SANTA FE OPERA FILM SERIES
May 29 - July 13, 2008 CCA/ Cinematheque


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The Santa Fe Opera in association with the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) presents a film series related to the Opera’s 2008 Festival Season. Screenings will take place at the CCA / Cinematheque at various dates and times from May 29 to a gala on July 6.

FRENCH FILM SALON
May 9 - May 23, 2008, and June 13 CCA/ Cinematheque


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In celebration of French-language cinema, the Center for Contemporary Arts and the Santa Fe Accueil announces a series of screenings and informal get-togethers at the CCA Cinematheque.

AFRICAN EFFECT FILM FESTIVAL 2008
May 15-18, 2008 CCA/ Cinematheque


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The African Effect, one of Santa Fe's favorite cultural events, returns to the Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe for its sixth edition on May 15-18, 2008. The festival includes films, discussions and presentations about African culture in Africa and in the Disapora. Once again, Samba Gadjigo, one of the world's foremost scholars of African cinema, returns as co-curator.

With African culture of increasing interest to Americans— thanks in part to films including Blood Diamond, Catch a Fire, The Constant Gardener and The Last King of Scotland —and with the stakes in terms of understanding diverse cultures at new heights due to increased global tensions, The African Effect offers Santa Fe audiences an opportunity to explore one continent's culture and history through an array of perspectives.

As The African Effect' s guide through the complexities of Africa and the African Disapora, Gadjigo, the official biographer of Ousmane Sembene (himself the father of African cinema and one of Africa's greatest novelists) provides context, stories and history that allow Santa Fe's audiences to deepen their understanding of Africa. Co-curator Jason Silverman is a co-founder of The African Effect and curator of film/video at the CCA. He has built programs for organizations including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Bioneers Conference, the Telluride Film Festival, the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe and El Museo del Barrio in New York City.

Past programs at The African Effect include films from more than a dozen countries; a performance by the late Senegalese griot (storyteller) Lamine Konte; and lectures on art, language and music.

Programming in 2008 is being scheduled to include such topics as African-American comedy, a tribute to Ousemane Sembene, and female genital mutilation.

Though many different kinds of stories from Africa can and are being told, we found, while researching for African Effect 2008, many African films focused on two central themes: redemption and transformation. Appropriate subject matter, of course, as African nations continue to come to terms with their colonial past and with the challenges of independence and globalization. The films we have selected—from Tunisia, Chad, Senegal, the Congo, Mali, South Africa and Rwanda—also showcase storytelling and technical skills that remind us that Africa has become the site for some of the world's most exciting cinema. It is a pleasure to welcome these films to Santa Fe audiences, which during the first five African Effect festivals, has proven to be intellectually curious and deeply appreciative of stories from other cultures.

Samba Gadjigo
Jason Silverman
Co-curators, African Effect

SPECIAL THANKS: THE POND FOUNDATION for its continued and vital good works in Africa and beyond.

Thanks: Clemencia Acevedo and Diarah N'Daw-Spech, Artmattan Productions; Clément Duboin, Urban Media International; Jonathan Howell, New Yorker Films; Alex Williams, Typecast Releasing; Paul Marchant, First Run Features; Maya Gnyp, Spier Films; Claire Zambaux, Wide Management