Institute of African American Affairs and Department of Cinema Studies present "Return to Source" Spring 2017 Film Series and discussion with Directors. The series will include films that link identity, authenticity and creativity to the value of returning to the sources. Fifty Directed by Biyi Bandele (Nigeria, 2015, 1h 41 min.) Friday, April 14, 2017 / 6:00 PM Location: Cantor Film Center-NYU 36 East 8th Street (bet. University Place and Greene Street) NY, NY Discussion with director Biyi Bandele moderated by Professor Boukary Sawadogo (CUNY-City College, Dept. of Media Communication Arts) ABOUT THE FILM 1 From: http://fiftythemovie.com/about/: Four Women, One Week, Four Journeys, One City In the resurgence for telling the story of a new Africa, the film FIFTY becomes more important in creating an honest insight of Africa in contrast to the stereotypical fatalistic stories filmmakers tend to tell of the continent. These stories mold the worldview of Africa as a single story. As Africans living in Africa, we are passionate about telling our stories, of a multidimensional reality that is a burgeoning, pioneering, cosmopolitan and progressive Africa. With FIFTY, we push the boundaries to uncover the lives of Lagos’ contemporary and glamorous upper class, sharing the world of four women as they rise above adversity to stand as they truly are; modern African women. Women of substance, class and values. See African Women Like Never Before FIFTY captures a few pivotal days in the lives of four Nigerian women at the pinnacle of their careers. Meet Tola, Elizabeth, Maria and Kate, four friends forced at midlife to take inventory of their personal lives, while juggling careers and family against the sprawling backdrops of the upper middle-class neighborhoods of Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos. They live and work in the resurgent, ever-bustling, 24- hour megacity of Lagos, the commercial capital of Africa’s biggest and most vibrant economy. Tola is a reality TV star whose marriage to lawyer Kunle never stood a chance thanks to an invidious family secret. Elizabeth is a celebrated obstetrician whose penchant for younger men has estranged her from her daughter. Forty-nine year-old Maria has an affair with a married man that results in an unexpected pregnancy and Kate’s battle with a life-threatening illness has plunged her into religious obsession. In this tender but unflinching exploration of love and lust, power and rivalry, life and loss in twenty-first century Africa’s most populous city, and to the pulsating beat of the compelling and entrancing grooves of World Music superstar King Sunny Ade, Afrobeat titan Femi Kuti, German-Nigerian wunderkind singer- songwriter Nneka who all appear in the movie together with pop icon Tiwa Savage and the irrepressible Waje. We see our four lead characters muster courage, put on their six-inch heels, working hard and partying too, and strut confidently to tackle life’s curveballs head-on. Tola, Elizabeth, Maria and Kate rise triumphantly to the challenges of contemporary life faced by women everywhere and remain unbowed. 2 ABOUT THE DIRECTOR Biyi Bandele is a filmmaker, playwright, and novelist. He wrote and directed Half of a Yellow Sun (2013) starring Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Boyega, and Anika Noni Rose. His TV work includes Not Even God is Wise Enough, directed by Danny Boyle (1994) and the MTV series Shuga (2013 & 2015). His plays include Rain, Death Catches the Hunter, Marching for Fausa, and Resurrections. Amongst his theatre adaptations are Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1997), Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko (1999) and Federico Garcia Lorca’s Senora Carrar’s Rifles (2007). Bandele has written several books, from his first novel The Man Who Came in from The Back of Beyond (Heinemann, 1991), to The King’s Rifle (Amistad, 2009), which has been translated into French, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Dutch, Hebrew, Polish and Swedish. He was a Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge (2000-2002); and Resident Playwright at the Bush Theatre (2002-2003). The Independent has listed him as one of Africa's fifty greatest artists. Bandele is a 2017 spring term Resident Artist at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is currently working on a screen adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s prison memoirs The Man Died for the British Film Institute. Fifty (2015) is his second feature film. ABOUT THE RETURN TO SOURCE FILM SERIES The series is a continuation from Fall 2016 and includes films that link identity, authenticity and creativity to the value of returning to the sources. By "return to the source" we are putting in conversation films that entertain or question the usefulness of returning home as narrative forms. The films will explore such varied narrative forms as the essay film, home-movies, archives, as well as fictional, experimental and documentary approaches. The series will also engage with the ways in which oral traditions and historical documents are deployed in the films. Please visit: www.nyuiaaa.org for more information 3 .