Founded in 2007 by Senegalese filmmaker and New Orleans resident Joseph Gaï Ramaka and Eileen Julien, a native New Orleanian and professor of French, comparative literature, and African diaspora studies at Indiana University, NOAFEST views Africa and its diasporas as points of departure to open ourselves to the world. Our multi-media events involving film, music, dance, literary, or visual arts enrich and strengthen our community through engagement with artistic experiences, diverse cultures, ideas and people.

NOAFEST has had two components: The Audi-Visual Workshop, We’re Back! aims to help sustain historical and contemporary memory in New Orleans by providing an opportunity for young filmmakers especially to work on documentary and fiction filmmaking under the tutelage of Joseph Gaï Ramaka. We have begun work on a documentary film directed by two local students that tells the story of the collaborative performance of The New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA) and The Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra (GNOYO) which took place on May 30-31, 2008 at Tulane University. The film, tentatively entitled Coming Up Taller!, will help GNOYO and NOBA recruit and engage new participants and obtain future arts funding to better serve the New Orleans community. It will also demonstrate the power of music and dance to help young people make connections beyond their differing social, economic and racial backgrounds.

Cinéma Première is a monthly celebration of new international and American films, preceded by short live performances of new music or other arts, followed by a reception and discussion with the filmmakers, and premiering in diverse New Orleans neighborhoods. Cinéma Première offers the New Orleans community a rare opportunity to see 35 mm prints at The Prytania Theatre, the last single-screen theatre in southern Louisiana. On subsequent evenings we may hold screenings at Ashé Cultural Arts Center, at The Porch/7thWard Neighborhood Center, and other venues. In partnership with Tekrema Center for Art and Culture in the 9th Ward we have co-sponsored a number of screenings. We take filmmakers and their films to a range of neighborhoods with the goal of creating distinctive experiences tied to the city's varied localities and demography.

Our screenings and performances are free and take place in a festive atmosphere that brings together a public that is multi-racial, multi-generational, of differing educational and socio-economic backgrounds, encompassing the diversity of New Orleans, yet united by the desire to enjoy powerful artistic experiences. Our events allow audiences to engage in meaningful exchange with filmmakers and other spectators and to share and connect through their differences.

Our inaugural season began in July 2008 with an emphasis on the similarities and connections between South Africa and New Orleans. We hosted South African filmmaker Zola Maseko and did a retrospective of his films, featuring his internationally acclaimed feature film, Drum. Screenings were preceded by a performance of Molto, under the direction of Dr. Jean Montès, with vocalist Johnnaye Kendrick and by the spoken word performance of Sunni Patterson. In August, we brought American filmmaker Charles Burnett and his latest film, Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation, again preceded by a performance of Molto and a “close-up” interview of Burnett by Prof. Michael T. Martin. September screenings were postponed because of Hurricane Gustav. In October, Cinéma Première hosted Ugandan-born director Lovinsa Kavuma (Rape for Who I Am) and American director Louise Hogarth (Angels in the Dust). In November, in tribute to veterans, firefighters, first responders and other workers who insure the wellbeing of the City, we partnered with the City of New Orleans to screen Spike Lee’s new film, Miracle at St Anna, preceded by the dance and percussion performances of Nanette Ledet and James Clark.

In December, as a holiday offering to the City’s children, we screened a film by French director, Michel Ocelot, Kirikou. This animated film, inspired by traditional African tales, was screened in an English language version for children across the city and, in a French language version for students in bilingual schools who partnered with us. The GNOYO children’s chamber orchestra performed.

In February, we opened our 2009 season with screenings of two films on contemporary African dance by American director Joan Frosch: Movement (R)evolution Africa (2007) and Nora (2008). These films were shown at The Prytania and, in partnership with Tekrema Center for Art and Culture, at All Souls Church in the 9th Ward. Dancer Meredith Early, bassist Roland Guerin, and vocalist Yolanda Windsay performed at The Prytania. In March, at Tekrema, we screened Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s Trouble the Water with footage shot in the 9th Ward itself during Hurricane Katrina. In April, at The Prytania and Tekrema, The Sugar Babies by Cuban director Amy Serrano, on Haitian laborers and their children working in the sugar cane fields of the Dominican Republic, with a performance at Tekrema by Riva Precil (voice) and Jean Montès (cello).

NOAFEST is now launching a new initiative. The first annual Mississippi River 9th Ward Film will be held on October 1-3 and October 8-10, 2010. The Festival will bring together celebrated films and cinematic traditions from around the world. We will screen approximately twenty films over two weekends with filmmakers in attendance. These open air screenings will be held on the banks of the Mississippi River in the lower 9th Ward. Feature films by guest filmmakers will be preceded by music and dance performances and also by screenings of films of local interest or made by local filmmakers.

On October 17, 2009 the New Orléans Afrikan Film and Arts Festival will host a special event for friends of the Mississippi River 9th Ward Film Festival.

We will screen Karmen Geï (2001), the award-winning film of NOAFEST Co-President Joseph Gaï Ramaka. An adaptation of Bizet’s opera Carmen set in contemporary Senegal, Karmen Geï has been screened and won awards at festivals around the world, including the Cannes Festival in 2001 and in 2002 at the Pan African Film and Arts Festival (Los Angeles) where it received the Best Feature Award. “Mr. Ramaka keeps music bubbling through the text . . . music becomes an organic part of the way the characters lead their lives, instead of having them break meaninglessly into song. The wonderful soundtrack . . . has a come-hither fire . . .” (Elvis Mitchell, New York Times).

The screening will take place on the grounds of the historic Doullut Steamboat Pilot House in the lower 9th Ward and will be preceded by a reception and performances, featuring Kora Konnection, with Morikeba Kouyate, griot, kora master, and electrifying performer; Tim Green, internationally acclaimed jazz musician and master of the tenor saxophone; James Singleton, acoustic bassist and composer extraordinaire; Jeff Klein, passionate, seasoned percussionist and composer; and the outstanding Nkafu African dance troupe featuring Mariama Curry.

In putting these artistic, cultural, and educational initiatives in place, we are grateful for your interest and support.