This traveling festival of contemporary African films and videos screens Saturday through Wednesday, November 20 through 24, at Facets Cinematheque. Tickets are $9, $5 for Facets members; for more information call 773-281-9075.
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The gifted young astrophysicist Thebe Medupe lived through South African apartheid as a child, learned self-confidence through fireside tales of his mythic forebears, and now dedicates himself to teaching students about the African origins of astronomy. This DV documentary (2002) by Craig Foster and Damon Foster follows the genial Medupe as he visits Namibia, Mali, and Egypt in search of ancient ruins and present-day shamans, hoping to prove that study of the heavens began in Africa. Breathtaking landscapes and colorful tribal rituals make for a fine travelogue, and although science often takes a backseat to folklore, a trip to the Saharan site of Nabta yields a rare look at megaliths that predate Stonehenge by a thousand years. In English and subtitled Ju/’hoan, Setswana, and Toro So. 72 min. (AG) (Wed 11/24, 7 PM)
Sam Meffire was born to an East German mother only hours after his Cameroonian father was murdered by whites in the German Democratic Republic. Neglected as a child, Meffire eventually found order and approval among the Dresden police and was hailed as a symbol of diversity in a nationwide ad campaign. But overnight celebrity fed the young man’s emotional instability, and after quitting the force he drifted into a life of crime. This 2000 German documentary by Branwen Okpako of Nigeria probes the disconnect between ethnicity and ideology even as it traces the rise and fall of a narcissistic personality. In German with subtitles. 75 min. (AG) (Wed 11/24, 8:45 PM)
Soldiers of the Rock
