Film Screening: Aristotle’s Plot in Windhoek

"On Saturday, 30th May 2009 at 7 p.m. AfricAvenir, Windhoek and Studio 77 in the framework of the monthly film series ""African Perspectives"" present Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s film ""Aristotle’s Plot"" at Studio 77, behind Old Breweries, Arts Craft Complex. Entrance is free! nARISTOTLE’S PLOT (1996, Zimbabwe/Cameroon, 71 min.),
directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo,  music by Jean-Claude Petit, with Albee Lesotho, Ken Gampu, Siputla Sebogodi. nScreening date: Saturday, 30th of May, 2009
Screening time: 7h00 for 7h30 nVenue: Studio 77, behind Old Breweries, Arts Craft Complex
Entrance: free nAristotles Plot:
Why are African filmmakers always asked political questions? Where is the Black Man today? Are they all to be Nelson Mandela? Can Nelson Mandela make a film? Why are African filmmakers always "young ", "upcoming", "promising", "emerging", "developing, until they are eighty years old and then suddenly they become "the ancestor", "the father"," "the wise role model"? nAristotle’s Plot is unlike any film that we’ve shown so far in the film series "African Persepctives". And that’s precisely the point of the film.
The film had its origins when the British Film Institute selected Bekolo (director of the 1992 film "Quartier Mozart" and won the for his movie "Les Saignantes") to be "The African" filmmaker in its series celebrating the first 100 years of film. The Cameroonian Bekolo became famous at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival with his acclaimed, offbeat film "Quartier Mozart" and was awarded the Yennenga silver Stallion (Seocnd prize) at the FESPACO in 2007 for his feature film "Les saignantes". nIn 1996 together with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, Stephen Frears, and Bernardo Bertolucci, he was given a budget and carte blanche to make a film that would be a meditation on film. He took the assignment literally, and turned out a cinematic allegory on the meaning of film in Africa today. nIn this film, Bekolo sets up the genre of action film to question the rationale of mimesis, the Aristotle’s plot of the title, which has overdetermined the practice of storytelling, in Hollywood and elsewhere. The confident mix of aesthetic populism and critical, even auterish staging of conceptual issues in African and contemporary filmmaking has become Bekolo’s style. For him, a film has to entertain in the traditional sense but without sacrificing an awareness of its place in a vast, diverse but persistent effort to form and transform the practice of African filmmaking. This is a complex but productive intellectual position within an artistic tradition noted for its divisions, factions, and labels. n"African Perspectives" is a project carried out by AfricAvenir International (www.africavenir.org) in cooperation with the Studio 77. nEvery last saturday of every month, an African movie is shown in the city centre of Windhoek. nThe project is committed to the goals of an African renaissance, that is to root African development on the reality and culture of African people and to re-invent and re-construct the continent according to African priorities and values. nContact: Hans-Christian Mahnke, +264 (0) 855630949, gro.rinevacirfa@eknham.c