UNC Asheville will host an event series including an exhibition, film
screenings and a lecture on the experience of Afro-Germans, The Spaces
Between Us: Black Lives in Germany, from Sept. 21 – Oct. 12. The series
will feature the work of Afro-German filmmaker Branwen Okpako, who will also
present a lecture on campus. All events in this series are free and open to the
public.
An
exhibition of self-portraits and biographies of black Germans will open at 7
p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 21 in the lobby of UNC Asheville’s Karpen Hall. The
collection includes both historic and contemporary photos, and give voice to
the complex and varied histories of Afro-Germans and their experiences of being
black in Germany. The exhibit will remain on display through Oct. 6.
Nigerian-born
filmmaker Branwen Okpako’s 2003 film, Valley of the Innocent, will be
screened at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28 in the Grotto of UNC Asheville’s
Highsmith Union. The film follows a woman’s journey to find her parents, which
leads her to the dark secrets of Germany's suppressed history.
Okpako
will visit UNC Asheville to present a lecture, Representing Ourselves:
Afro-German Identities in the Films of Branwen Okpako, at 7 p.m. on Monday,
Oct. 3 in Karpen Hall, Laurel Forum. Okpako’s talk will explore the
relationship between image, culture and race from a working artist’s point of
view.
Dirt
for Dinner, an award-winning documentary by director Okpako, will be
screened at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 12 in the Grotto of UNC Asheville’s
Highsmith Union. The film tells the story of Sam Njankouo Meffire, the son of a
Cameroon father and East German mother who grew up to become a cop, a model
citizen and, finally, a convicted criminal. The film won the Bavarian
documentary film prize, the German Next-Generation-First-Steps Award for Best
Documentary Film and First Prize at the Dubrovnik Documentary Film Festival in
2001.
For
more information, contact Regine Criser, assistant professor of German at UNC
Asheville, at rcriser@unca.edu
or 828.232.2438.
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