This article was written by Sarah Luyengi.
Finally! Summer is right around the corner and with it not only comes an array of outdoor concerts and cheap food trucks and film festivals. The Chicago African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF Chicago) kicks off June by celebrating its 20th anniversary with screenings at Facets and the Gene Siskel Film Center this Thursday, June 15 through June 18. The screenings showcase the different corners of the African Diaspora; from Bamako, Mali, to New Orleans, Louisiana, you’ll have the chance to see several films and transport yourself around the world.
Facets will screen seven films June 15 to 17, with its opening night featuring Ludi. The film, which is sponsored by the DuSable Heritage Association and The Haitian American Museum of Chicago, follows a Haitian nurse in Miami as she works to send money back to her family in Haiti, a common practice among many immigrants. Other films in the lineup include Angels on Diamond Street, YAFA, Forgiveness, The Africologist and Blind Eye. Facets screenings will end with two music documentaries: Fantastic Negrito Have You Lost Your Mind Yet and Music Pictures New Orleans.
Opening day at the Gene Siskel Film Center starts off with two films centering on Mali: Wulu and Dancing the Twist in Bamako. After losing his job, Ladji, the protagonist of Wulu, is swept into the world of drug smuggling. The 1960s colonial drama of Dancing the Twist in Bamako follows the young idealistic Samba in a newly independent capital as he dances to Motown with his girlfriend Lara every night. And closing out ADIFF is the screening of Move When the Spirit Says Move: The Legacy of Dorothy Cotton. A panel and reception will wrap up the night in celebration of the Juneteenth weekend.
Since its inception in 1993, ADIFF, a minority-led nonprofit based in Harlem, serves to present and educate the public with films that explore Black and Indigenous experiences around the world. The festival strives to “disrupt stereotypes” and uplift “cinematic works of creativity.”
So, don’t miss out! People often blindly generalize Africa as a vague whole (I blame The Lion King and Planet Earth for that one). ADIFF offers moviegoers a glimpse into the vibrant cultures of seven different countries within the African Diaspora. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told people where my family is from only to get a look of utter cluelessness (it’s the country smack dab in the middle of the continent). Don’t be that person. You can purchase your tickets with an All Access Pass ($65) or a Single Ticket ($13); Facets and Siskel Film Center members get a discounted price.