Planet Africa program
September 7 – 17, 1995
PLANET AFRICA
RETURNS
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2020 MARKS
25 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST EDITION
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CELEBRATE WITH US SEPTEMBER, 10 - 19
@ TIFF!
Planet Africa 1995 Inaugural Poster Photography: Michael Chambers | Design: Sabaa Quoa, Boom Design Inc.
Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director & Co-Head, TIFF | Founder, Planet Africa
The TIFF Tribute Awards ceremony will be broadcast Tuesday, September 15, 8 pm ET/PT The first-ever, one-hour broadcast of the event. Hosted by ETALK’s Chloe Wilde and Tyrone Edwards featuring special messages from the honourees, will be available on CTV and ctv.ca, and streamed internationally by Variety.
Planet Africa 1995 Inaugural Poster Photography: Michael Chambers | Design: Sabaa Quoa, Boom Design Inc.
Created in 1995 by Cameron Bailey, Planet Africa was a Festival programme dedicated to cinema from Africa and the African diaspora. Programmed by Cameron Bailey, followed by June Givanni and then Gaylene Gould, it ran as a part of the TIFF Festival for 10 years (1995 - 2004).
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As we celebrate its founding a quarter century ago, TIFF also recognizes 2020's Black Lives Matter uprisings with special screenings and events under the banner of Planet Africa 25.
Planet Africa 25: Film Screenings
TIFF has selected four new films for the Official Selection that embody the spirit of Planet Africa. For more details, click on the film titles:
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The Way I See It | Dawn Porter | USA
Former White House chief photographer Pete Souza reflects on the Obama
presidency and what it stood for, in this timely, election-year documentary from Dawn Porter (John Lewis: Good Trouble).
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Akilla’s Escape | Charles Officer | Canada
When a routine deal goes bad, a drug trader tries to set things right while. unexpected circumstances force him to confront his traumatic origins.
Starring Poet-musician-actor Saul Williams (Planet Africa 97 director of Slam)
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Downstream to Kinshasa (En route pour le milliard) | Dieudo Hamadi | The Democratic Republic of the Congo/France/Belgium
Hamadi returns to TIFF with his latest portrait of his native Congo, honouring survivors of his country’s Six-Day War in 2000.
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40 Years A Prisoner | Tommy Oliver | USA
Documents activist Mike Africa Jr.’s fight to exonerate his parents, who were
among nine members of the revolutionary group MOVE imprisoned after a violent police raid on their Philadelphia commune in 1978
The Way I See It by Dawn Porter
Akilla’s Escape by Charles Officer
40 Years A Prisoner by Tommy Oliver
The Way I See It by Dawn Porter
Planet Africa 25: Origin Stories
This is an online panel in which Bailey and the team that built Planet Africa will be looking at what the programme’s legacy means today. Joining the panel June Givanni, Gaylene Gould, maxine bailey, Hayet Benkara, Karen Carter, Grecia Mayers, Orla Garriques and Clement Virgo for a conversation, about how it all started, obstacles, successes, and what Planet Africa means in this age of Black Lives Matter.
Planet Africa 25: Black Film Now
Black Film Now brings this year's selected Planet Africa filmmakers Dieudo Hamadi, Charles Officer, Tommy Oliver and Dawn Porter together with Bailey for a conversation on the vitality and challenges of contemporary Black filmmaking.
In celebration of what was often called the hottest night of the Festival, TIFF presents Planet Africa 25: The Return of the Planet Africa Party, where
movie stars mingled with local artists, international filmmakers, and Toronto’s Black community on the dance floor. This year join legendary DJ Dave Campbell and a special guest from B.L.A.C.K. for a dance party live-streamed from a secret location.
Commemorating the Programme, Planet Africa Legacy is a digital time capsule, a chronology of one of the most influential decades in Black film history. Celebrating the films, filmmakers and legacy as part of the 25th Anniversary Celebrations.
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Cameron Bailey
Artistic Director & Co-Head, TIFF
Founder, Planet Africa
#TIFF20 | #PlanetAfrica25 | #PlanetAfricaLegacy
