The fifth annual Chicago African Diaspora Film Festival runs Friday through Thursday, June 22 through 28, at Facets Cinematheque. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $9, $7 for students and seniors; for more information call 773-281-9075 or visit www.facets.org.
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The Cathedral Set in the island nation of Mauritius, this 2006 feature is narrated by the spirit of a massive cathedral that watches over the capital city of Port Louis, in particular a virginal lass (Ingrid Blackburn) whose hypochondriac mother resents her. We have to settle for the narrator’s omniscience, rather than any visible character development, to learn why this blank, petulant girl is the movie’s heroine. Pursued by a student of Indian descent and an older European photographer, she wanders aimlessly through the town, leading us from one postcard-perfect view to another. Harikrishna Anendan directed. In English and subtitled French and Morisyen. 78 min. (AG) a Sun 6/24, 7:30 PM.
escalates tension through his characters’ intractable silences. In French and Arabic with subtitles. 95 min. (AG) a Sun 6/24, 5:30 PM, and Wed 6/27, 7 PM.
Sia, the Python’s Dream Born in Burkina Faso but now living in Paris, director Dani Kouyate is the son of a griot, a traditional African musician and storyteller, and his 2001 feature uses a seventh-century myth to comment on the power struggles, bogus moral authority, and perpetuation of lies that still plague many African nations. An emperor, hoping to reaffirm his mandate from the people, decides to sacrifice a virgin to the python god, but the unlucky virgin goes into hiding while her soldier sweetheart rushes back from the fort to rescue her. Kouyate is rather lackadaisical in laying out his subplots (a general puts the affairs of the state above his family, court counselors conspire to suppress a madman who speaks the truth); however, in the final third the elemental power of his storytelling takes over, pulling together a spellbinding tapestry of motives and dilemmas. In Bambara with subtitles. 96 min. (TS) a Mon 6/25, 7 PM.
Maluala a Sun 6/24, 9:15 PM, and Thu 6/28, 9 PM.
