African Film Series presents four films this spring

As part of the Global Studies degree program's African Film Series, Penn State Berks will present four films this spring: Festival in the Desert on Wednesday, March 20 and The Battle for Souls on Wednesday, March 27, both at 1:00 p.m. in room 308 of the Gaige Building; The Devil Came on Horseback on Wednesday, March 27, at 6:00 p.m. in room 101 of the Franco Building; and Children of War on Wednesday, April 3, at 1:00 p.m. in room 308 of the Gaige Building. All four films are free and open to the public. 

Festival in the Desert is a 2004 film that documents an annual event called Le Festival au Désert, which took place in the African Sahara from 2001 to 2007. This unique celebration of the music and culture of the Tuareg people also welcomed artists from other parts of Mali, Africa and the world to the most remote music festival on Earth. This presentation is the 2003 concert including bands Lo?Jo (France), Tinariwen (Mali) and Blackfire (Native American), Malian greats Ali Farka Touré and Oumou Sangare and an appearance by British guitarist Justin Adams and Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant.

The Battle for Souls is a 2003 film depicting the development of evangelical Christianity in Nigeria. It explores Muslim-Christian relations and includes an interview with University Park Professor Philip Jenkins.

The Devil Came on Horseback is a 2007 film that exposes the tragedies occurring in the western Sudanese region of Darfur as seen through the exclusive, compelling photography and firsthand testimony of an American witness, former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, who served as a United Nations observer in Sudan and has since returned to the United States to take action against the atrocities of the dictatorial regime in Khartoum.

Children of War is a 2005 Danish television special that looks at the rehabilitation of child soldiers in Uganda. There, the rebel Lord?s Resistance Army has forced abductees to commit atrocities against their own families and communities. Art and drama therapy as well as re-integration rituals are detailed in this documentary.

For more information about the African Film Series, contact Dr. Randall Fegley, assistant professor of history and co-coordinator of the Global Studies degree program, at 610-396-6092, or via e-mail at [email protected].