PRESS RELEASE “TO REPEL GHOSTS: URBAN TALES FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT” SHOWCASES FIVE SHORT FILMS AT TORONTO INTERNATIONAL

Short Films: African Metropolis: Berea / South / Director: Vincent Moloi African Metropolis: Homecoming / Kenya / Director: Jim Chuchu African Metropolis: To Repel Ghosts / Ivory Coast / Director: Philippe Lacôte Kwaku Ananse / / Director: Akosua Adoma Owusu Noye's Fludde - Unogumbe / South Africa / Director: Mark Dornford-May

Film screenings: 09/05/13, 6:00PM / Public 1 / Jackman Hall (AGO) 09/06/13, 8:30PM / Press & Industry / Bell Lightbox 5 09/07/13, 9:00AM / Public 2 / Jackman Hall (AGO)

From September 5 to 7, this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will host North American and international premieres of five remarkable and fiercely contemporary African short film stories – from an ambiguous, Nairobi-set science fiction story to a Cape Town recreation of the myth of Noah’s ark.

The screenings include a selection of the African Metropolis Project, showing three short films from three African directors shot in three African cities. They are set in Nairobi (Homecoming, dir.: Jim Chuchu), Abidjan (To Repel Ghosts, dir.: Philippe Lacôte) and Johannesburg (Berea, dir.: Vincent Moloi), portraying the face of a modern and cosmopolitan Africa and challenging long-standing clichés about the continent.

The African Metropolis Short Film Project is an initiative of the Goethe-Institut South Africa and South African executive producer Steven Markovitz, with support from Guaranty Trust Bank and the Hubert Bals Fund of International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Kwaku Ananse by director Akosua Adoma Owusu, brought to TIFF by Focus Features’ Africa First Program, is a spellbinding, semi-autobiographical interpretation of a traditional Ghanaian folktale. The Africa First Program is a unique initiative, with funds earmarked specifically for emerging filmmakers of African Nationality. It also sponsored Berea.

With Noye's Fludde-Unogumbe, Mark Dornford-May, winner at the 2005 Berlinale, sets Benjamin Britten's one-act opera in Cape Town's Khayelitsha Township, scored for African instruments and performed by members of the renowned Isango Ensemble, featuring Pauline Malefane as Noah.

Filmmakers Vincent Moloi, Jim Chuchu, Akosua Adoma Owusu and Mark Dornford-May will be present at the festival, as well as Steven Markovitz, Executive Producer of African Metropolis, Mike Downey, Executive Producer of Noye's Fludde-Unogumbe, and Mandisi Dyantyis, Isango's co-music director.

Rasha Salti, International Programmer of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), says: “To Repel Ghosts: Urban Tales from the African Continent is a selection of remarkable short film stories from Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Ivory Coast. We are very glad to showcase them at this years’ TIFF, as the plurality and diversity of voices within the program is a joy to discover. Through shaping their very own aesthetics, these five productions by emerging directors are a fascinating cinematic testimony from a continent for too long harnessed into the most moribund and facile prejudices.”

Page 2: PRESS RELEASE: WORLD PREMIERE OF “AFRICAN METROPOLIS” AT DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

CONTACTS:

AFRICAN METROPOLIS

Press Relations at TIFF: Kim Galvez Bigworld Cinema Cell: +27 (0)78 231 8932 [email protected]

Industry Relations at TIFF: Lucius Barre Cell: 1-917-353-2268 [email protected]

Press Relations World: Ben Keuffel Goethe-Institut Johannesburg Cell: +27 (0)82 769 3254 [email protected]

Booking & further inquiries: Tamsin Ranger Cell: (416) 702 0901 [email protected]

KWAKU ANANSE

Press Relations: Kia Muhammad [email protected]

NOYE’S FLUDDE-UNOGUMBE:

Press Relations at TIFF: Kim Galvez (as above)

Industry Relations at TIFF: Lucius Barre (as above)