We're very excited that Bristol's very own African film festival returns to Watershed next month with another great line-up of cinema, music, workshops and discussion. Internationally-praised feature films from Angola, Kenya and Senegal and a Bristol-made documentary about the last absolute monarch in Africa will be among those getting their regional premieres when Afrika Eye - the South West’s biggest celebration of African film and culture opens on Fri 8 Nov.

This year the Festival includes talks, exhibitions, workshops, cross-cultural entertainment as well as screenings of features, shorts and documentaries by filmmakers from, or with roots in, Africa.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Kenya’s independence, Kenyan films and filmmakers are being given centre stage. The festival kicks off with the first screening in the South West of David 'Tosh' Gitonga’s highly-praised Nairobi Half Life (which ecstatic reviewers are describing as Africa’s Slumdog Millionaire). The opening screening will be followed by the always-lively After Party in the Café/Bar featuring performances from the incredibly talented Zanzibari singer Mim Suleiman and legendary drum and percussion players Abass Dodoo and Kari Barnaman. Come along and have a proper dance!

Another distinguished festival guest will be director Alain Gomis (Senegal/France), introducing, and later discussing, his powerful feature, Tey (Aujourd’hui/Today), which stars the actor, musician, poet and hip hop artist Saul Williams (previously seen in Slam). The regional premiere of another brilliant feature, Something Necessary, will be followed by a Q&A session with its up-and-coming director Judy Kibinge.

Filmmaker Simon Bright, the Zimbabwe-born co-Director of Afrika Eye says:

"Currently only 0.01 % of cinema screenings in the UK show African films. But Africa is where story-telling first began and a new generation of Africans are finding exciting ways to bring this ancient talent to the screen via features and documentaries that thoroughly deserve the attention of UK cinema-goers.”

Afrika Eye also includes the world premiere of Festival co-Director Simon Bright's film The King and the People, a fascinating undercover documentary about Africa’s last absolute ruler, King Mswati III of Swaziland.

Other African-themed attractions include music, food, fashion, debates, shorts and workshops for young people, led by singer Mim Suleiman (who features on the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto V). For our younger audiences the workshop exploring the art of kanga – the highly colourful and boldly designed cloth wraps worn by men and women in east Africa is not to be missed!

Check out the full details of the Festival programme.

This year’s festival is taking place in partnership with the Africa in Motion film festival, Edinburgh; Glasgow, the Cambridge African Film Festival and Film Africa, London.

Afrika Eye is hosted by Watershed in partnership with Bristol City Council, Bristol Libraries, African Voices Forum, Awards for All, BCFM, Plantation Restaurant, Arts Council of England, Bristol Business News, WOMAD Foundation, and UWE's Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education.

---