Around Cambridge
FREE SCREENING (NON-OFFICIAL CAFF PROGRAMME)
DOCUMENTARY FILM TITLE: VIRUNGA
Director: Orlando von Einsidedl
Year of production: 2014
Length: 100 min.
Genre: Documentary.
At 5pm we will be showing the film Virunga, as part of a Cambridge Politics and International Studies course on Conflict and Peacebuilding. The film, directed by Orlando von Einsiedel discusses the conflict between conservationalists, rebel fighters, animal poachers, and the British oil company Soco International in Virunga National Park. Virunga is Africa’s oldest national park, located on the eastern side of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the border of Rwanda and Uganda. It is home to one third of the world’s wild mountain gorillas. The film raises important questions about the relationship between resources, development and conflict, international activism, environmental conservation, and the local-global connections to peace and war. All are welcome. Please note that if you want to stay for the CAFF films, you will need to buy your ticket.
FEATURE AND SHORT FILM PRESENTATION
Time: 7.00 – 9.15 PM
Venue: The Queen’s Building, Emmanuel College
Book your tickets for both titles here.
SHORT FILM: YELLOW FEVER
Director: Ng’endo Mukii
Country of origin: Kenya
Year of production: 2012
Length: 11 min.
Language: English.
Genre: experimental, poetic.
Synopsis: Yellow Fever is a mixed-media documentary animation by Kenyan filmmaker Ng’endo Mukii. The short film, which served as Mukii’s thesis project at London’s Royal College of Art, is a captivating blend of live-action, stop-motion, spoken word, and vibrant hand-drawn animation that explores the effects of Eurocentric beauty ideals, as disseminated by mainstream media and advertising, on African women.
FEATURE FILM: STORIES OF OUR LIVES + Q&A
Director: Jim Chuchu
Starring: Tim Mutungi, Kelly Gichohi, Mugambi Nthiga, Paul Ogola, Rose Njenga.
Country of origin: Kenya
Year of production: 2014
Length: 60 min.
Language: Swahili & English, with English subtitles.
Genre: LGBT, drama, crime, romance.
Synopsis: Stories of our lives presents a series of short films dealing with different aspects of love among the LGBT community. Created by the members of a Nairobi-based arts collective — who have removed their names from the film for fear of reprisal — this anthology film is both a labour of love and a bold act of militancy.
The film will be followed by a discussion with Njoki Wamai (University of Cambridge) and Robin Steedman (SOAS, University of London).
This film is part of a love-themed African film series called ‘From Africa, with Love’, in a collaboration between the five African film festivals in the UK: Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival in Scotland, Film Africa in London, Afrika Eye in Bristol, Watch-Africa in Wales, and the Cambridge African Film Festival (CAFF), in association with the BFI UK Audience Network’s LOVE Blockbuster Season.
