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ACPHS News
ACPHS presents Sixth Annual African Film Series
during Black History Month
WHAT: Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will present its sixth annual African Film Series in February in celebration of Black History Month. The film series is an effort to increase the global cultural awareness of ACPHS students and the public. Coordinated by Kevin Hickey, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and Africana Studies in the Department of Arts and Sciences, the series will include three African films (listed below). In addition, the first showing will include a half-hour slide and music show about Kevin Hickey’s four-year bicycle trip across Africa (the first American to cross the Sahara Desert on a bicycle).
WHO: Open to ACPHS students, faculty, staff, and the public. Admission is free.
WHEN: Tuesdays, Feb. 2, 9, and 16, 2010
7 p.m.
Student Center, room 202
PARKING: Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is located at 106 New Scotland Avenue, across from Albany Medical Center. Parking is available in the visitor lot in front of the college’s O’Brien Building. The new Student Center is located directly behind that building.
ABOUT THE FILMS:
Four Years Across Africa by Bike
The Upright Man
Feb. 2, 7 p.m.
At 7 p.m., Kevin Hickey will present images from his four-year bicycle trip across Africa. A film on the so-called “African Che” who ruled the West African country of Burkina Faso for four years until his assassination in 1987. A charismatic and progressive figure who championed women’s rights, universal education, protection of the environment, and economic independence, Thomas Sankara also enacted policies that were heavy-handed and undemocratic. This one-hour documentary looks at the ideas, the strengths, and the weaknesses of one of Africa’s most visionary, respected, and mourned leaders.
Ezra
Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
For most Americans, what they know about the 1996-1999 civil war in the West African country of Sierra Leona comes from the 2006 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio called Blood Diamond. The 2007 film Ezra, by up-and-coming director and writer Newton Aduaka (Nigeria/France), provides a more nuanced and psychologically complex look at not only this war but also the role of child soldiers. Today, hundreds of thousands of child soldiers are fighting throughout not only much of Africa but much of the world. Ezra provides a penetrating look at the development and control of child soldiers. Ezra also looks at how multinational companies and “outside forces” fuel conflicts in Africa. Perhaps most importantly, Ezra, allows us to see how the Truth-and-Reconciliation approach to justice and rebuilding is at work in Sierra Leone. Winner of the Grand Prize at FESPACO, chosen for the International Critics Week at Cannes, and also shown at The Sundance Film Festival which said that Ezra, “Creates a deftly observed world and draws impressive performances from a young cast.”
Forgiveness
Feb. 16, 7 p.m.
While pulling us into what Time Out of New York calls “a gripping tale,” Forgiveness helps us to understand the difficulty of achieving both justice and reconciliation in the wake of the decades of racism, oppression, and violence that dominated South Africa during the period of apartheid ( 1950-1994). Toronto’s Globe and Mail says that Forgiveness, “Evokes universal themes of betrayal and redemption with the majesty of a Greek drama” in this story about how both white and black struggle with themselves and each other in a country still seeking peace and unity. Winner of awards in Africa and Europe.
About Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Founded in 1881, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is a private, independent institution committed to the advancement of health. The College has academic programs and research activities spanning the full spectrum of pharmacy and health sciences – from drug discovery to patient care. Nearly 1,600 ACPHS students are pursuing a wide range of career pathways in health related fields through degree programs in pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences, biomedical technology and health and human sciences. The College’s main campus is located in Albany, New York; its satellite campus is in Colchester, Vermont. For more information, please visit www.acphs.edu.
Contact:
Gil Chorbajian
Executive Director of Marketing and Communications
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
(518) 694-7394
gil.chorbajian@acphs.edu