African Arts Institute 2012 events launch this week!
February 20th, 2012, at 12:26 pm | Posted by Mari Stimie

Cinema, music, art and culture from around the African continent will remain in the spotlight in Cape Town this year as the African Arts Institute (AFAI) continues its popular ‘Learn Africa Love Africa’ event series. Plans are underway to launch similar events in Johannesburg and Durban later this year.

Already a fixed event on the Cape Town calendar, AFAI’s All Africa month-end Dance Parties kick off again this Friday, 24 February, at the Kimberley Hotel in Roeland Street.  The first such event for 2012 will feature DJ Jumbo whose impressive collection of classic African dance music, much of it on vinyl, spans thirty years. His playlist will include music from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, Kenya, Gabon, Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal, with a taste from the African Diaspora and Cape Verde, from African guitar heroes to rolling bass lines and irresistible rhythms. Tickets are R30, at the door, from 9pm.

On Wednesday 29 February at 9am the first in a series of AFAI Coffee & Networking Mornings will introduce as guest the Artistic Director of the Royal Flemish Theatre (RFT) of Brussels, Jan Goossens. Goossens has been involved with the RFT, or Koninklike Vlaamse Schouwburg, since 1999 and took his current position two years later. He will introduce the work of the much lauded theatre and company, focusing on an ongoing international project in Congo. The event will be hosted at AFAI at Union House, 25 Commercial Street. It is free of charge and with limited capacity so booking is essential. To book, call 021-465 9027 or info@afai.org.za

On Tuesday 13 March African Film Nights continue at the Labia on Orange, in collaboration with the African Film Library. The first title to be screened is Le Silence de la Foret (The Forest, 2003), directed by two filmmakers from the Central African Republic, Didier Ouenangare and Bassek ba Kobhio.  The drama is centered around Gonaba, a French African intellectual who returns to his country after decades spent in Europe and finds his ideas challenged by the local community. The film is in Diaka, French and Sango with English subtitles. Tickets are R30 from the Labia on Orange, 021-424 5927 or from AFAI 021-465 9027 or info@afai.org.za

Other titles to be screened in following months include the comedies Le Ballon D’Or (The Golden Ball), directed by Cheik Doukoure (Guinea, 1994) and Lalla Hobby, directed by Moumen Smihi (Morocco, 1999), a science fiction film, Les Saignantes (The Bleeders), directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroon, 2007), the drama Le Destin (Destiny) directed by Youssef Chahine (Egypt, 1997) plus two short films, from Burkina Faso and Mozambique.

Details regarding a similar series of African Film Nights to be hosted by AFAI and partners in Johannesburg from May 2012, will be announced soon.

For more information on these and future events and projects, visit www.africanartsinstitute.org.za or call 021-465 9027 or email info@afai.org.za