18th UR African Film Weekend 2025
November 6 - 8, 2025
Guest Presenter: Tobi Akinde, Nigerian Filmmaker
Focusing on Ghanaian Films, this event is an annual celebration of African culture and cinema. Films are selected to enlarge the audience’s understanding of the social, economic, and cultural issues facing the African continent and of the Diaspora. The films presented are often not widely shown in the United States. The theme for 2025 is “Dream of Africa and the Diaspora.” African Film Weekend is only one part of a comprehensive program that includes a series of two or three lectures on Africa and the Diaspora called “Africa Series.”
Hosted by the Department of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures, with support of the College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office; the Center for Global Engagement; and the Cultural Affairs Committee.
Festival Schedule, Day 1: November 6
Ukrop Auditorium
The Eyes of Ghana
5:00 p.m. (90 minutes)
Directed by Ben Proudfoot
2025 | Documentary
The Eyes of Ghana follows Chris Hesse, a pioneering Ghanaian filmmaker who documented Kwame Nkrumah’s rise and presidency. Now in his nineties, Hesse embarks on a quest to restore lost footage of Ghana’s early post-colonial years. Directed by two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot and executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, the film follows Hesse and filmmaker Anita Afonu as they preserve Ghana’s rich cultural legacy while exploring how history is recorded—and who controls the narrative.
Festival Schedule, Day 2: November 7
Jepson 118
The Fisherman
3:00 p.m. (108 minutes)
Directed by Zoey Martinson
2024 | Drama
A traditional Ghanaian fisherman forced into retirement teams up with a bougie talking fish and his quirky associates on a whimsical adventure to Accra, chasing their dream of owning a boat while learning to navigate the modern world. Filled with laughter, magic, and the vibrant culture of Ghana, The Fisherman made history as Ghana’s first official selection at the 81st Venice Film Festival, winning the Enrico Fulchignoni Award from UNESCO.
Dinner Reception | 5:00 p.m.
Siméon
6:00 p.m. (105 minutes)
Directed by Euzhan Palcy
1992 | Comedy, Musical, Fantasy
In a small village in the West Indies lives an old music teacher, Siméon, that everyone loves and respects. With Isidore, his disciple, a mechanic by necessity and guitarist by passion, Siméon shares a dream of creating music; a music that becomes as universally popular as jazz and reggae, in short conquering the world in Creole!… When on a beautiful day, Simeon dies accidentally, their dreams would have been over before being realized if it had not been for an act of love performed by Orelie, Isidore’s ten-year-old daughter.
Festival Schedule, Day 3: November 8
Jepson 118
Ama: An African Voyage of Discovery
8:45 a.m. (100 minutes)
Directed by Kwate Owoo & Kwesi Owusu
1991 | Drama, Magic Realism
A golden floppy disk becomes a prophetic device through which a young Ghanaian girl living in England, Ama, rediscovers her African identity. She learns its contents at the office where her mother cleans. The disk, through magic realism and by way of ancestors, warns her of the dangers of forgetting one’s heritage
Mafifa
11:00 a.m. (105 minutes)
Directed by Daniella Muñoz Barosso
2021 | Documentary
Filmmaker Daniela Muñoz Barroso, who is almost completely deaf, wants to discover the identity of the remarkable musician, Mafifa. Her quest leads her on the trail of an enigmatic woman and also makes her question her head and heart.
Lunch Reception | 1:00 p.m.
Bushman
2:00 p.m. (73 minutes)
Directed by David Schickele
1980 | Documentary, Comedy
A young Nigerian living in San Francisco in the 1960s, lovestruck and culturally stranded, faces the harsh realities of life. Interwoven through his adventures in America are glances of his origins, and the dualities of the political and racial mood of the US alongside the Civil War in Nigeria.
I Am More Dangerous Dead
4:00 p.m. (24 minutes)
Directed by Majiye Uchibeke
2022 | Documentary, Short
A poetic tribute to writer, poet and environmental activist Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed alongside eight other activists for opposing the environmental damage done to their oil-rich homeland, Ogoni.
Ernest Cole Lost and Found
5:00 p.m. (105 minutes)
Directed by Raoul Peck
2024 | Documentary, Archives
This documentary chronicles the life and work of Ernest Cole, one of the first Black freelance photographers in South Africa.