Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Janelias new music video...

We've been a fan of Janelia since she was in diapers...okay, maybe not in diapers. But we know her pretty well. Check out her latest video.

Monday, June 25, 2007

This week's rising leading lady- Rama Yade

We just wanted to give a shout out to African's making a difference around the world.



Rama Yade is one of 17 junior ministers that were appointed to President Nicolas Sarkozy's rightwing French government following parliamentary elections. She is minister for human rights.

Yade was born in Dakar, the daughter of a Senegalese diplomat, but grew up with her mother and three sisters on the outskirts of Paris, where she studied political science, moving on to an administrator's job in the French Senate.

Morgan Freeman to play Nelson Mandela in new film.



The film is title "The Human Factor." Freeman will co-produce the film, which is based on John Carlin's book of the same name.

It is set during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, when Mr Mandela used the country's hosting of the tournament to help heal divisions between blacks and whites.

Freeman travelled to South Africa last year to discuss the project with the former president.
"I have known Nelson Mandela personally for quite some time, and am continually in awe of his enormous presence in the world," Freeman - who won a best supporting actor Oscar for Million Dollar Baby in 2005 - said.

The film is being made by Freeman's production company, Revelations Entertainment, with a script by South African writer Anthony Peckham.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

RunwayAfrica "Ambiguity" Event (pics)












will have more pics in the photogallery tomorrow.

Friday, June 15, 2007

SUFFERING AND SMILING (New York Premiere). Coming soon.



SUFFERING AND SMILING (New York Premiere)

Dan Ollman, Nigeria/US, 2007, 65m, video, doc, In English and Yoruba with English subtitles


Focusing on the legendary African singer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his son Femi, Suffering and Smiling depicts the impact of their politically charged music. Following Nigeria's independence in 1960, Fela used his songs to speak out against the country's corrupt leaders. Since independence the military and political elite have enriched themselves by allowing Nigeria's oil and natural resources to be stripped by multinational corporations with little benefit to ordinary Nigerians. Fela gave voice to Nigeria's disenfranchised underclass and sang of a free and united Africa. Upon his death in 1997, Femi has continued his father's legacy. Equally passionate and charismatic, he sings about the dire situation in his country, asks why the world's most resource-rich continent has the poorest people, and struggles to maintain a vision of better days ahead for the common people of Nigeria. *Presented in association with Film Aid International, http://www.filmaid.org/


SHOWTIMES:

Wed June 20: 2

Fri June 22: 4

Sat June 23: 9

Sun June 24: 1:30


Running from June 15 to 28 at the Walter Reade Theater, the 18th edition of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival features 21 films and three shorts from 17 countries and includes 16 New York premieres. Tickets for the 2007 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival are available at both the Walter Reade Theater box office (212)875-5600 and online at http://www.filmlinc.com/

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Nigerian author wins the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction




The 29-year-old becomes the youngest winner, and the first from Africa, to win for her novel Half A Yellow Sun, set in the 1960s Biafran civil war.

Both her grandfathers died in that conflict and she said: "This book is my refusal to forget."
She beat five other contenders for the £30,000 women-only award, including Kiran Desai, shortlisted for her Booker Prize winner The Inheritance of Loss.

Read more.

Essay Contest - $$$



Please take advantage.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Speaking of good magazines



Subscribe today!

Vanity Fair for AFRICA!

Vanity Fair did an historic 20 different covers issue, putting 21 famous faces doing something for Africa. Oprah, Obama, Madonna, etc....

Check out the current issue!

Friday, June 01, 2007