WOMEN OF AFRICAN DESCENT

WELCOME TO THE 14TH ANNUAL
WOMEN OF
AFRICAN DESCENT
F I L M
F E S T I V A L
Presented by The Brooklyn Chapter of The Links, Inc.
“Celebrating 62 Years of Service to the Brooklyn Community”
SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015
LIU Brooklyn, Media Arts Department, Spike Lee Screening Room
Still from AFUA’S DIARY: Produced by Bibi Owusu Shadbolt and Pixelex Aspect
PROGRAM
10 – 11:15 am
YOUTH FILM FESTIVAL
11:15 am – 12:40 pm
14TH ANNUAL WADFF MORNING SHOWCASE
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
12:40 – 1:05 pm
RECEPTION
1:05 pm
OPENING REMARKS AND INTRODUCTIONS
1:15 pm
14TH ANNUAL WADFF AFTERNOON PROGRAM
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WADFF MORNING SHOWCASE
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - 11:15 am
REFLECTIONS UNHEARD:
BLACK WOMEN IN CIVIL RIGHTS
Director/Producer: Nevline Nndji
US, 2013, 81 min.
Where do Black women activists fit into the epochal struggles for equality
and liberation during the 1960’s and 1970’s? The feature length documentary
unearths the lesser-known story of Black women’s political marginalization
-- between the male-dominated Black Power movement, and second wave
feminism, which was predominantly white and middle class -- showing how
each failed to recognize Black women’s overlapping gender and
racial identities.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT: ANNUAL INSTALLMENT - 1:15 pm
LITTLE BROTHER:
MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND
Director: Nicole Franklin
Producers: Nicole Franklin, J.Tiggett
US, 2015, 16 min.
Little Brother: Manchild in the Promised Land is Chapter 5 of
the film series that features young Black boys and their thoughts on
Love. This chapter was filmed in Tucson, AZ, where the young men
have access to an often untold history of ancestral settlers who lived as pioneers and conquistadors.
Our young men discuss life in the Southwest and the current state of race relations.
US FESTIVAL PREMIERE
NARRATIVE SHORTS - 1:45 pm
JACKIE
Director: Tamika R. Guishard
Producer: Marquette Jones
US, 2013, 17 min.
Having grown up in East New York’s
volatile childcare system, Jackie
Isley is armed with street and booksmarts upon meeting “Ronnie” for
the first time. Looking more like her
sister, Jackie soon learns that not
only is she the product of a teenage
pregnancy, but also that her mother
is out for blood.
DEAR NINA
Director: Constance Strickland; Co-Director, Robert Adams
Producers: Sunday Kinfolk and Theatre Roscius
Writers: Renata Cherlise, Constance Strickland, onceuponapoet
US, 2015, 19 min.
An experimental short film offering
a glimpse into the life of Cora, a
woman whose hidden truths and
troubled past are revealed through
a series of letters.
PREMIERE
BROOKLYN PREMIERE
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Narrative Shorts: - 1:45 pm
SOKO SONKO
Director: Ekwa Msangi
Producers: Huriyyah Muhammad, Linda Karuru, James Kanja
Kenya/US, 2014, 22 min.
When her mother falls sick, Kibibi’s father, Ed, is tasked with taking her to the market to get her hair braided
before school begins. Soko Sonko is a hilarious, fish-out of-water roller-coaster of a journey, about a wellintended dad who braves the fires and goes where no man has gone before…because only women have
been there!
BROOKLYN PREMIERE
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS - 3:00 pm
YOU HEAR CHOCOLATE!
AUGUST 9TH: RICHMOND WEDDING
Director: Kearah-Armonie Jeudy
Producer: Tarik Smith_
US, 2015, 6 min.
Director/Producer: Shaina Koren
US, 2014, 24 min.
You Hear Chocolate is a profile of
three amazing street performers
named Audible Chocolate, who are
an all-female band. Lo Anderson
on guitar, Cheeki Pow Pow with
vocals, and Iymaani Abdul-Hamid
on viola. We are introduced to their day-to-day survival as artists who
use the New York Transit System as their stage.
This cinematic film tells the story
of Amanda and Quincy’s union
from a creative as well as personal
perspective. Not only is a wedding
day captured, but their love for one
another and their loved ones is felt
in the emotion of the film as the story progresses. While the wedding
flew by, the loving sentiments presented in the film will endure forever.
PREMIERE
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – 3:45 pm
ON MY OWN
Director/Producer: Rachel Miller-Bradshaw
US, 2014, 58 min.
On My Own is an eye-opening documentary that shatters the stigma of single motherhood. Sweeping
through the Black experience in America, On My Own’s comprehensive attitude is a refreshing breeze that
cools the heated, and often unproductive, discourse of Black family life in America. Through conversations
with single mothers, fathers, community leaders and family experts, the documentary offers a counterpoint to
the one-sided image of single motherhood.
NARRATIVE FEATURE – 5:00 pm
AFUA’S DIARY
Director: Ben Owusu
Producers: Bibi Owusu Shadbolt and Pixelex Aspect
UK, 82 min.
Afua Forson Brown is a Marketing graduate going through trials and tribulations as her British student
visa runs out. Her situation is made worse by the constant nagging of her boyfriend, and the demands
from her alcoholic father in Ghana. Afua eventually falls in love with a dashing man, but love only
seems to complicate her situation.
US PREMIERE
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YOUTH FILM FESTIVAL - 10:00 – 11:15 am
FEATURING FILMS BY REEL WORKS TEEN FILMMAKERS
HAPPY GIRL
CAN’T BREATHE
You can be bullied even by your closest so-called
friends. Will Julie remain loyal to her frenemies or
will she have the strength to be happy on her own?
Disheartened by the stories of young Black men in the
media and afraid of how it might impact him, Javon
searches for ways to speak out against racially-motivated
hate crimes.
Julianna Greenidge, Age: 17
Brooklyn School of Collaborative Studies
US, 2014, 6 min.
________________________________________
BLACK AND WHITE
Jakhi Sidberry, Age: 18,
Uncommon Charter School
US, 2014, 5 min.
Being from Brownsville means dealing with people’s
assumptions about your community and the young
people that live there.
________________________________________
GENTRIF**KATION
Sangeda A lin, Age: 17
New York City Museum School
US, 2014, 7 min.
A critical look at the gentrification of Astoria by the
filmmaker and her family who have been pushed out.
Javon Peters, Age: 17,
Gotham Professional Arts Academy.
US, 2014, 7 min.
________________________________________
PURSUING HAPPINESS
Rondlin Florveus, Age: 18
Gotham Professional Arts Academy
US, 2014, 8 min
Striving to be an “artist” from Carnarsie can be more than an
ambition. It can also be a political statement about racial equality,
education and access to the arts.
________________________________________
GRIEF, ETC.
Catherine Robinson, Age: IS
Landmark High School
US, 2014, 5 min.
A reflection on grief and how it can bring a single father and
teenage daughter closer together.
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JURORS
ABOUT THE BROOKLYN CHAPTER OF THE LINKS, INC
Jacqueline Charity
As the Brooklyn Chapter celebrates 62 years of service to the
Brooklyn community this year, its award winning Women
of African Descent Film Festival (WADFF) is celebrating its
14th Anniversary. The Arts Facet of the Brooklyn Chapter
began sponsoring the WADFF for women filmmakers in
2002 to mark its 50th anniversary, and to continue its legacy
of showcasing the talent and accomplishments of African
American artists. This tradition has continued annually
since then, and takes place at the Spike Lee Screening Room
at LIU Brooklyn, on the first Saturday in May of each year.
Soujourner Sweeney Coles
Eva Delsarte
Laura Fowler
Frances Horne
Antoinette Lamb
Sharon Myrie
Yvonne Presha
Sharon Simmons, Ph.D.
Monica Sweeney, M.D.
Antonia Yuille Williams
________________________________________
SPECIAL THANKS
Muriel Goode-Trufant, President
Sharon Simmons, Arts Facet Chair
Yvonne Presha and Antonia Yuille Williams,
Co-Chairs, Women of African Descent Film Festival
Frances Horne and Antoinette Lamb,
Co-Chairs, Youth Film Festival
Formed in 1952, The Brooklyn Chapter of The Links is
dedicated to the support of educational, civic, and cultural
activities in Brooklyn. It is a chapter of The Links, Inc. an
international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946
whose membership consists of 12,000 professional women
of color in 276 chapters located in 41 states, the District
of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. It
is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service
organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to
enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic
survival of African Americans and other persons of African
ancestry. The Brooklyn Chapter works under the guidelines
of the national body in providing services to its Brooklyn
community in five facet areas: Services to Youth, National
Trends and Services, The Arts, International Trends and
Services, and Health and Wellness. Through our 501(c)(3)
Program arm, Salute to Youth Inc., the Chapter has invested
over $325,000 in the borough’s youth in the past, and has
a 54 year record of service that is unmatched in providing
scholarships and monetary awards to college-bound youth
of African descent from Brooklyn.
Arts Facet WADFF Committee Chairs:
Eva Delsarte & Kitrena Foster, Marketing/Outreach
Kitrena Foster, Finance
Celestine Grimes, Research
Sharon Myrie, Reception,
________________________________________
Jacqueline Charity, Chair, Salute to Youth, Inc.
OFFICERS
LIU Brooklyn: Larry Banks, Media Arts Chair, Rodney K. Hurley, Vinh-Hoi Ngo,
Janice Charles.
Muriel Goode-Trufant, Esq., President
Keya Crenshaw, Consultant, Black Chick Media
Elyse Morris, WADFF Outreach Coordinator,
John Williams, Stephanie Walter, and
Laurel Gwizdak, REEL WORKS Teen Filmmaking
Evelyn Castro, Ph.D., 1st Vice President
Cheryl Lewis-Smith, 2nd Vice President
Karen Abel-Bey,Esq., Corresponding Secretary
Antoinette Lamb, Recording Secretary
Melissa Bonaldes, Esq., Financial Secretary
Eva Delsarte, Treasurer
Laura Fowler, Filmmaker
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MEMBERS
ALUMNA MEMBERS
Delrita Abercrombie, Ph.D.
Jacqueline Charity
Doris Alexis
Bobbye Butts
Jocelyn Cooper
Pamela DeLongoria
Ola Hightower
Evelyn Kalibala
Rubie Malone, D.S.W.
Gwendolyn Simpson
Katherine Solomon
Nola Whiteman
Marguerita Fletcher
________________________________________
Melinda Alexis-Hayes, Esq.
Nikki Bethel
Carla D. Brown
Gay Bullock, Ph.D.
Sydney Butts, M.D.
Hon. Cheryl Chambers
Kitrena Foster
Terri Foster
Portia Gordon, Ph.D.
Joan Grant-Boyd, Ph.D.
L. Celestine Grimes
Leslie Hayes, M.D.
Frances Horne
Damali Jimenez Orsoria
Cassaundra Manning, Esq.
Theresa Manning
Depelsha McGruder
Sharon Myrie, Esq.
Dorothy Nelson
Monique Nwachuku
Yvonne Presha
Patricia Ramseur
Marilyn Reid
Sharon Simmons, Ph.D.
Stephanie Smith
Mari-Lynn Staton, Esq.
Clotilde Stenson
ARTS FACET MEMBERS
Muriel Goode-Trufant, Esq. President
Melinda Alexis-Hayes, Esq.
Gay Bullock, Ph.D.
Eva Delsarte
Kitrena Foster
L. Celestine Grimes
Frances Horne
Antoinette Lamb
Sharon Myrie, Esq.
Yvonne Presha
Sharon Simmons, Ph.D., Chair
Clotilde Stenson
Antonia Yuille Williams
________________________________________
ABOUT REEL WORKS
Reel Works provides a free filmmaking program continuum for NYC
teens. Using a unique one-on-one mentoring model, we challenge
at-risk youth to tell their stories and have their voices heard. In turn,
they build vital skills of literacy, leadership and self-confidence to
create productive futures.
Monica Sweeney, M.D.
Joan Tropnas, Ph.D.
Antonia Yuille Williams
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SPONSORS INCLUDE:
Con Edison, Centric, LIU Brooklyn, Media Arts Department, and the members of The Brooklyn Chapter of The Links and
Salute to Youth Inc. The stipends for filmmakers are totally underwritten by Brooklyn Chapter members and Alumna members.
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS INCLUDE:
Afrobeat Radio, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Boys & Girls High School,
and Reel Works
Consultant services in the production of WADFF provided by Black Chick Media.
Design and Printing by Ricardo Robinson of LightSource Creative Studio Inc.
SPECIAL THANKS to the following Brooklyn Links members for underwriting the filmmakers’ stipends:
Karen Abel-Bey, Delrita Abercrombie, Melinda Alexis-Hayes, Nikki Bethel, Melissa Bonaldes, Carla Brown, Gay Bullock,
Bobbye Butts, Sydney Butts, Evelyn Castro, Cheryl Chambers, Jacqueline Charity, Eva Delsarte, Marguerita Fletcher, Kitrena
Foster, Muriel Goode Trufant, Portia Gordon, Joan Grant-Boyd, L. Celestine Grimes, Leslie Hayes, Frances Horne, Damali
Jimenez Orsoria, Evelyn Kalibala, Antoinette Lamb, Cheryl Lewis-Smith, Rubie Malone, Cassaundra Manning, Theresa
Manning, Sharon Myrie, Dorothy Nelson, Monique Nwachuku, Yvonne Presha, Patricia Ramseur, Marilyn Reid, Sharon
Simmons, Gwendolyn Simpson, Katherine Solomon, Mari-Lynn Staton, Clotilde Stenson, Monica Sweeney, Joan Tropnas,
Nola Whiteman and Antonia Yuille Williams.