Well, my name is Joseph Smith-Buani.
I'm from Sierra Leone, a Sierra
Leone immigrant here in Portland.
I got involved with
the festival in 1990.
I was a math teacher
here at Cascade,
I was teaching at the
alternative learning
center with Linda Elegante.
Michael Dembrow, and Mary
would both come into the ALC
because a good number of their
students came to the ALC.
We had a writing lab,
we had a math lab.
This is how I got involved
with the festival.
When the idea came up, we had
some of the first few meetings
for the planning in
the ALC, and so I
got involved from
the very beginning,
and I'm still a part of it today.
The high points of the
festival, almost every year
really, I get a kick out of
just bringing Portlanders
to PCC Cascade, or to the
other venues around Portland,
and have them visit Africa
without leaving Portland.
And that, for me, still
makes it very interesting.
Of course for me personally,
I also go on that trip,
so this is a way of learning
about other parts of Africa,
North Africa, for example.
So I am always excited
about the festival.
The festival is about
sharing information
about Africa and African culture.
So there are a number of information
pieces, information events
associated with each screening.
So for example, we have
notes about where the film
might have been produced, filmed.
We have information maybe about
interviews with the directors that
may not be on site.
And we have discussions
after the film.
We bring possibly people
from the countries
where these films were made
that live here in Portland
or live in the area.
We bring them so that
after the film is screened,
we can give the
audience an opportunity
to try to better understand the film
by asking these guests questions.
The same thing happens
when we bring a filmmaker.
If a filmmaker is on
site, then the audience
will get an opportunity to ask
them questions about the film
and how maybe the film was put
together, and maybe what we can do
based on what we see in the film.
Sometimes we need to involve
audience in issues related
to the films that we're showing.
And so they get an
opportunity to ask questions
about the content of the film.
A festival of this
stature are now should,
at some time when it's
possible, when it's feasible,
bring more information about
the films that we show.
And one way to do that is to
actually bring the filmmaker.
The filmmakers will give
a background to the film
that it's not possible without them.
And so it gives us another
angle to the sharing.
The audiences are excited to
have these filmmakers on site
to screen their films.
And usually the discussions
that follow the screenings
are really, really great.
When John Kani came to
screen Nothing But The Truth,
it was a really, really great
conversation afterwards,
after the film.
And his introduction of the film
and the discussion that followed
were just great.
Audiences just loved that.
This is a month-long festival.
It is about sharing
African culture, learning
African cultures without
really leaving Portland,
without leaving our home.
It's a way of celebrating
Black History Month also,
and the black experience, of course,
involves the African experience.
And so the festival,
over five weeks now,
extends into the
first week of March,
which is also a celebration
of Women's History Month.
So these five weeks bring African
film and African filmmakers
sometimes to Portland, and we
get to partake in this festival.
And so in my thinking about
it, it's a trip to Africa
without really leaving
Portland at all.
It's a really interesting
experience covering all of Africa
now, from North Africa to
the southern tip of Africa,
all the regions in between.
We share film by African filmmakers
or filmmakers in the about Africa,
about the African experience.
Being a part of the Cascade
Festival of African films
is a way of sharing my African
culture with other Africans
and non-Africans.
The African continent is large,
but one of the interesting aspects
of that largeness is that
there's a huge diversity
in culture and in peoples.
So here in Portland we have
over 24 country organizations.
Not all of them show
up at a screening,
but a good number of
them do show up when
we have films from those countries.
And one of the things
that we continue
to really work on really hard
is to bring these communities
into the festival.
If planning, if
organizing, if we can
get them to be part of
that in a small way,
that will be really helpful,
and we're working on that.
And we keep working on that.
Another thing we keep working on
with regard to these communities
is sponsoring the festival.
The festival is free
admission, but it
does take some funds to bring some
of the film makers, for example.
And so we look for sponsors around
our community, our local community,
to fund these projects.
And more and more we're
getting African communities
involved in this aspect of
the film festival planning.
So we are quite interested and
we're quite excited about this trend
to get them not only to
come to the festival,
but to be a part of
the festival planning.
Another part of the
festival is that we
do provide some space
at each screening
to have local community members
bring some of their businesses
and be a part of this experience.
If you visit an African town, you
might see a market very quickly.
And so while there
are not enough around,
we bring some of those businesses.
We have tables outside the
screening, outside the hall,
and they will display
their wares, they
will display information about their
businesses, and they will share.
You might even be able
to buy some things.
This includes African
businesses as well as
African-American businesses,
or just businesses in Portland.
As you come into the theater,
you will pass these businesses
in the hallway.
And if you come into
the theater, you
will see that in fact
there is quite a history
of the festival from the
very beginning, pictures
on the wall in the hall.
Every year, PCC Cascade
students put posters together
for the coming festival, and the
committee gets together and selects
one of these posters
and that becomes
the festival poster for the year.
The selection is quite
interesting, it's by consensus,
and in a democracy,
the African democracy
is usually based on consensus,
discussion and consensus.
And it's a fun event.
It's usually an event
that's hosted at one
of the committee members home.
We get together and we choose
the best of the selection.
And that then becomes
the festival poster.
Being part of this
helps me to keep up
not just do the screenings
of the films themselves,
but the planning of it.
So I still get a kick out
of sharing African culture.
I still get a kick out of devoting
some time to the planning of this.
And those two aspects
of it keep me coming.
But really the committee
has become a big family,
and being part of this family and
being involved in this enterprise
really is a good thing for me.
And that's why I keep coming
with it, keep staying part of it.
I hope I can continue
to be a part of it.
Nothing really lasts forever,
but my kids are older now.
Hopefully when I am not a part
of it they can be a part of it.
Because they, in fact, can be
called children of this festival
or children of this enterprise.
So yes, I am happy to be a part
of it, and I think I'll continue.
I believe I'll continue
to be a part of it, yes.
The uniqueness of the African
film festival here in Portland
is that it has now become
the largest of its kind.
It is showing the largest
number of films of its kind.
And it is also free of charge.
You can have this experience
without cost so far.
And if we can keep it that way,
this is a unique part of it.
I believe there may be other films,
other festivals that may be free,
but this has more films, more of the
experience that you might come for.
So this is partly
the uniqueness of it.
And the festival is run mostly
all of it by volunteer help.
And so those two
things, in my mind, make
the uniqueness of this festival.
