PUTNEY — The documentary series [framed] continues at Next Stage in Putney on Thursday, Nov. 30, at 7:30 p.m. with Sembene! The film is written, directed, and produced by Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman.
In 1952, Ousmane Sembene, a Senegalese dockworker and fifth-grade dropout, began dreaming an impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa. Sembene! tells the unbelievable true story of the self-taught “father of African cinema,” who fought enormous odds to return African stories to Africa.
Sembene! uses rare archival footage and more than 100 hours of exclusive materials to craft a true-life epic, as an ordinary man transforms himself into a fearless spokesperson for the marginalized. After becoming a hero to millions, Sembene suffers a startling fall from grace. Can Africa's storyteller reinvent himself once more?
[framed] is a presentation by Next Stage Arts Project, in collaboration with Tribeca Film Festival former director Nancy Schafer, of a new series of feature-length documentary films, each presented by the filmmaker in an intimate setting at Next Stage.
A highly successful first series of six films was presented in the fall of 2016, and the current series of films will run on the last Thursday of each month through March 2018. Subsequent titles in the series are TBA.
Curator Nancy Schafer worked for the iconic Tribeca Film Festival for 11 years, where she was most recently the festival's executive director. Schafer and Next Stage co-founder Billy Straus met at the Camden International Film Festival in 2015 where Schafer serves on the advisory board, and the idea of programming a documentary series for Next Stage was born.
The films in the [framed] series have recently played on the festival circuit around the world, including at Sundance and Tribeca, and all have been recognized with festival honors.