Film Premiere: Peace and Love in Africa

Film Premiere: Peace and Love in Africa

The Film Archive and DANCE Wellington present the world premiere of Peace and Love in Africa (2012), a feature documentary directed by Bronwyn Judge. The film follows the journey of Ra McRostie, a teacher of African inspired dance in Oamaru, who travels to Africa to find out what draws Westerners to this form of dance and music.

Both Judge and McRostie will be present at the premiere, which will open with African nibbles and drumming performances.

In Peace and Love in Africa, McRostie travels from the hibiscus-filled gardens, salt waters and sandy streets of Senegal, to the stunning mountainous farms of Zimbabwe. She discovers the importance of music to the indigenous people she meets. McRostie comes to a realisation of her own as to why she holds such a passion for dance.

Experience the spectacular, frenetic dance of the sabah parties in Dakar, visit the holy city of Touba to listen in the early hours to the call for prayer, talk with the griots of Senegal, the storytellers. In Zimbabwe, witness the water rituals of the Shona people, whilst hearkening to the words of the ancestors. The ancestors come from far away at the bidding of the mbira, the ancient mystical harp of Africa.

Peace and Love in Africa affirms the need for all peoples to understand one another if we are to exist peacefully together.

Judge began taking West African dance classes while living in New York in 1990 and was “blown away by the sheer energy of the dance and mystified by the ritual that surrounded it.”

“The contemporary dance I am a practitioner of is usually a far remove from the dance in Africa, which is not just for enjoyment but viewed as a means of communicating with ancestors, guiding decisions of state and personal life direction, promoting world peace, and connecting with, and appreciating the environment,” says Judge.

“I discovered, in Africa, music and dance are synonymous - it is rhythm that unites them. There appears to be no separation, as in the West, between dancing and musicianship. My intention with the film, was to suggest that here in New Zealand, we are perhaps not ambitious enough with what we expect dance and music to achieve.”

“[The film] portrays such exuberance on the part of the dancers. In our society we enjoy dance, but we couldn't have a long conversation about it!” - Helen Stead, Community Arts Council.

Peace and Love in Africa screens as part of the inaugural DANCE Wellington festival, presented by The Wellington Dance Festival Trust. The festival runs November 6 - 24 and features a stellar line-up of Wellington dancers, as well as guest artists from North America, South Africa, Australia and the rest of Aotearoa, from Auckland to Oamaru. The Festival is presented in partnership with Kōwhiti Productions and Dance Aotearoa New Zealand (DANZ)

The Peace and Love in Africa world premiere will take place at on Saturday November 16, at The Film Archive, 84 Taranaki St, Wellington. Reception, nibbles and African drumming from 6pm, screening starts 7pm.

Listing details: Peace and Love in Africa (2012) film premiere
When: Saturday 16 November. Nibbles 6pm, screening starts 7pm.
Where: The New Zealand Film Archive, 84 Taranaki St, Wellington
Ticket price: $10 general admission / $8 concession

www.filmarchive.org.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media