The Tribune

AS Bahamians prepare for a day of rest on August Monday, the Indaba Project and Movement for Change are gearing up for a weekend of work. The two community-based organisations are partnering to host the inaugural Black Empowerment Community Film Festival on Emancipation weekend.

The free festival will take place on Hay Street, Fowler Street and Mason’s Addition from August 3 to 5.

With the help of event sponsor Zamar Productions, the community will gather around big screens to watch films such as “The Price of Being a Man”, which is scheduled for Sunday night on Mason’s Addition Park.

This film explores the story of Bahamian cultural pioneer and political figure Edmund Moxey and the “undoing of Jumbey Village”.

On Saturday, children in the community can get together under the Indaba tent on Fowler Street for a children’s matinee, “Kirikou and the Sorceress”. This animated film tells the story of an African boy named Kirikou, who is born with skills well beyond his age. The village sees him as the last hope in the face of an evil sorceress.

The Saturday night double play on the Fowler Street basketball court is scheduled to feature a film about Chicago street gangs, “The Interrupters”, and a story of Africa’s past, present and future, “Motherland”.

Kicking off the festival on Friday night on Hay Street basketball court is a screening of Spike Lee’s 1992 feature film starring Denzel Washington, ‘Malcolm X.’

The festival was organised with several objectives: uniting communities across borders; connecting the Bahamian story to stories of the wider African Diaspora; exposing the community to PanAfrican knowledge and bringing new life to the commemoration of emancipation and the African identity.

For more information, visit the event’s Facebook Page: Black Empowerment Community Film Festival.