AfricAvenir, African Cinema Basel and the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) are launching film series titled Namibia in Motion being on Thursday, 08 May at the BAB at the Klosterberg 23, in Basel, Switzerland.
The Opening film will be Taste of Rain (2012) by Richard Pakleppa and Bridget Pickering.On the occasion of the launch, Sabine Böhlke-Möller, Namibian Ambassador to Switzerland and UN Institutions in Switzerland, will give greeting remarks.
The title of Richard Pakleppas first feature film from 2012 tells of a deep longing: Taste of Rain tells the story of Rachel, who struggles to survive a drought that has hit her farm and her life. A water-diviner brings dramatic changes to her life. She is confronted with a desert deep within herself and discovers a way to survive.
Namibia in Motion (2014)is a contemporary feature film about physical and emotional thirst in a semi-arid country, documentaries about a lost Namibian Kingdom, a documentary about the so called GDR-kids from Namibia, most recent short films from Namibian directors, and a portray of the Namibian Kwaito-musician Ees. It includes five film events: May 10: Taste of Rain (2012, R.Pakleppa); June 24: The Power Stone (1999, A.Botelle/K. Kowalski), September 2: Namibian Short Films: Dead River, My Beautiful Nightmare, Try, 100 Bucks (2012, T.Huebschle/P.Katjavivi/J.Haikali/O.Hiveluah); October 23: The Ossis of Namibia (2007, K.-D.Gralow/R.Pitann/H.Thull) and on December 4: Yes-ja! The Kwaito Documentary (2010, E.Sell)
With the opening of Namibia in Motion next Thursday, the BAB commences their project „In motion“. “In motion” will present feature, documentaries, and short films from and about Southern Africa on a regular basis and will be implemented in partnership with African Cinema Basel.
The initial film series „Namibia in Motion“ is conducted in partnership with AfricAvenir Windhoek. AfricAvenir Windhoek is a Namibian NGO which focuses on cultural support structures for an African Renaissance (www.africavenir.org). Through its film related work, it gives a platform to African filmmakers in Namibia and supports the Namibian film industry with various projects. AfricAvenir is a co-founder of the Namibian Movie Collection and promotes Namibian cinematic products locally and globally.BAB in Switzerland has been in existence since 1971 as a private specialist library and archive on Southern Africa. It has an international reputation for its extensive holdings on Namibia.
In November 2009, the Namibian branch of AfricAvenir in cooperation with Joe-Vision Production and the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC) launched its joint Namibian Movie Collection (NMC), placed at the Multimedia Library of the FNCC. The NMC currently consists of almost 60 Namibian films. The project is ongoing with new films being produced in the country constantly added to the collection. Within a short period of time, the NMC has become one of the most important platforms where Namibian film products are made achieved, accessible, and promoted.
In the mean time, AfricAvenir Windhoek has become a commercial distributor/agent for some of the films included in the NMC. Since almost ten years, AfricAvenir Windhoek is conducting a monthly African film series „African Perspectives“ in the Namibian captial.
Further infomation under: The Basel based film series “African Cinema” intends to counter excluding viewing patterns and develop a platform in Basel for films from and about Africa. In addition to watching the films, the framework program provides space to reflect on the films and debate topics around it with filmmakers, ‘experts’, artists and viewers.