Afrika Eye – the South West’s biggest celebration of African cinema and culture – will be back at Bristol’s Watershed from November 11 to 13 with another lively programme of new-to-view films, discussions, family workshops and live music from Abass Dodoo, the Ghanaian master drummer best known most recently for his collaborations with the legendary Ginger Baker
Among the full-length films on show will be features and documentaries from or about Mali, Rwanda, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia; a rare chance to enjoy a ‘Nollywood’ thriller from Nigeria, plus – to open the festival – a special preview of A United Kingdom (not going on general release until November 25), starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. 
Several of the screenings will be followed by director Q&As or panel discussions with the guest speakers including documentary director Alastair Cole; Bristol filmmaker Michael Jenkins, a past winner of Afrika Eye talent awards; Andy Morgan, who writes on African politics and music and members of the African Voices Forum.
Music, arts and crafts complement the film programme, with Abass Dodoo leading a drumming, dance and storytelling workshop (Saturday 12 November, 11am); Bristol’s Rob Mitchell running a ‘Who Am I?’ self-portraiture workshop (Saturday, 3.15pm) and an illustrated talk about the history and cultural significance of the resist-dyed Adire cloths of SW Nigeria (Saturday, 6pm).
There will also be screenings of new shorts by filmmakers of African descent, a session on online film-making and distribution and premiere showings of mini-documentaries about two Afrika Eye outreach projects – one, tracking the creation of a new piece of Jamaica-inspired contemporary dance choreographed by WOMAD, Glasto and Shambala regular Ripton Lindsay; the other on work by Rob Mitchell and Shawn Naphtali-Sobers with pupils at Hannah More primary school, Bristol about image and identity.
Festival director Annie Menter said: “Afrika Eye offers audiences of all ages and interests a chance to go behind the news headlines, reach deep into the cultural, artistic and political arteries of the real Africa – its diversity, challenges, successes, histories and energy – and find out why and how it exerts such a powerful influence on many more people around the world, than those simply connected by family roots to the continent.” 
Full details of the events taking place at Watershed can be viewed on the venue’s website – www.watershed.co.uk. To book tickets, visit the website or contact the Watershed box office, 1 Canons Road, Harbourside, Bristol, BS1 5TX or phone 0117 927 5100.
Afrika Eye’s screening of the Nollywood thriller The CEO is showing as part of the BFI’s Black Star season, taking place nationwide, with the support of the BFI Programme Development Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery.
The festival is made possible with the support of the BFI Film Festival Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery and funding from Arts Council England, the Morel Trust and The Watershed.
