African Perspectives: Namibian Premiere of « Black » by Pierre Laffargue, Sat, 28. January 2012, 19h00

In the framework of the the monthly filmseries “African Perspectives”, AfricAvenir Windhoek, in cooperation with Studio 77, presents the Namibian premiere of "BLACK", a film by Pierre Laffargue, 2008, Senegal/France, 115 min, French with English subtitles, starring Rapper MC Jean Gab’1, Carole Karemera, & Anton Yakolev. “Black” is a film that is all about a Diamond Heist in Dakar, Senegal. The film intentionally recalls the conceit of Blaxploitation films, but in a thoroughly modern and artistic way.

Date: Sat. 28. January 2012, Time: 19h00
Venue: Studio 77, Old Breweries Complex, entrance Garten Str.
Entrance: 30,-N$

About the film
“Black” is a film that is all about a Diamond Heist in Dakar, Senegal. The film intentionally recalls the conceit of Blaxploitation films, but in a thoroughly modern and artistic way. nA groovy 70s-style adaptation of Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra sets a funky tone for the opening of “Black” which moves briskly and efficiently from a slickly-shot "armored car robbery gone bad" in Paris to a modern update of Shaft in Africa to a lunatic, witchy, bastard offspring of Cat People and Ssssss. It’s gloriously lunatic.nWhen his Parisian armored car holdup goes horribly wrong, our protagonist Senegalese-born Black needs to go underground. He’s a criminal and not necessarily a good one.  News from his cousin in Senegal about a stash of uncut diamonds in a poorly guarded bank in Dakar hatches the plan to go on a "working vacation" that involves a little sightseeing and a lot of mayhem aiming at the heist of a lifetime.

As Black and his crew soon discover, Dakar has just as many nefarious criminals as any other major city; it’s just that the cons are different. They may be worldly wise to the ways of Paris, but they’re absolutely lost in Senegal. What Black doesn’t know is that the extremely valuable diamonds have attracted other interest…

French underground Hip-Hop MC Jean Gab’1, famed for his endless charisma, first debuted in the film District B-13. Though with the character „Black“ he takes centre stage and delivers a nouveau-blacksploitation-adventure awash what with black magic, African mysticism, mutant arms-dealers, gargantuan machete-wielding mercenary armies and a truckload of knuckle-sandwiches.
The film was released in 2008 and was directed by Senegalese-French director Pierre Laffargue.nThe film “Black” is a superior French-Senegalese exploitation film and its director, Pierre Laffargue, is somebody to watch out for. As film critic Peter Martin remarked: „„Black“ percolates like that first, strong cup of coffee in the morning – with no bitter aftertaste“.nMore info on www.blacklefilm.comnAfricAvenir thanks its sponsors and supporters of this event: Studio 77, Bank Windhoek Arts Festival, WhatsOnWindhoek, & the Franco Namibian Cultural Centre.