African-American women make up the fastest, and highest infectious rates of HIV transmission, according to the Center for Disease Control. A new short film by Rod Gailes OBC entitled, “Earl’s Post Prison Playdate,” shows how the sexual habits that a man picks up in jail can put the health of the women he comes in contact with in danger.
Earl’s Post-Prison Playdate was created as a part of an HIV Awareness campaign, executive produced by OBC for the “League of Awareness,” a NY-based underground film collective.
As we prepare to recognize National Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day, a new research study has served as a wake up call for a community that might have gone too far. The Center for Disease Control now estimates that 1 out of every 32 black women will be infected with HIV during her lifetime. Although black women represent only 14 percent of the US female population, they constitute 66 percent of all new HIV infections. The infection rates of black women in the United States rival those in the Congo and Kenya.
After hearing about this alarming study and realizing that I have daughters that I have to protect, my mind starting racing. I thought about the things I’ve observed after countless conversations with other black men and interacting with black women in the dating pool. I also thought about what I’ve read and analyzed as a social commentator and scholar, thus coming to these conclusions:
1) We must take a serious look at the prison industrial complex: The war on drugs sent hundreds of thousands of black men to prison for long periods of time. This dramatic move was no less devastating to the black family ecosystem than removing an entire species from the animal kingdom. Women have fewer men to marry, the children of these men grow up without fathers, and men come out of prison without the ability to provide for a family. Additionally, the fact that we’ve decided to make prison rape into some kind of joke at cocktail parties means that many lives are lost when women are infected by the men for whom they’ve been waiting.
2) Too many black men don’t go to the doctor: A scholar reached out to me stating that he does research on heterosexual black men (not just the downlow brothers that Oprah likes to talk about). The researcher took a random test for Chlamydia at a local barbershop. During the test, it was determined that nearly half (45%) of these men were infected with the disease, and none of them knew they were infected. In a world where mass media encourages black men to have sex with anything that moves, it’s frightening that there are men who’ve literally slept with 5 or 10 women per year for the last several years and have never taken an HIV test.
3) Most of the women in the study didn’t know their own status or that of their partners: It was bad enough when many men began teaching each other to be irresponsible in their sexual choices. Things got worse when women started to behave like men. While we can continue scapegoating gay and heterosexual men for the problems with the spread of HIV, many of our so-called “good Christian black girls” are “gettin it in” in their own little sexual revolution. Not that sex is a bad thing, but many of these women have been led to believe that you can do whatever you want and are completely safe as long as you wear a condom. So, the next time you share your body with the guy who swoons you with smooth words and nice smile, remember that there may be hundreds of other women who’ve shared the same man.
4) Many African Americans are delaying or walking away from marriage: I am not here to thump a bible and promote the values of marriage, for we’ve all seen the tragedy and financial devastation that occurs during divorce. But the deterioration of the black family has occurred largely because many of us don’t know the first thing about what it takes to keep a marriage together. The answer does NOT lie in a damn Steve Harvey book (the last thing we need is for women to start thinking like men).
Without judging one way or the other, the fact remains that when people get married, they usually have sex with fewer partners than they did when they were single. So, the 30-something year old black woman who might have focused all of her energy on one man suddenly finds herself going through 2 or 3 guys per year and promptly ends up on the wrong end of an STD exam. It happens regularly, but this quiet epidemic is hardly something that any of these women would advertise on the six o’clock news.
Life would be a lot simpler if every 25-year old black woman was assigned a 42 -year old mentor who could be honest about the consequences of her sexual choices. Unfortunately, sex is like going to the bathroom: Everyone does it, but no one talks about it. We then end up repeating the mistakes of our predecessors.
5) We seem to forget that there are STDs other than HIV: While everyone loves to focus on the deadliest and most highly publicized sexually transmitted disease, HIV, we often forget that there is an equally-alarming rise in the percentage of black folks being diagnosed with Herpes, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, HPV and Syphilis. So, checking your partner’s HIV status, quite frankly, isn’t enough. The sexually promiscuous person who brags about his/her negative HIV test may be carrying other “goodies” that can be yours for just one drunken night in the sack.
The fact is that sex in America has become dangerous and serious. While getting tested, checking your partner’s status and protecting yourself are incredibly important, this may not be enough. Instead, we must reconsider the systemic, cultural and personal factors that keep us from building sustainable families. We must also think about how these factors encourage us to engage in risky behavior (yes, black men and women are influenced by hip hop artists who brag about having sex with hundreds of women at the same time). There is no such thing as 100% safe sex, so perhaps the old fashioned idea of respecting your body might apply from here on out. Either way, something needs to change, and following the crowd is a great way to end up dead.
As the health community geared up to recognizeNational Women and Girls HIV Awareness Daytoday, startling new research revealed that the disease is five times more prevalent among African-American women than previously thought.
The team, called the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), announced results from its HPTN 064 Women's HIV Seroincidence Study (ISIS) this week, which found that among 2,099 women ages 18 to 44, 88 percent of whom were black, 1.5 percent (32 women) tested positive at the outset of the study, even though they all thought they were negative. Among those who initially tested negative for HIV, the rate of new infections was 0.24 percent within a year after joining the study.
Researchers say that women constitute roughly one-quarter of new HIV infections in the US with 66 percent of these infections occurring among black women, although black women constitute only 14 percent of the US female population. What's more alarming is that the rate revealed in the ISIS study is comparable to estimated HIV incidence rates in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including the Congo (0.28%) and Kenya (0.53%).
Some of the factors increasing the HIV/AIDS risk for Black women include lack of access to health care and the inability to sometimes negotiate safer sex because of financial dependence on a sexual partner. In addition, because Black men have higher rates of incarceration, which can lead to concurrent relationships and the higher prevalence of AIDS in the Black community, the chances of infection are higher with each sexual encounter.
Data from the ISIS study comes from analysis of at-risk women in these six urban areas in the northeastern and southeastern United States, which researchers say are hardest hit by the global AIDS epidemic.
Today in history, May 2nd, 1994... Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress claim victory in South Africa's first multi-racial election. Mandela, who spent nearly 30 years in prison under Apartheid rule, became the country's president - a position he held for 5 years, until June 1999.
Quite a lengthy and involved life for Mr Mandela, who will be 94 years old this year.
We've seen a few films with him as a starring character, but not really strictly about him and his story; Idris Elba's project is said to be a definitive work on the life of Nelson Mandela, and is scheduled to start shooting this summer, with Idris as Mandela, and Naomie Harris as Winnie Mandela.
And while we wait for that project to be realized, below, watch the 100-minute feature length documentary, Madiba: The Life and Times of Nelson Mandela:
I can remember being intrigued with James Brown's music at a very young age. I really became interested with it during 'the golden era of Hip-Hop' because just about EVERYBODY was sampling his music back then. I would go over to my cousin's house (or anyone's house for that matter) & comb thru their vinyl collection to find any James Brown record that I could get my hands on. And when you listen to this special edition of 'Soul On Ice', you'll see for yourself why this man's catalog of music has become the most sampled in music history (..have you ever heard "Funky Drummer"?...I rest my case). Well, in my opinion, Mr. Brown's music posesses that raw & uncut energy that is surely missing in a lot of today's music. That's why it's still being sought-after and discovered as I sit here & type these words for y'all to read. And I can also guarantee that somebody, somewhere, is hearing songs like "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved", "I Know You Got Soul", "The Grunt" or the aforementioned "Funky Drummer" in amazement for the first time in their life. Saying to themselves, 'DAAAMMN! So, THAT'S where that sample came from!' Yep, I know I did when I first heard them. But, I can sit here type verbage allllll day about the 'Godfather of Soul'. Just dig on this episode for a while and stay tuned for "side 2"...DIG?! (P.S.: During this episode, I stated that JB's born-day was on May 4th. It's actually May 3rd instead. My bad...)
The Africa Peace & Conflict Journal, published by the UN Mandated University for Peace, is now accepting abstracts and full length articles for its upcoming December 2012 publication: The December issue is open to all articles, briefings and book reviews that cover any area of peace, security, governance, conflict and violence in Africa and elsewhere around the world. The deadline for receipt of full-length articles is September 15, 2012.
The Africa Peace & Conflict Journal is a biannual publication. If you are interested in submitting on a future theme, please join the APCJ mailing list by writing to assted@apcj.upeace.org.
GUIDE FOR CONTRIBUTORS
The APCJ is a refereed journal with a panel of international editorial advisors and readers. All articles are anonymously peer reviewed by at least two referees. Contributions with a policy focus are highly encouraged for this issue. We accept articles, briefings and book reviews on an ongoing basis. Articles will be reviewed on a first come first serve basis. Only articles that make it through the rigorous peer review process will be published. We welcome the following types of contributions year round and will periodically issue calls for papers on specific topics:
Articles and case analysis-critical case studies or thematic discussion and analysis of topical peace and conflict themes (7,000 words maximum, including endnotes; abstract, 150 words or less).
Briefings/practice- training or intervention strategies, outcomes and impacts, policy review and analysis, country situational updates, and so on (2,000-3,000 words maximum).
Book reviews- critical assessments of new books that integrate peace and conflict concerns (1,500 words maximum).
Resources-reports, upcoming conferences and workshops, notices of new books and videos, e-communications, and Web sites that link peace and conflict studies (150 words maximum); documents, declarations, communiqués, and other relevant nongovernmental or multilateral organizational statements (1,000 words maximum).
The editors will consider only material that meets the following requirements:
• The submission must be original and not under consideration for publication by another journal or organization or have been published previously. • For notes and references, use the short-title system (not the author-date system) as per Butcher's Copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders, 4th edition (2006).
“Jazz ... that’s America’s only true indigenous art form. It’s our classical music, you’ve got to remember that…It’s the heart and soul of American music and we can’t afford to let it slip into obscurity.” – Quincy Jones at International Jazz Day at the United Nations.
Co-host Quincy Jones’ comments set the tone for the closing concert of International Music Day, a musical extravaganza on the floor of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. The show, featuring many of jazz’s top talent, was the culmination of a day long musical marathon that began in Congo Square in New Orleans earlier that morning.
The concert, the brainchild of UNESCO ambassador Herbie Hancock, stressed the roots of jazz and the blues as American music, while showing that the music had become an international language. Performers from more than three dozen countries participated in the New York concert, from Africa (Angelique Kidjo, Richard Bona, Hugh Masakela) to the Middle East (Eli Degibri, Tarek Yamani) to Asia and beyond (Lang Lang, Hiromi, Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadavan).
The concert kicked off with a three song min-set by the ageless Tony Bennett and his group. Bennett still looks and sounds great, and if he reached a bit on an impassioned version of Kurt Weill’s “Lost in the Stars” (from a musical about Apartheid), he can be forgiven. Long may he sing.
The first collective “shiver down the spine” came when Hancock joined with former Miles Davis Quintet members Ron Carter and Wayne Shorter to honor their former boss with “Milestones”. Jack DeJohnette filled in admirably for the late Tony Williams, and it seemed only appropriate that no trumpet player graced the stage to fill in for Miles.
A core rhythm section of George Duke on piano, Christian McBride on bass and Vinnie Colaiuto on drums backed most of the performers, as jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk were name checked. Chaka Khan dazzled on “Them There Eyes”, while the perpetual motion machine that is Dee Dee Bridgewater paired with Indian singer Mahadavan for a scat-happy version of “Cottontail”. Joe Lovano added fiery flourishes on sax as the pair traded bars.
Danilo Perez turned in the first of two star turns paying tribute to Monk with an energetic version of “Think of One”. Perez, a Panamanian native, later joined Wynton Marsalis to pay tribute to Louis Armstrong with a growling “St. James Infirmary”. Esperanza Spalding showed her vocal chops on a rhythmic take on Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”, laying down fluid bass lines as she sang.
The crowd roared their approval when Michael Douglas introduced surprise guest Stevie Wonder to join Hugh Masakela and Jimmy Heath on “Grazin’ in the Grass”. Wonder’s harmonica was a foil for Masakela’s flugelhorn, with Heath getting his licks in as well. Wonder would return later in the evening for a moving duet with Esperanza Spalding.
The blues was given its due with the pairing of Robert Cray with husband and wife tandem Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi on Howlin’ Wolf’s “How Many More Years”. Trucks whipped out a few of his now patented slide guitar solos, urging Cray on to match riffs. Similarly hot was the tribute to Latin Jazz, with legendary conga player Candido, a veteran of the 1940’s bands of Machito and Charlie Parker, dueling with percussionists Sheila E. and Bobby Sanabria. Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo supplied the tasty fills.
The evening’s theme of the world-wide embrace of jazz was brought to a peak with Angelique Kidjo dancing and singing in the aisles of the General Assembly, urging the crowd to sing along with “Africa”. Another international high point was the matching of tabla genius Hussain with a trio of foreign born saxophonists including Troy Roberts (Australia) on John Coltrane’s “India”.
Clearly the company was there to celebrate the classic, while showing new talent and world-wide approaches to the vintage. When twenty-seven year old Esperanza Spalding plays with eighty-six year old Jimmy Heath, the passing of the torch is clear. The sole disappointment of the evening was the failure of the musical selections to reverse that theme, perhaps allowing septuagenarian stars to tackle 21st century compositions. Similarly, the absence of any nod to hip-hop’s debt to jazz, perhaps by including a hip-hop stylist like Robert Glasper or Courtney Pine, or a jazz-influenced rapper like Common was noted.
But this is nitpicking in the face of a stage full of true legends, celebrating on a scale previously unimagined for a jazz concert. Audiences all over the world were able to watch the show on the internet and listen on radio, and even play along with Hancock earlier that morning on a planet-wide version of “Watermelon Man” that allowed the New Orleans-bound composer to share solos with horns in South Africa and Asia via You Tube.
The evening ended with Stevie Wonder leading an enthusiastic company sing-along to his song “As” from Songs in the Key of Life. That album title could have served as the title for the show, which resonated with a power of positive energy. Bringing old and young performers from across the world was an unparalleled event, and one that will be remembered long after the music ended Monday evening. One can only hope that the General Assembly can see this kind of harmony, joy and love on its floor when the world’s representatives return for business in the near future. We’ll all be the better for it.
New Books Nigeria is portal for promoting new Nigerian writing; books by Nigerian Authors or published in Nigeria, or which are set mainly in Nigeria.
At New Books Nigeria we are working to build an online reference so that people who are interested in Nigerian writings can have access to a complete profile of books written by different and diverse authors in all the major genres.
New Books Nigeria is maintained by book-loving Nigerians. We do not charge a fee for including books on our growing virtual book hall & we never will.
CALLING FOR SUBMISSIONS
We are calling on Authors, Publishers and Book Publicists to avail themselves of this opportunity to catalogue their books where they can be seen.
If you would like to add a title, please e-mail us with all the usual details of the book which you wish to see in the book hall, together with a cover image in PNG or JPG formats.
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~ To submit a title for inclusion in NBN Book Hall, please send an e-mail to nbnsubmissions@gmail.com, providing all the usual details of the book you wish to see in the book hall, together with a cover image in PNG or JPG formats.
~ Short description should be no more than 60 words (we will edit off extra words & only publish approx value).
~ Apart from providing major distribution channels and bookstores where your book can be bought, we would also like to know if your book is available online or in e-format.
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An avant garde publishing house for women of colour and feminist thought. Diasporic art, politics, science and culture. Online journal to launch in November.
Femme Erotique
"The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling." Audre Lorde, Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power.
£6 entry fee for UK and Europe - $10 for US/Canada/Africa entries 3 poems or 3 letters of a sexual, erotic nature
2nd Place: Champagne + Durex Safe Sex Goody Basket
3rd Place: Honourable mention + Durex Safe Sex Goody Basket
Up to 10 poets will be shortlisted, and all winners plus shortlisted poets will be included in the anthology "Femme Erotique: The Erotic Poetry of Feminists".
EXTENDED Deadline:1st June 2012 Submit poetry to:queries@coalfeministreview.com. Poetry must be unpublished (including blogs and websites, but youtube is acceptable) and each poem must begin on a separate page. Please include a separate page and attachment to the email with your name, age, nationality, bio, email address and contact telephone/mailing address.
Or mail cheques and money orders with submissions to:
Coal Publishing
63 Meanley Road
London E12 6AP
*Your entry will not be read unless accompanied by payment. Please email paypal confirmation with email submissions, and cheques or bankers drafts with mailed submissions.
Stars of the film Rebelle (War Witch) respond to questions about their film at the premiere press conference at the Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin on February 17, 2012.
About the movie Rebelle (War Witch) KOMONA , a 14 year old girl, tells her unborn child the story of how she became a rebel. It all began when she was 12; kidnapped by the rebel army, she was forced to carry a AK 47 and kill. Her only escape and friend is MAGICIAN, a 15 year old boy who wants to marry her. Despite the horrors and daily grind of war, Komona and Magician fall in love.They thought they had escaped the war, but fate decided otherwise. In order to survive, Komona will need to return to where she came from and make amends with her past.Around them, war rages on....A tale set in Sub-Saharan Africa, a love story between two young souls caught in a violent world yet filled with beauty and magic.Sypnosis Somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, in a small isolated village, Komona, a twelveyear-old girl, lived peacefully with her parents until the day the rebels came. They pillaged the village, captured Komona and forced her to commit an irreparable act: slay her parents.In the rebels' camp, the training is merciless: Komona is hungry, scared, and the Rebel Leader, who has no pity for her tears, repeatedly beats her if she cries. She quickly learns to endure, to fight and above all, to survive. During a battle waged against the government's army, only Komona is spared. The rebels chief sees this as a sign and declares she is the new sorceress. She is soon brought to Great Tiger, the supreme leader of all the rebels, who makes her his war witch.Only one person is willing to help and listen to her, a 15 year-old-boy named Magician. With the passing months, Magician and Komona fall in love. They experience an all too brief moment of what happiness can be. The war catches up with them.Time passes... Komona is now 14 and pregnant. She wishes to forget the past, but her parents' ghosts keep reappearing. She soon realizes that if she doesn't want her parents' ghosts to haunt her baby, she must undertake the long journey that will lead her back to her birthplace.WAR WITCH is a life lesson, a story of human resilience.Contact Info Phone 1 514.526.2772 Email info@item7.ca Website http://www.rebelle-lefilm.com
Rarely does war look so beautiful on film. I feel somewhat guilty saying that given the unspeakable acts of physical and mental torment the young protagonist in War Witch endures throughout its roughly 90-minute running time.
But director Kim Nguyen's dream-like visual aesthetic captivates; and when combined with the laconically-told narrative, we could say, in some way, collectively, they help soften the otherwise emotionally devastating blow any thinking/feeling member of the audience would feel.
Not that the material isn't harrowing. It certainly is; although director Nguyen shields us from the worst a child in young Komona's predicament would likely face in real life.
It may not have even been intentional (I haven't read any interviews with the director, nor have i interviewed him), and this isn't necessarily a negative or positive (just an observation by one person), but it's hard not to succumb to the odd serenity the painterly images and silences create.
It's like a piece of hell in heaven.
Toss in the wonderfully naturalistic performances (from many non-professional actors, notably the films lead, played by Rachel Mwanza) and you've got a film that some will likely classify as magical realism, with actual magic, sorcery or in this specific case witchcraft being of significance to the plot - hence the title. Although it's more like myth and superstition than anything real.
At times of desperation, especially at times of war, when right at the forefront of it, and death is a constant reminder of itself, it's not entirely irrational to embrace notions one might ordinarily dismiss.
The film follows 12 year old Komona on a 3 year journey, starting with her kidnapping by rebels from the unnamed village in the unnamed country in which she and her family live, to becoming a child soldier. She's branded a witch by the rebel leader after she survives an ambush that left the rest of the unit she was dispatched with, dead, and becomes something of a treasure to the leader, who believes she possesses magical powers he can exploit for his own protection. She eventually is able to escape from the camp with an older albino soldier who pledges his love for her, and seeks her hand in marriage, and, for the very first time, albeit for a short period of time, she experiences the simple joys of living a peaceful life; but unfortunately, none of that lasts, and she's soon thrust back into the madness she once fled.
I was reminded of last year's Mexican drama Miss Bala, which itself featured another kind of war as its backdrop, with a young female protagonist thrust into a world of organized chaos, which she had little control over, just as little Komona (her parents now dead, and who she sees in spirit form in her waking dreams and nightmares; a recurring motif that also includes the ghosts of men she kills, informing her evolution) is shuffled around by others (men primarily), much of the action happening outside of her, although we are privy to her internal thoughts - a running voice-over that reveals the story behind those dead eyes.
The significant diffrerence between the two films being that Komona, after eventually deciding that she'd endured enough suffering, finally decides to act - taking great risk in plotting revenge and final escape, reclaiming her freedom on her own terms.
It's a sad, tragic tale of struggle and perseverance in the face of the kind of uncertainty that always has death as one of its potential outcomes - all of them bleak. But for some in this predicament, death may actually be desired.
I'd be remiss if I didn't note that I'm almost always impulsively weary of films like this, especially when produced by filmmakers who aren't of the particular region the film and its story are set; call it a knee-jerk reaction inspired by similar past films made under similar circumstances that have disappointed; but also recalling again Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie's “the danger of a single story.”
While it's noteworthy to say that there isn't the usual white American/European protagonist who rides into the frame on his/her white horse, and make things all better, one can't help but notice long-standing film trends of depictions by westerners of Africans in Africa dominated by narrow portrayals of Africans as either starving, helpless, hapless victims, or as post-colonial *savages;* those depictions have grown trite and tiresome, while failing to delve into the full complexities beneath the 2-dimensional surfaces we are often bombarded with.
It also doesn't encourage when the story is set in continental Africa but fails to specify where exactly - country, city, etc - rather just "somewhere in Africa" reinforcing the notion that Africa really is a country, and not a continent made up of individual countries; and while there might be some cross-border cultural bleeding, each exists as its own separate autonomous state with varied languages, customs, traditions, etc.
Although given that the child soldiers in War Witch are used as manual labor to mine a mineral called coltan, should narrow the list of potential countries in this case to 2 or 3; with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) being the most likely, since by some accounts, about 80% of the world's supply of coltan comes from the DRC, and it is believed that exporting of coltan from the DRC to the European and American electronics companies that make those ubiquitous devices known as cell phones, has helped finance recent and present-day conflict in the DRC, which has killed millions of people (the film was shot in the DRC by the way, but we aren't privy to location information within the narrative).
The filmmaker likely opted to keep the country nameless to avoid any potential political backlash, however an immediate negative reaction to films like this, no matter how well-produced, should in turn be understandable.
Not that any of this completely ruined my viewing experience; it's a picturesque, and even somewhat hypnotic, yet raw film, with strong acting and direction; but touches like what I just described are common enough, and complained about enough that I'd think, at this juncture, any filmmaker taking on the task of telling stories set in any part of the African continent would be fully aware, and avoid these *traps*.
As the Tribeca press notes say, War Witch is said to have been inspired by a real story that took place in Burma; director Nguyen worked on the film for 10 years, demonstrating a commitment to telling this particular story.
In the end, despite some irksome choices, War Witch is a poignant work, filled with strong, captivating images, and wonderfully naturalistic performances (especially from star Rachel Mwanza, who is in practically every scene, and definitely held my attention throughout, and who I'm looking forward to seeing in some other work, reminiscent of an even younger and just as dynamic Quvenzhane Wallis from Beasts Of The Southern Wild); I appreciated the effort by Nguyen to tell this particular story from a young girl's perspective, which itself is refreshing, and distinguishes the film from other like titles.
Some parts of it will likely shock, or even enrage you for any number of reasons - whether the particular story it tells, or some of the choices the filmmaker makes; but overall, there's enough good here that I recommend it.
Don't be fooled by the action-driven trailer below; it's a much quieter film than this shows.
Kim Nguyen explains it like this: "When I was fifteen I liked to write stories, and then in art class I developed my first black and white picture. As the white paper went in the chemical bath and an image appeared under the red light of the lab, I was hooked! Stories + pictures = movies." And so it was that Nguyan became a filmmaker; in 2002 he debuted with "Le Marais," which received six Jutra Award nominations in Canada, and his second feature, "Truffe," won Best Film at the Karlovy Vary Fresh Film Festival. He also directed "La Cite" in 2009. And now, "War Witch"...What it's about: Komona, a 14-year-old girl, tells her unborn child growing inside her the story of her life since she has been at war. Everything started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12. For two years she was forced to carry an AK 47 and kill people. Her only respite comes from her 15-year-old friend, a boy called Magician, who helps her and listens to her. As they experience the horrors and daily grind of war, Komona and Magician fall in love.Nguyen says: "If there is one single reason moviegoers should come and see 'War Witch,' it's to see our breathtaking young actress Rachel Mwanza, a teenager who before this film lived in the streets of the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is the first African actress to ever win the Silver Bear for best actress at the Berlin International Film Festival. Her presence and charisma on screen is reminiscent of great actors such as Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep before they became... Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep. Her aura on the screen is just mesmerizing!"The biggest challenge? "Convincing an insurance company to let us shoot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo."Inspirations? "Fish Tank" by Andrea Arnold, and "A Prophet" by Jacques Audiard.What's next for Nguyen: "Three projects: 'Lucy,' a modern tale set in the contemporary Great North; 'Origin of the World,' a story about our quest for love in the 21st century; and 'Dead Souls,' a (very) loose adaptation of the famous novel by Gogol."
Vanessa Williams spoke frankly about her experience with abortion as a teenager in a interview with ABC's Juju Chang.
The actress has made a number of surprising revelations about her childhood recently, as her memoir You Have No Idea, co-written with her mother, hits bookshelves.
Among the most startling admissions is that she had an abortion as a senior in high school and never told her parents.
When asked about it by Chang, Williams reflected on her decision.
"It's frightening," she said. "Being pregnant is the most frightening thing that happens in your life. I knew in high school that's something I wasn't prepared to do, or fight, or struggle with."
First Posted: 03/10/2012 4:15 pm Updated: 03/12/20