Namibian film premiere of „Africa Shafted: Under one roof“by Ingrid Martens, Wednesday, 12 June 2013, 6:30 pm, at Goethe Centre
Each year, on June 20, the United Nations celebrates World Refugee Day. On Wednesday, 12 June 2013, 6:30 pm, AfricAvenir Windhoek and the FNCC present the Namibian film premiere of Africa Shafted: Under one roof by South African Director Ingrid Martens, South Africa 2011, 50 min.nThe World Refugee Day is a day to recognize the contributions of refugees in their communities. The screening of Africa Shafted: Under one roof honours the courage, the strength, and determination of women, men, and children, who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.nSynopsis:nThe German writer Norman Ohler described Johannesburg’s Ponte City, Africa’s tallest residential building, thus: “Ponte sums up all the hope, all the wrong ideas of modernism, all the decay, all the craziness of the city. It is a symbolic building, a sort of white whale, it is concrete fear, the tower of Babel, and yet it is strangely beautiful.” nA new documentary by Ingrid Martens, Africa Shafted: Under one roof, adds to the wide variety of cultural and artistic interest in Ponte, home to around 4000 people in Hillbrow, on the edge of downtown Johannesburg. A story of African’s never seen before, all in one space, Africa’s tallest apartment building. nA film constructed entirely of elevator conversations. This simple and uncompromising idea provides a beautiful clarity of form. All the filming takes place in one of 8 lifts that travel 54 floors everyday and provide a platform for people from all walks of life to engage with the camera and tell their story.nThe film purports to look at xenophobia through situating itself in the intense and somewhat claustrophobic surrounding of the tower lifts, which link the 54 stories, housing nationalities from all across Africa. In these lifts, the film encounters residents and their feelings toward one another.n
Time: 7:00 pm
Entrance: 30,- N$
Venue: Goethe-Centre, AuditoriumnThis screening is made possible through the financial assistance of the Finnish Embassy.n© Copyright AfricAvenir 2013