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County
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Otelo Burning is a film that brings to life the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, one of the fresh and exciting features of this year’s Cascade Festival of African Films. The montf
long series o f films and visits from filmmakers take place during February at the Portland Community College Cascade Campus and at the Hollywood Theater.
Curtain Call for African Films
23rd annual
Cascade festival
longest running
Portland Community College's
23rd Cascade Festival of African
Films brings 22 films and three film
makers to Portland during the month
of February.
This year's festival is dedicated
to the memory of Harold Williams
Sr., who passed away last summer.
Williams was a long-time member of
PCC's Board of Directors and re
spected community leader.
"Harold was a dedicated cham
pion of PCC's Cascade Campus and
believed strongly in the festival's
mission of connecting members of
Portland's African-American com
munity with their African heritage,"
said Michael Dembrow, one of the
festival's founders and current state
re p re se n ta tiv e fo r n o rth e a st
Portland. "We will miss him deeply. "
The longest-running annual Af
rican film festival in the United States
runs from Feb. 1 through March 2 at
two locations, the Moriarty Arts
and Humanities Building Audito
rium on the PCC Cascade Campus,
705 N. Killings worth St., and the
Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E.
Sandy Blvd.
The festival, which is free and
open to the public, shows films rang
ing from full-length features to docu
mentaries and short films. More than
5,000 people attend the festival an
nually. Each evening screening is
followed by a discussion led by
individuals with expert knowledge
of the region shown in that evening's
film
This year begins with African
Diaspora films focused on the Car
ibbean.
The film Toussaint ¡.ouverture focuses on a slave rebellion that
"With recent releases of so many
sparked the Haitian Revolution. The Jefferson Dancers will
fresh and exciting Afro-Caribbean
perform prior to the film ’s screening on Friday, Feb. 1 at the
Diaspora films, we seized the oppor-
Hollywood Theatre.
tu n ity to p ro g ram film s lik e
'Toussaint Louverture,' 'Le Mozart
Noir a Cuba,' 'Le Mozart Noir,' and
'Elza,"' said film festival coordinator
Tara Foster. "We are excited to open
the 23rd season with this significant
Diaspora focus."
The Cascade Festival of African
F ilm s opens w ith "T o u ssain t
Louverture" at6:30p.m., Friday, Feb.
1, in the Hollywood Theatre. The
film's director, Philippe Niang, will
be on hand to share his film, which
is based on the a cc o u n ts o f
Louverture's personal life, military
genius, and how he led the slave
rebellion that sparked the Haitian
Revolution. The Jefferson Dancers
will perform prior to the screening.
The final week of the festival is
Women's Filmmakers Week tocoin-
cide with Women's History Month
and features films from Zimbabwe,
Tanzania, Mali, Kenya and Ghana.
continued
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