THREE BLADES/TROIS MACHETTES (NEW YORK PREMIERE)
A day in the life of a family of three in contemporary Haiti. Child, adolescent, man – each with his dreams and frustrations and each finding a way to live. A day like every other day and everywhere, in every hand, there is a machete. So what will happen when night falls and dreams and frustrations collide?
Directed by Matthieu Maunier-Rossi, 2019, Haiti, 29 minutes, drama, Haitian Creole with English subtitles
Festival Website: nyadiff.org/2020
NAFI'S FATHER/BAAMUM NAFI (NEW YORK PREMIERE)
A fight between an Imam and his powerful brother over their children’s marriage. At stake: how a small community slowly drifts towards extremism.
Directed by Mamadou Dia, 2019, Senegal, 107 minutes, drama, Fulah with English subtitles
Festival Website: nyadiff.org/2020
A SON/BIK ENEICH (NEW YORK PREMIERE)
11-year-old Aziz needs a liver transplant after being seriously injured during a terrorist ambush while on holiday in 2011. At the hospital, a family secret will be revealed.
Directed by Mehdi Barsaoui, 2019, Tunisia, 96 minutes, drama, Arabic with English subtitles
Festival Website: nyadiff.org/2020
ART, RESISTANCE & ACTIVISM PROGRAM
THE MALI-CUBA CONNECTION / AFRICA MIA (US PREMIERE)
1964. In the midst of the Cold War, ten promising young musicians from Mali are sent to Cuba to study music and strengthen cultural links between the two socialist countries. Combining Malian and Afro-Cuban influences, they develop a revolutionary new sound and become the iconic ensemble ‘Las Maravillas de Mali’. New Year’s Eve 2000. Richard Minier, a French music producer meets a former member of the band in Bamako and decides to bring the band back together.
Directed by Richard Minier and Edouard Salier, 2020, France/ Cuba/Mali, 81 minutes, documentary, French and Spanish with English subtitles.
Festival Website: nyadiff.org/2020
IN COMPETITION: BEST FILM DIRECTED BY A WOMAN OF COLOR
MYOPIA (US PREMIERE)
Fatem, sixth month pregnant, leaves her village perched in the mountains, to fill a frame with empty glasses for the elder of her village, the only person who can decipher the letters sent by members of the villagers’ families who have gone to work in the cities. She moves from station to station to arrive in town in the middle of a protest. This will turn her trip into a peaceful revolution that she is hardly aware of.
Directed by Sanaa Akroud, 2020, Morocco, 86 minutes, drama, Arabic with English subtitles
Festival Website: nyadiff.org/2020
