Galway African Film Festival
# Galway African Film Festival

Galway African Film Festival (GAFF) is an annual African film festival taking place in Galway on the west coast of Ireland in late May / early June to coincide with Africa Day an annual commemoration on 25 May of the 1963 founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). It aims to showcase the wealth and diversity of African film that would otherwise be inaccessible to Galway audiences. Secondly, the Festival aims to reflect and celebrate the culturally diverse profile of Galway society, the city with the highest percentage (2.8%) of people from African countries. The Festival is organised by the Galway One World Centre in collaboration with the Huston School of Film & Digital Media and the Galway Film Society. Venues for screenings of films have included the Town Hall Theatre, Huston School of Film & Digital Media, and Nuns Island Theatre. The Festival is supported by Irish Aid, Galway City Arts Office, Galway City Council and the Galway Advertiser.

## Programme

The Festival offers a big variety of genres of African Cinema, including documentaries, children's films, shorts, classic and contemporaries. The films are normally not on general release within the Republic, thereby providing people in Ireland an opportunity to see the continent of Africa through a perspective that is different from Hollywood . Guests at the Festival have included Keith Shiri (Africa at the Pictures, London), Alex Ogou (Lead Actor, Clouds over Conakry), Tandeka Matatu (Producer, Jerusalema) and Andrew Webber (Editor, Mirror Boy). Films in 2010 included The Figurine Araromire (Nigeria), Mascarades (France/Algeria) and A Sting in a Tale (Ghana), while in 2011, the festival included acclaimed movies Benda Bilili (Congo), Microphone (Egypt) and The Atlete (Ethiopia). In 2012 highlights included Viva Riva, an award-winning Congolese drama, two Egyptian films about the Arab Spring of 2011 and an Ethiopian / UK co-production, Town of Runners.

## History

The Galway African Film Festival was established in 2008.

### 2008

* Kirikou and the Sorceress
* Niger – Magic & Ecstasy in the Sahel
* Musical Brotherhoods from the Trans-Saharan Highway
* Bamako
* Clouds over Conakry
* Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest
* Waiting for Happiness
* Bunny Chow
* Africa Unite

### 2009

* Kirikou and the Wild Beasts
* Zanzibar Soccer Queens
* Retour à Gorée
* From a Whisper
* Jerusalema

### 2010

* Bhovas & Sam
* The Legend of the Sky Kingdom
* Le Pèlerin de Camp Nou (Captain Majid)
* Mascarades
* The Figurine
* For the Best and for the Onion
* Arugba
* A Sting in a Tale

### 2011

* Pumzi
* Staff Benda Bilili
* Satin Rouge
* Welcome Nelson
* Voices from Robben Island
* Microphone
* WWW - What a Wonderful World
* Mirror Boy
* Manuscripts of Timbuktu
* The Athlete / Atletu
* White Wedding

### 2012

* All I Wanna Do
* Kinyarwanda
* Death for Sale
* Glitterboys and Ganglands
* Forbidden
* 18 Days
* Viva Riva!
* This is my Africa
* 'Town of Runners
* Anchor Baby

### 2013

* Mwansa the Great
* Fluorescent Sin
* Call Me Kuchu
* Dirty Laundry
* Material
* Nollywood Doing it Right, parts 1 & 2
* Last Flight to Abuja
* Phone Swap
* alaskaLand
* Yellow Fever
* The Lion's Point of View
* Hasaki Ya Suda
* La Pirogue

### 2014

* Jonah
* The New World
* Half of a Yellow Sun
* African Metropolis
* Andalousie, mon amour!
* Tey
* Rags & Tatters
* Twaaga
* Kwaku Ananse
* Mother of George
* Forgotten Kingdom

### 2015

* The Road We Travel
* Miners Shot Down
* Soleils
* Lantanda
* Adiós Carmen
* Last Song before the War
* Drexciya
* Things of the Aimless Wanderer

### 2016

* Soko Sonko
* Shield & Spear
* Arlette – Courage is a Muscle
* 100% Dakar
* Burkina, Princess Yennenga
* The Rooftops
* Khawadjat
* I shot Bi Kidude
* Welcome to the Smiling Coast
* Afripedia
* Afronauts
* Timbuktu

### 2017

The tenth festival took place 19–21 May 2017 in the Mick Lally Theatre.

* Shashamane (Ethiopia/Jamaica)
* Tchindas (Spain/Cape Verde)
* Sembene! (Senegal)
* Tell Me Sweet Something (South Africa)
* Atlantic (Morocco)
* Ayanda (South Africa)
* Kati Kati (Kenya)

### 2018

The eleventh festival took place 9–10 June 2018 in the Bank of Ireland Theatre, NUI Galway.

* Dem Dem! (Senegal, short)
* Strike A Rock (South Africa)
* T-Junction (Tanzania)
* Black Barbie (Ghana)
* Ali, The Goat, and Ibrahim (Egypt)
* Zizou (Tunisia/France)
* Ouaga Girls (Burkina Faso)

### 2019

The twelfth festival took place on 1–2 June 2019 in the Bank of Ireland Theatre, NUI Galway.

* Finding Fela (United States; Nigerian subject)
* The Fisherman (Ghana)
* Creation in Exile (France; African subjects)
* Anbessa (USA/Italy; Ethiopian subject)
* The Swan Song (Morocco)
* Vagando Maputo (France/Madagascar)
* Battledream Chronicles (France; Afro-Caribbean subject)
* Ko Nkanga (South Africa)
