The Man Died, the 105-mins feature film inspired by the “Prison notes” of the Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, is to be screened at the Lincoln Centre, New York, as part of the at the 32nd African Film Festival New York, holding from May 7 through May 29.
The Man Died will be screened at 6.00 pm, and is expected to attract a diverse cadre of audiences beyond the festival guests and patrons.
There is an expected large turn-out of audiences from the Nigerian and African communities, as well as from New York University, NYU, the home-base of the director, Awam Amkpa, a professor of Cultural Aesthetics.
Co-presented with Film at Lincoln Center (FLC – May 7 – 13), the festival events will also hold at Maysles Cinema (May 15 – 18), and Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM – May 23 – May 29), the AFFNY, sometimes also called New York African Film Festival, NYAFF, founded by the renowned film worker and activist, Mahen Banneti, is reputed as one of the most important outlets for exposition of stories from Africa in North America.
In an invitation letter extended to the producer of the film, Femi Odugbemi, Bonetti, who doubles as Executive Director of the AFFFNY, stated: “This year, the flagship festival is presented under the banner, Fluid Horizons: A Hopeful Lens of a Shifting World, honouring the resilience of African youth and the forbearers that paved the way.”
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She continued, “Since 1993, NYAFF and its collaborators have presented this festival, using cinema as a tool to bring African culture, history, and politics to thousands of viewers in the United States.”
Bonetti added: “For this 32nd edition of NYAFF, we have curated a grand selection of screenings, talks, exhibitions and panels, as well as African music, celebrating veteran and emerging filmmakers/artists from Africa and the diaspora.
“Hence, it will be a great honour if you can join us at this year’s festival and partake in the festival screenings and special events taking place during the festival’s run at Film at Lincoln Center.”
The invitation is also extended director of the festival., Awam Amkpa, to give a masterclass on “the art of adaptation, exploring how iconic literary works are reimagined for the screen.”
Professor Amkpa’s session, will see him using The Man Died – one of the very few of its kind from Nigeria, to “examine the creative choices, challenges, and cultural resonances involved in translating text to film.”
Also to feature Angèle Diabang, and her film So Long a Letter, adaptation of Mariama Bâ’s feminist classic explores a woman’s defiance in the face of betrayal, the synopsis of the masterclass, states: “From personal insight to process, this dialogue celebrates the enduring relationship between literature and cinema, and the new worlds that emerge when they meet.)—the session will examine the creative choices, challenges, and cultural resonances of translating text to film.”
Written by a notable Nigerian script/screenwriter, Bode Asiyanbi, based in the United Kingdom, The Man Died, which aside the 105-minute version is also available as a 124-minutes (for academic exposition), stars a coterie of renowned names on the Nigerian screen, including Wale Ojo as Wole, Sam Dede as Yisa, Norbert Young (Prison Superintendent), Francis Onwochei (Prison Controller) and Edmond Enaibe as Commissioner; as well as international actors, London-UK-based Christiana Oshunniyi (Laide Soyinka), and Los Angeles, USA-based Abraham Awam-Amkpa (Johnson), among others.
