On Sunday, April 13, SIFF kicks off the second iteration of its African Pictures program, supported by a multi-year grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. SIFF programmers will be in attendance to announce the 2014 African Pictures lineup, with trailers on display for selected titles.
Once again, African Pictures features the best cinema from and about the continent, ranging from somber to humorous, informative to fantastical, celebrating the diverse and burgeoning hotbed of filmmaking activity emerging across Africa today.
The Academy grant gives SIFF an unparalleled opportunity as a major international film festival to showcase a substantial program of African cinema. Featured selections include indigenous films, films by African filmmakers working outside the continent, and films on topics relating to Africa's changing contemporary political and social landscape.
Preceding the announcement is a screening of SWEET DREAMS, a joyful and compelling documentary about a group of Rwandan musicians who undertake to sweeten their village's existence and unify its divided citizens with the treat of ice cream.
SWEET DREAMS tells the story of Ingoma Nshya, Rwanda's first and only women's drumming troupe, open to all who are willing to leave the categories of the past at the gate. Striving to bring healing to its members and community following the 1994 genocide, this group is bound even closer together by a new goal of bringing an ice cream shop - Rwanda's first - to their town.
Snoqualmie Ice Cream sponsors this event, providing a sundae bar for attendees. Also sponsoring the event are the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Delta Airlines.
Available upon request: stills, screeners for SWEET DREAMS; interviews regarding African Pictures.