West African Film Festival to take place at UHCL Pearland

Get your popcorn ready because the 4th Annual West African Film Festival is being hosted at the UHCL Pearland Campus (UHCL Pearland) Feb. 21 at 6 p.m.  The West African films scheduled to be featured are “New York to Conakry,” “Mirabel” and “Firmeza.”

“New York to Conakry” follows five drummers and two dancers from the NYC area as they travel across the Pacific back to the motherland, Conakry, the capital of Guinea, West Africa. The film explores the cultural exchange between African-American and African artists.

“Mirabel” is an emotional drama about love lost and found. It follows the lives of two young people, Shawn and Tonye, and how the drama of dealing with an unplanned pregnancy pulls them apart.  

“We are not poor, but rich in culture” is the opening sentence of “Firmeza,” a documentary exposing the secret aspects of Rap music from the island of Sao Vicente. The film is a collage of anecdotes and memories told by voices representing two generations of artists in Africa.

“Africa is not a country, and the whole continent’s story can’t be the story of poverty and diseases alone,” said  Linda Wuest, West African Film Festival founder in an interview with International Focus Magazine. “Our challenge is to get the world to understand and to tell a different story, a more accurate story of Africa, one country at a time. That’s why joining us in watching African films is so important. Through African eyes and the filmmaker’s lens, you’ll learn about the dreams, joy, hope and amazing resilience that is Africa today.  So if you thought Africa was one place, or a poor place: think again. Africa is making huge leaps forward.”

The festival was created in 2015 when Wuest got together with Natashia Clarke, who has a background in the entertainment and film industry from her time in Los Angeles and currently teaches as an adjunct professor of cultural anthropology at UHCL Pearland.

“Natashia and I felt that a West African Film Festival for Houston was needed to bring West African films to our community,” Wuest said in the International Focus Magazine article on the founding of WAFF. “We should be able to hear the story of Africa from African people themselves. We also hope to support West African artists by increasing distribution opportunities for West African films.”

This is the first time that the festival will be held at the UHCL Pearland Campus.  The festival will also be held at Rice University, Ismaili Jamatkhana Center, Harmony Public Schools Central Office, and HCC Alief campus.

“The festival transitioned to the Pearland Campus because we wanted the community of students at that particular location to have access to the festival as well,” Clarke said.

Kathy Dupree, executive director of campus operations for UHCL Pearland, said she is thrilled to be able to host the event at the Pearland campus’ newly built facilities.

“It’s wonderful to be able to do something where we not only bring in the prestige of it and make known this wonderful film festival but also let everybody know that we have more space now to be able to do something of this nature,” Dupree said.

The West African Film Festival will be free for everybody to attend, not just UHCL students.  This event is just one of many opportunities and events planned to celebrate Black History Month 2019.

“While I want to stress that cultural heritage should be celebrated throughout the year, the reason [we celebrate Black History and other Heritage Months] is that often times certain folks are left out of the narrative, so we have them so we can truly pay homage and focus on those populations during that time,” said Aliya Beavers, director of the Office of Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, on the importance of recognizing and celebrating Black History Month. “We have got a lot of great events, and a lot of folks are putting in a good amount of time, and we’re really excited so people should come out and see what things are all about, and come be a part of the community and get connected.”

For more information on the West African Film Festival, visit www.westafricanfilmfestival2019.eventbrite.com.