Lecture in Honor of Black History Month
February 16, 2009
Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and co-sponsor Portland Community College (PCC) welcome award-winning film maker Charles Burnett and editor/producer Edwin Santiago for a conversation on the film “Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation,” at 7pm, February 18 in PNCA’s Swigert Commons.
The film will be screened as part of the 19th Annual Cascade Festival of African Films at 7pm, February 20 at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. in Portland.
Together, Burnett and Santiago created 2007’s “Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation,” which follows the legend of Samuel Nujoma (Carl Lumbly), Namibia’s first president and a prominent leader in the struggle for independence from apartheid South Africa. Burnett and Santiago have previously collaborated on such films as “Nightjohn” and “Warming by the Devil’s Fire.”
An influential film director, the _New York Times_ heralded Burnett as “the nation’s least-known great film maker and most gifted black director.” Lumbly, who stars in “Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation,” has acted in Burnett’s “To Sleep With Anger” alongside Danny Glover and guest-starred in the “X-Files,” “The West Wing” and “Alias.” Santiago moved into a career in film, working as an editor and producer, after 20 years as a combat photographer in the United Stated Marine Corps.
“The Cascade Festival of African Films”:http://www.africanfilmfestival.org/ runs February 6 through March 7 and offers a month of free film screenings within the Portland metro area. “The significance of our festival is that we allow Portland area viewers to see films made predominately by African directors,” said Mary Holmstrom, co-founder and co-director of the Cascade Festival of African Films. “They manage to tell stories about Africa that isn’t the Hollywood version or stereotypical version.”
_Photo courtesy of Cascade Festival of African Films_