The West Coast premiere of new documentary
Where Are They Now?
Wednesday March 22, 2006
$10 general $8 students & seniors - 7pm
Where Are they Now?, a new documentary feature on African American and Black South African ‘twentysomethings’, reframes the social and political identities of hip-hop generation
“The universal order of human affairs is at the dawn of profound change—-globalization
has come to mean different things to different people, "Where Are The Now?" is a welcomed
work that helps us understand our global interdependency…it is a wonderful work.”
Harry Belafonte, Artist/Activist
“Honest, direct, and hard-hitting, Where Are They Now? ought to be mandatory viewing for
anyone interested in contemporary black youth culture globally. One cannot possibly see
this film and not be moved.”
Robin D.G. Kelley, historian & author of “Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination,”
More than seven years in the making, Where Are They Now? re-visits the parallel lives of the sixteen remarkable young people first introduced during South Africa's historic transition from apartheid to democracy in the documentary Who's Gonna Take The Weight? That first program, released in 1997, presented poignant portrayals of African American and Black South African sixteen to nineteen year olds, comparing their lives and views and presenting their unique perspectives on South Africa’s new democracy. The earlier production had its world premiere on the South African Broadcasting Corporation Television (SABC) on June 16, 1997, in commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the Soweto massacre. In 1999, it was selected for screening at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival.
Where Are They Now?, the new stand-alone sequel, spotlights a range of touchy topics, from race to class, to electoral politics, to ebonics and pimp culture, to the issue of opportunities for young people of color in the era of global capitalism. In its entirety, Where Are They Now? goes to the core of popular youth culture, uncovering the volatile mix of music, fashion, political apathy, social awareness and risk taking behavior encompassed in the lives of young people everywhere. Edgy and urban, the spunky sequel integrates the sensibility of twentysomethings into a visual tapestry of South African and African American young people speaking forcefully to the issues of their times.
As in the first installment, music is an integral element of the film’s style and substance-- the conscious rhymes of hip hop MC Talib Kweli are a musical motif in the follow-up production. Filmed live during his 2001 South Africa tour, Kweli eloquently expressed solidarity with fans in South Africa: “to my people in Cape Town, I'm like an African James Brown...” In the first program, South Africans clearly preferred hip-hop to their own sounds, but now in the follow-up production, that trend may have ended because of the phenomenal rise of kwaito music in Soweto.
In both countries, a pressing concern is rampant unemployment among youth. In South Africa, more than 40% of population is currently unemployed and in New York, a 2004 Community Service Society report revealed that almost half of New York City’s young black men are unemployed. Where Are They Now? looks behind the headlines to highlight the critical issues at home and abroad from a unique young adult perspective.
Where Are They Now premiered at NYC’s Tribeca Cinemas in November of 2005. It was recently selected for the DC Independent Film Festival in March of 2006.
The West Coast premiere is on Wednesday, March 22nd in commemoration of South Africa’s Human Rights Day (March 21), which is also the 46th anniversary of South Africa’s historic Sharpeville Massacre. The screening will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA.
for more info: http://www.wherearethynowthedoc.com
