the Second E. Desmond Lee Africa World Documentary Film Festival, (Saint Louis, Missouri, USA (February 5 - 8, 2009) & Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies.) sponsored by the E. Desmond Lee Professorship in African/African- American Studies, Center for International Studies at the University of Missouri, Saint Louis.

Through the art of documentary filmmaking, the AWDFF is committed to the promotion of knowledge, life and culture, of the people of Africa worldwide. In our inaugural year we presented 68 films submitted by filmmakers from Brazil, Cuba, United Kingdom, Australia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, USA, Germany, Trinidad & Tobago, Ethiopia, Somalia, Senegal, Uganda, Liberia, Tanzania, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, Eritrea, France, Israel and Canada.

The Inaugural Africa World Documentary Film Festival (Saint Louis, Missouri & Lagos, Nigeria) concluded at the Tivoli Cinema Hall in Saint Louis, Missouri on October 14th, 2007. It opened at the National Theatre of Nigeria Cinema Hall 1 on November 2 and concluded on November 10th, 2007. 2007 Program

Both locations were very well attended. The Saint Louis festival received coverage on the CNN International News Program: "Africa Today", which aired on October 20 and 21, 2007.

In Lagos Nigeria, AWDFF was opened with keynote address by both the CEO of the Nigerian Film Corporation- Mr. Adesanya and the Director-General of the Nigerian National Theatre - Dr. Ahmed Yerima. The festival in Lagos, Nigeria was covered by every major television station: Nigerian Television Authority NTA, Africa Independent Television AIT, Superscreen 45, and SilverBird Television.

The prize earning documentaries in the full- length category for our Inaugural year were:

First Prize - $1,000
NSSM
Del Walters (72m, U S A)
The real story of the collapse of Africa. The film traces the roots of the CIA in Africa and how racism and American ignorance fueled foreign policy.

To make their case the filmmakers use never before heard audiotapes, films and newly declassified textual records from the National Archives that truly revealed the real reason as to why the brightest lights on the African continent are dark

Second Prize - $700
Revolution'67
Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno (90m, U S A)
The American struggle with race, inequality, idealism, and power in the 1960s is explored through the story of the riots that erupted in Newark, New Jersey, in 1967. The untold story of what really happened during the Newark riots is told in archival footage, bold animation, and from the mouths of the people who lived it. The film's coda measures the vital signs of Newark today.

Third Prize - $500
Reyita
Oliva Acosta, Elena Ortega (84m, Cuba, Spain)
The story of a Cuban, black woman who was born in 1902: Maria de los Reyes, Reyita. Her story would have gone unnoticed, even by her own family, if her youngest daughter had not written a book about it. A story of slavery, discrimination and struggle at a time when being a woman meant invisibility and fighting for survival.

In the Short documentary category:

First Prize - $500
The Imam and the Pastor
Alan Channer (39m, Nigeria, United Kingdom)
The unlikely partnership between a Muslim fundamentalist preacher and a Christian evangelist from Nigeria. The film traces their journey from killing and vengeance to healing and friendship. It explores how, together, they have brought peace to their communities.

Second Prize - $300
No Capitulation
Richard Dailey (28m, Cameroon, France)
Barthélémy Toguo is an internationally renowned artist who lives and works in Paris, France, and in Bandjoun, Cameroon. He is creating an art institute, Bandjoun Station, on family land in his ancestral village in Western Cameroon. Bandjoun Station is an artistically ambitious and politically audacious project that the artist has funded himself. On a high plateau in equatorial Cameroon, art history meets ancestor worship.

Third Prize - $200
Living with Slim: Kids Talk about HIV/AIDS

Sam Kauffmann (29m, Uganda, U S A)
In many African countries, HIV/AIDS is called "Slim." In this emotionally powerful film, seven African children, ranging in age from 6 to 17 years old, talk about what it's like to be HIV positive. They discuss their lives, how they are treated, how they live with the illness and what their hopes are for the future.

The Audience Choice Award

Sisters of No Mercy
Lukac Roegler (90m, Germany, USA)
Told through the eyes of Faith, Linda, Betty and Queen,'Sisters of No Mercy' deals with the widely neglected fate of 50,000 Nigerian girls whose dream of a better future turned into a prostitution nightmare on the streets of Europe. Almost exclusively recruited from one small animist region in Nigeria most of these girls not only suffer from the terrible exploitation as sex slaves, but have to go through an occult "juju" ritual that inescapably ties them to their traffickers until they repay their individual debt of up to €60,000.

2007 Program

As we enter our second annual AFRICA WORLD DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL - 2008, I extend a warm invitation to filmmakers throughout the world to join us for an exciting season. To make your submissions, please click on the "Withoutabox" button below. I look forward to welcoming you to, and, screening your work in Saint Louis, Missouri and Bridgetown, Barbados.

http://www.withouta box.com/login/ 5666

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS - DECEMBER 1, 2008

FESTIVAL DATES - ST. LOUIS - FEBRUARY 5 - 8, 2009

'Niyi Coker, Jr., Festival Director
E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of African/African- American Studies,
Theatre and Media Studies,
Center for International Studies
University of Missouri-St. Louis