary African cinema under Lizelle Bisschoff, I could see the passion behind the birth of this festival: that it is not just about inclusion of cinema on the margins of Western mainstream, but about celebration – the films are carefully selected for their cultural and/or aesthetic significance. It is a festival of quality, important cinema.
The film we are screening at GWL, Flame, is about the experiences of two young women freedom fighters in the war that transformed Rhodesia into Zimbabwe. Released in 1996, it won several awards and stand ovations a-plenty worldwide. Director Ingrid Sinclair is widely seen as part of the ‘African Renaissance’ movement.
This film is open to all, free to attend and starts at 6pm here at the library on Thursday 2nd!
