Shorts Program 3: Centennial Legacies

Q&A with Leburt Bethune, Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, and cultural historian Danielle Brito on May 11

Marking a century of history, culture, and resistance, this short film program honoring the visionaries and movements that shaped the past and continue to inspire the future includes Lou de Lemos’s The Legend of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra’s It Was Four Years Ago, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra’s Ousmane Sembène: The Making of Ceddo, Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda’s The Draughtsmen Clash, and Lebert Bethune’s Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom.

The Legend of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
Lou de Lemos, Puerto Rico/U.S., 1986, 25m
Spanish with English subtitles

This biography tells the story of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a Puerto Rican of African descent who dedicated his life to studying African history and collecting Black-related materials from the Americas, the Caribbean, and Africa. His collection forms the core of the collection found today at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research center of the New York Public Library.

It Was Four Years Ago / C’était Il y a Quatre Ans
Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, 1954, France, Senegal, 9m
French with English subtitles

An African student at his desk hears a song from his homeland on the radio. He feels transported back several years to the time when he was preparing to leave for France. He sketches a few dance steps. Meanwhile, his French girlfriend arrives to continue his classical music education. Listening to the first classical record, his mind wanders back to Africa.

Ousmane Sembène: The Making of Ceddo / L’envers du Décor
Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, Senegal, 1981, 25m
Wolof and French with English subtitles

Paulin Soumanou Vieyra captures Ousmane Sembène, one of the greatest African filmmakers, during the filming of Ceddo. The Making of Ceddo was completed after four years of production, while Ceddo itself was censored by the Senegalese authorities under the Senghor regime until 1983.

The Draughtsmen Clash / Le Damier
Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, 1996, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 40m
French with English subtitles

The Draughtsmen Clash tells the story of the president of a fictitious African nation who spends a sleepless night playing checkers with a pot-smoking vagabond who claims to be the all-round champion. However, the rules of the game entail the opponents howling vulgar and foul obscenities at one another. The champion proceeds to insult, and trounce, the president. His reward, and his fate, will not surprise anyone.

Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom
Lebert Bethune, France, 1964, 20m

Bethune’s film portrays Malcolm X at a time when his views were evolving to include what was going on in the world at large. It features interviews filmed during Malcolm X’s trip to Europe and Africa shortly before his assassination in the United States, interspersed with scenes of African rebellion.