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Movement (R)evolution Africa

Joan Frosch, Alla Kovgan

Movement (R)evolution Africa

About

Where are the stories of fiercely creative African individuals and what do they have to tell us about their lives? Meet Movement (R)evolution Africa's choreographic trendsetters. Hailing from Senegal to South Africa, the perspectives and creative processes of these dancers and choreographers present fresh images of Africa, and bring to life the continent's contemporary identity. As they juxtapose reflection, rehearsal and performance, the artists open a window onto the emergent choreographic landscape of Africa in the 21st century, and ignite a new understanding of today's Africa and the global society of which we are all a part. 

Combining innovative narrative techniques and striking footage of dancers at work in the studio and on stage, Movement (R)evolution Africa explores an astonishing exposition of choreographic fomentation. The choreographers reveal emotionally complex and deeply contemporary expressions of self. Faustin Linyekula, exiled survivor of the Democratic Republic of Congo's eight-year war, muses whether his body is his only "true country." Germaine Acogny, mother of Senegalese contemporary dance, exorcises the assassin in herself as she creates a work on the Rwandan genocide. 

Through her choreography, Ivorian Béatrice Kombé explores love and union in the context of life in a country that has abused the trust of so many of its citizens. Nora Chipaumire excavates her painful Zimbabwean past in the context of a jarring American present. Sello Pesa explores traditions as abstractions, while Madagascar's Ariry Andriamoratsiresy offers new ways to think about the meaning of "African" in "African dance." The Burkinabe choreographers and directors of Kongo Ba Téria, Lacina Coulibaly and Souleyman Badolo, crystallize a riveting response to desertification. Choreographers Rosy Timas and Elisabete Fernandes render comic slices of urban and rural life in Cape Verde while questioning the staging of female sensuality. Renowned African-American choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar engages the viewer in empathy-filled firsthand interactions with the featured African choreographers. 

The sum of these artists' stories is a deeply human encounter with creativity that positions African choreographic innovation as a veritable aesthetic revolution. Their stunning choreography and riveting stories challenge stale stereotypes of "traditional Africa" to unveil soul-shaking responses to the beauty and tragedy of 21st century Africa.



Reviews

“The film is a knockout.”  —Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice, Jan. 2007
“A revelatory look at African modern dance!”  —Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix, April 2007
“...Movement (R)evolution Africa ...summates all the riches and frustrations of Africa. Revering the body as a form of fluid sculpture, these fierce artists from across the continent adapt conventional dance to their unique sense of self, hoping to engage with everyone - whites and the African diaspora alike - in order to challenge the West's stereotypical ideas of Africa. Movement is their voice and it screams in the film, 'Africa must speak!'” — Ed Gonzalez, Village Voice, April 2007

Film Links

Film website View more documentary photos on flickr.

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Credits

Movement (R)evolution Africa (a story of an art form in four acts)


SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Carnegie Theatre, at the National Music Center, Washington DC, 2007

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2007

Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, New York, 2007

San Francisco International Arts Festival, 2007

Hollywood Black Film Festival, Beverly Hills, CA, 2007

Festival Kaay Fecc, Dakar, Senegal, 2007

The Wilma Theatre, Philadelphia, 2007

International Arts Festival, Salamanca, Spain, 2007

44th International Television Festival GOLDEN PRAGUE, 2007

San Francisco Black Film Festival, 2007

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2007

Cinedans Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2007

New York African Film Festival, New York, 2007

Globians Documentary Film Festival, Potsdam, 2007

Pittsburgh Black Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA, 2007

Montreal Film Festival, 2007

Beloit International Film Festival, Wisconsin, 2008

4th TRI Continental Film Festival, India, 2008

Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2008

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, MT, 2008

International Panafrican Film Festival, Cannes, France, 2008

Festival de Cine Africano de Tarifa, Spain, 2008

2nd Annual Women of Color International Film Festival, Detroit, MI, 2008

XXIII. Black International Cinema Berlin & Warsaw, 2008

Dance Fesrtival Polemique, Warsaw, Poland, 2008

Festival of New Dance & Nickel Film Festival, St. John, Newfoundland, 2008

Pan African Film Festival, Atlanta, GA, 2008

SLC Film Center, UT, 2008

Ewa Bami'jo/Come Dance With Me Conference, Nigeria, 2008

MiradasDoc Market, Spain, 2008

International Black DocuFest, Atlanta, GA, 2008

Black Filmmaker International Film Festival, London, 2008

African Studies Association Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2009

DanceAfrica Film Festival, New York, 2009

Hampstead & Highgate Film Festival, London, UK, 2010

American Anthropological Association/Society for Visual Anthropology Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2010

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