Week Starting 5th November: Film Africa, London Jazz Festival, Careers and Networking

Hello Proud Africans (and friends of Africa),

It’s getting colder! So wrap yourself up in your Proud to be African sweatshirt or snuggle up to someone. Or both!!

But it is not all rain and ice as we have an overload of awesome African events which should warm the coldest reaches of your reachable! From African movies at the Africa Centre, excellent careers and networking events, more African movies at Film Africa the London Jazz Festival and even more African movies at Nollywood Premieres.

In fact if you are bored this week it means you are either not subscribed to this blog or are not interested in good stuff!!

In addition to the fun, cultural stuff we have quite a few serious and topical events such as the US election, and talks on African affairs.

Monday 5^th November

Film Africa

At 6.00pm we have Family Portrait in Black And White (Ukraine) at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, E1 6LA, about Olga Nenya who fosters 17 children of whom 16 are mixed race, a difficult task in one of the most racist countries in the world, this film follows several of the children as they try and define their identities outside of Olga’s strict but loving home. This is followed by a poetic response to the film. Tickets are £9.00 (£6.50 concs) from here

At 6.30pm at the Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, SW2 1JG we have 4 short films. The award winning Fishing without nets (Somalia/ Kenya) is a fictional short film about pirates in Somalia through the eyes of suffering Somali fishermen. The Tunnel (South Africa/ Zimbabwe) is set in 1980’s Zimbabwe during the 5^th Brigade massacres and follows young Elizabeth as she uses her skills as a storyteller to save her village and solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance. The Last Passenger (Algeria) is the dreamlike story of about the soul of a young man about to commit suicide who decides to pay a visit to his two impossible loves a woman and a mysterious theatre. Theses screenings are followed by a Q&A with Fyzal Boulifa and Gavin Humphrey. Tickets are £6.50 (£5.00 concs and £4.50 members) from here. 

Dear Mandela (South Africa/ USA) comes at 6.30pm at the Hackney Picturehouse, 270 Mare Street, Hackney, E8 1HE this documentary tells the story of 3 young South African activists determined to stop forced slum evictions, the screening will be followed by a panel discussion with members of Abahlalibase Mjondolo and War on Want. Tickets are £6.00 (£5.00 concs, £4.00 members and children) from here.

At 8.30pm we have Zulu Love Letters (South Africa) at the Ritzy Picturehouse about Thandeka a cynical former political activist and journalist whose life is forced to change when she is approached by an old woman Me’Tau who asks her to help find her daughter’s remains. Tickets are £6.50 (£5.00 concs, £4.50 members) from here. 

At 8.50pm at the Hackney Picturehouse we have an exclusive preview screening of The Runner (UK/ Ireland/ France) a documentary about Salah Ameidan, a Sahrawi athlete and freedom fighter about the struggle of the Sahrawi people against Morocco, followed by a Q&A with director Saeed T. Farouky. Tickets are £6.00 (£4.00 members and children) from here.

Tuesday 6^th November

From 6.00pm to 9.00pm Thomson Reuters Black Employees Network and BNY Mellon presents A Conversation with Courtenay Griffiths QC on Ethics and Leadership where the Jamaican born Barrister who has represented many high profile defendants such as the trial of the Damilola Taylor killers, the PC Keith Blakelock murder trial, the Brighton bombing trial and Harrods bombing trial former Liberian leader Charles Taylor will share his perspectives on the effectiveness of ethics and leadership. The event will take place on the 1^st Floor, Auditorium, The Thomson, Reuters Building, 30 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, E14 5EP and is FREE, RSVP here

What with this being US election day with the first US President of African descent seeking re-election , I thought it fitting to include American US Election Night Party from 9.00pm to 6.00am at the Famous Three Kings, 171 North End Road, Fulham, London, W14 9LA. Hosted by the Obama London Organizing For America group you can celebrate (or commiserate) with Americans, fans of President Obama or people who just want to hang out and chant ‘USA, USA, USA!!’ all night (it’s an infectious chant!), results will be coming in on the venues 9 screens from a variety of broadcasters so it should be fun to compare and contrast. Price for this all night party with Buffet and champagne toast is £32.00 in advance (£39.00 on the door) from here.

Film Africa

At 6.00pm we have Filming Tomorrow a screen seminar on grassroots filmmaking in Africa at Rich Mix in 3 sections. Section One presented by Joshua McNamara is on Urban Film and Space, Section Two is on Mosireen and collective filmmaking by Omar Robert Hamilton and the 3rd section is an Open debate. This event is FREE

At 6.30pm we have Our Africa: Thousands of kilometres of Soviet film at the Ritzy Picturehouse, a screen talk by filmmaker Alexander Markov about the abundance of newsreel and film footage from the Soviet archives he is using to make the documentary ‘Our Africa’. Tickets are £6.50 (£5.00 cons and £4.50 members) from here.

At 6.45pm we have 5 short films at the Hackney Picturehouse.  A stunning film Kengere (Uganda) that uses puppets to tell the story of a tragic incident in Eastern Uganda in 1989, in which government soldiers accused local villagers of being rebels. Fluorescent Sin (Kenya) sees a drag queen at Nairobi’s central station descending into breakdown in a poetic soliloquy. Hasaki Ya Suda (The Three Black Samurai) (Burkina Faso/ France) is set in 2100 in which people of the south are forced to migrate north, in this stunningly shot Afro-samurai film in the vein of Akira Kurosawa. Umkhungo (South Africa) is a fantasy thriller about an orphaned child with supernatural powers who is adopted by a violent but empathetic Johannesburg tsotsi (gangster). The Godfather (Le Parrain) is an animated tale of a father’s journey to find the best godfather for his baby son. Tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs and £8.00 members) from here.

At 8.00pm at the Ritzy Picturehouse we have a musical interlude with Karama, a virtuosic quartet led by oud player Soufian Saihi playing songs from as diverse a landscape as Tinariwen to Alice Coltrane. This event is FREE

Also at 8.00pm but at the Rich Mix we have The Education Auma Obama (Germany/Kenya) a documentary about US President Obama’s fascinating, sophisticated Kenyan half sister Auma Obama, set against the backdrop of the 2008 US election race with a rousing soundtrack, this is a fascinating portrait of a brilliant woman who introduced President Obama to his Kenyan roots. This screening is followed by a Q&A with director Branwen Okpako, tickets are £9.00 (£6.00 concs) from here.

At 9.00pm is Sex, Okra and Salted Butter at the Hackney Picturehouse (Chad/ France) a hilarious comedy set in France in which endearing patriarch Malik has to cope with his wife Hortense leaving him for a younger man and discovering his son is gay. Tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs and £8.00 for members) from here 

At 9.10pm we have Beauty (Skoonheid)(South Africa) at Screen on the Green, Everyman Cinemas, 83 Upper Street, Islington, N1 0NP, in which a conservative middle aged father in small town South Africa descends into a dangerous obsession with a handsome son of one of his friends. Tickets are £11.00

Wednesday 7^th November

From 6.00pm to 7.00pm we have the RSA/ Aeon Debate: Does Africa Need our Outrage at 8 John Adam Street, London, WC2N 6EZ. The Royal Society for the Arts and Aeon Magazine are bringing together an expert panel of commentators to debate whether international outrage over human rights and inequalities in Africa is more of a hindrance than a help and whether there are better ways to further the discourse without hostility. The event is chaired by Brigid Hains (editor Aeon Magazine) and speakers include Graeme Wood (The Atlantic). RSVP here for this FREE event.

From 6.00pm to 8.30pm we have Getting to the Top at Birckbeck College, University of London, Torrington Square, WC1E 7HX, where there will be leading professionals from law, enterprise, utilities, PR, media and engineering backgrounds will discuss their current careers and how they achieved their positions,  the panel will be hosted by Sheryl Nwosu (Barrister) and consist of Patrick Clarke MBD (Director of Network Operations, UK Power Networks), Denise Rawls (PR Specialist at Ofsted and CEO Strange Fruit Greeting Cards), Angela Arnold (Partner, BH Solicitors) Book your tickets for £5.00 (FREE for University students) here .

From 12.00-7.00pm we have ACS in the City Public Sector Forum at 8 Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5BY. This is a careers and networking event for African and Caribbean students interested in working for the leading employers in the UK’s public sector, the event will bring together ACS students with public sector organisations to network, discuss career opportunities and applications processes. Participating organisations include Bank of England, Civil Service Fast Stream, Financial Services Authority, National Audit Office, National Health Service and Transport for London. This event is FREE and open to graduates or undergraduates of any discipline.

I would highly recommend this event for anyone or anyone you might know; even if you are not interested in a public sector career just getting face to face with recruiters is a huge bonus. Travel reimbursement is also available for students coming in from outside London, so there is no excuse really!! There will be a Banking, Law and Top Talent Forum to follow, RSVP here. 

At 7.30pm we have another Proud to be African favourite the London Afrobeat Collective (for those of you who don’t know, they are a musical collective that plays Afrobeat and are based in London- he hint was in the name!!!) at Camden Barfly, 49 Chalk Farm Road, Camden, NW1 8AN playing some of the hits from their debut album as well as some new material, they fully intend to be bringing Afrobeat heat to the chilly London nights, Tickets are £8.00 from here and as an added bonus you get a free album if you buy in advance from here. Oya what are you waiting for? Everybody say Yeah, Yeah!!!

At 8.00pm we have the Lionel Loueke Trio at the Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillett Square, Dalston, N16 8AZ, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke, Michael Olatuja on bass and Mark Giuliana on drums, this ‘gentle virtuoso’ will be playing tracks steeped in his African roots. Tickets are £16.50 from here. 

Film Africa

At 6.30pm we have a series of sports related shorts at the Ritzy Picturehouse. An African Race (UK) is a documentary following the Tour of Rwanda a bicycle race that twists and turns out of Kigali to the hills of Rwanda. Followed by a Q&A with director Ben Ingham, Jerry Rothwell and Dan Demissie. A Town of Runners (UK/ Ethiopia) focuses on the small Ethiopian town of Bekoji home of Marathon winner Tiki Gelana, and 2 young girls’ struggles to follow in her footsteps. Tickets are £10.50 (£9.50 conc and £8.50 for members) from here.

.

At 6.45pm we have another screening of The Beautiful Game at the Hackney Picturehouse. Followed by a Q&A with director Victor Buhler and some well known footballers, tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs, £8.00 member and £6.00 children)

At 7.30pm we have Twende Berlin (Kenya) at Rich Mix a cultural quest from Nairobi to Berlin by public space hero Upendo Hero and the Ukoo Flani hip hop clan to understand the impact of gentrification and privatisation of public spaces, this screening is FREE

At 7.30pm we have 2 Southern African singers at the Hackney Picturehouse, South African Joyce Moholoagae with her mesmerising voice inspired by the songs of liberation and Namvula with melodies from Brazil to Zambia and Mozambique. Don’t miss this FREE event with DJ Romanzo on the decks.

At 9.00pm at the Hackney Picturehouse we have Tahrir 2011: The Good, The Bad and The Politician (Egypt) a documentary with 3 distinct takes on the Egyptian Revolution, i.e. the Tahrir Square demonstrations (The Good), the police response (the bad) and Hosni Mubarak (the politician), this is a serious subject with a humorous presentation. Tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs and £8.00 members) from here

Thursday 8^th November

At 8.00pm we have another performance by the Lionel Loueke Trio at the Vortex Jazz Club. Tickets are £16.50 from here 

Film Africa

At 6.30pm we have 3 shorts, another screening of Cane/ Cain (South Africa), Fluorescent Sin (Kenya) and then Difficult Love (South Africa) about the loves and lives of lesbians in modern South Africa at Rich Mix. These screenings are FREE and are repeated at 8.00pm.

At 6.15pm we have Burma Boy (UK) at the Hackney Picturehouse, a documentary featuring Nigerian World War 2 veteran Isaac Fadoyebo who along with 100,000 other African soldiers fought in the 1943- 1945 Burma Campaign. After hearing+ Isaac’s oral history recording in the Imperial War Museum, journalist Barnaby Phillips tracks him down in Nigeria, eventually travelling to Burma and Japan. This is followed by the premiere of His Majesty’s Sergeant which tells the tale of three soldiers fighting in the Burma Campaign a Ghanaian, Sikh and Englishman, focusing on not just the fighting but their personal interactions. These extremely pertinent documentaries are followed by a Q&A with director Barnaby Phillips and Ato Yanney Jr (son of His Majesty’s Sergeant director). Tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs and £8.00 members) from here.

At 6.30pm we have When China met Africa (UK/ France) at The Ritzy Picturehouse, a documentary following several Chinese run businesses in Zambia, followed by a Q&A with directors Marc and Nick Francis. Tickets are £10.50 (£9.50 concs and £8.50 members) from here.

Following on at The Ritzy is The Boom Yeh: Root Down Sessions featuring Jally Kebba Susso at 8.30pm. This Funk/ Jazz Afrobeat quintet led by guitarist Jon Speedy ties up with Gambian kora master Jally Kebba Susso for an inspiring performance. Tickets are £3.00 or FREE with ‘When China Met Africa’ tickets’.

At 9.00pm we have Cuba: An African Odyssey (France/ UK/ US) at the Hackney Picturehouse, this documentary covers the 300,000 Cubans who fought in Africa from Congo to Angola using archive footage and interviews. A fascinating film for people interested in post independence African history Tickets £10.00 (£9.00 concs and £8.00 members) from here

.

Friday 9^th November

Afrobeat Fans in London Meetup will be holding their Official Launch Party at 5.30pm at Aquum, 68-70 Clapham High Street, Clapham, SW4 7UL in conjunction with London Singles Meetup, this should be an excellent event. Entry is FREE, and there is a FREE Thai dinner, with the only costs being drinks at the bar (at £8.00 each it’s not that free unless you get in, eat and then drink water from the bathroom!) RSVP here. 

At 7.30pm we have the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet and Empirical at the Queen Elizabeth Hall,Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Southwark, SE1 8XX, described as a messiah of the post bop trumpet. Tickets are from £10.00 to £20.00 from here. 

Also at 7.30pm we have the Robert Glasper Experiment with special guest Doom and Phantom Limb at the Southbank Centre. With their signature mix of jazz, hip hop and R&B and surprise special guests this promises to be an interesting session, while Phantom Limb stands at the crossroads of country and classical R&B. £10.00 to £27.50 from here.

At 8.00pm we have Robert Mitchells Panacea at Charlie Wrights, 45 Pitfield Street, N1 6DA       playing his unique combination of jazz and 70’s soul alongside Omar Puente the Cuban jazz violinist. Tickets are £8.00 form here.

Also at 8.00pm but at Ronnie Scotts, 47 Frith Street, Soho, W1D 4HT we have Terrence Blanchard, the 5 time Grammy Award winning trumpeter leading one of the hottest bands on the jazz scene, tickets from here. 

At 8.00pm we have the UK premiere of the latest Nollywood production The Champion Sportsman at Odeon Cinema, Bugsby Way, Greenwich, SE10 0QJ, starring John Okafor, Patience Ozokwor, Sandra Achums, Stephan Lohse, Andy Edelbut, Mimi Beaufort-Spontin, written and directed by Azubuike Erinugha, it is a comedy about Okoro Ajonuma (John Okafor) who sneaks into Germany with a very ‘wrong’ passport and must confound linguistic, legal, financial and even sporting realities to get through. Filmed in Germany, London and Okigwe (thats a town in Nigeria in case you’re wondering), admission is £10.00 from here and it is hosted by Obi Emelonye (Writer/ director of Mirror Boy and Last Flight to Abuja)

At 8.00pm Afri-Kokoa presents Master Kora Griot Seckou Keita at Rich Mix. This is the only London performance of the Senegalese maestros 21 show tour, in which he will be performing with his 7 piece band songs from his new album Miro, which marks a return to his roots as well as a nod to the influences during Seckou’s musical travels. Not an event to be missed for a fan of the kora or traditional African music. This will be followed by Afri Kokoa DJ’s AJ Kwame, Volta 45 and Baggy. Tickets are £10.00 in advance from here £12.00 on the door.

Film Africa

At 6.30pm at the Hackney Picturehouse we have Maami (Nigeria) which is set over a 2 day period in the run up to the 2010 Football World Cup and is the story of Kashimawo’s return to his homeland and reminisce about his hardscrabble life in Abeokuta with his mother. Based on the novel Maami, it is followed by a Q&A with the director Tunde Kelani. Tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs) from here

At 6.30pm at the Ritzy Picturehouse we have Tey (Today) (France/ Senegal) is a poetic exploration of the streets of an unnamed Senegalese city through the eyes of a doomed young man Satche, played by spoken word hip hop artist Saul Williams. Followed by a Q&A with director Alain Gomis, tickets are £10.50 (£9.50 concs and £8.50 members) from here. 

 At 7.30pm we have Amour, Sexe et Mobylette (Love, Sex and Mopeds (France/Germany/Burkina Faso) at Rich Mix a documentary about love in a small village in Burkina Faso, following the villagers lives in the run up to Valentine’s Day. This is a FREE screening.

At 8.00pm our friends Rita Ray and Max Reinhardt of The Shrine will be featuring Yazid Fentazi the Algerian oud maestro at the Hackney Picturehouse, mixing decks with live oud music its £5.00 admission or FREE with tickets for previous screenings.

At 9.00pm we have Restless City (USA) at Hackney Picturehouse, in which Djibril moves from Senegal to New York to become a musician but becomes embroiled in Harlems kinetic landscape, peddling for gangsters, borrowing from pimps and falling in love with a prostitutes, this is a striking view of African migrants in the USA. Tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs and £8.00 members) from here

Saturday 10^th November

From 11.00am to 2.00pm 100 Black Men of London will host their South London Community Mentoring Programme Open Day at London South Bank University, Lecture Theatre L117, 100-116 London Road, Elephant and Castle, SE1 6LN, where you can learn more about this worthy groups’ community mentoring programme (there are North, South, East and West London branches), register your children (ages 10-16) for the Me I can Be mentoring programme which deals with life skills with modules on self identity, effective expression, family roles and responsibilities, peer relations, health and well being, drugs and substance abuse and much more. Adults can sign up to the Parents in Partnership programme which demonstrates how we can make a positive impact on the lives of our children by helping them develop into positive role models and leaders of the future. Since the programme began in 2001 hundreds of children have graduated and been positively impacted. Please RSVP for this FREE and very worthwhile event here. 

From 1.30pm to 5.30pm we have Green Deal Nigeria in the Bloomsbury Suite, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, NW1 2AX. Hosted by Jean Lambert, Green Party MEP and the Heinrich Boll Foundation, it seeks to ask what Nigeria will look like when oil has run out and how millions of Nigerians can access quality jobs and a fair distribution of wealth. The panel will include Nollywood star Ejike Asiegbu, campaigners Japheth Omojuwa, Mercy Abang and Azeenarh Mohammed. RSVP for this FREE event here 

At 5.30pm we have the Ghana UK Based Achievement (GUBA) Awards at Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, Embankment, SE1 7TJ celebrating and acknowledging UK based Ghanaian businesses and individuals. Tickets are £60.00 from here.

From 6.00pm to 11.00pm The African Music Festival 2012 (AMFest) returns for its second year at The Round Chapel, Powerscroft Road, E5 0PU, celebrating modern African music, arts and culture and hosting the best UK Afrobeat artists such as Dot Star, Shady Blue, 2Kriss, Noni Zondi, Mr Silva, Flava and Kwamz, VJ OJ and many more. Tickets are £10.00 from here

Femit Temowo

At 8.00pm we have Proud to be African favourite; jazz guitarist Femi Temowo and the Elisa Caleb Group at The Forge, 3-7 Delancy Street, NW1 7NL, will be playing his Richard Bona inspired vocals and acoustic guitar while Elisa Caleb fuses jazz, folk and gospel performing standards and own compositions. Tickets are £10.00 (£8.00 concs) from here. 

At 10.00pm Akwaaba UK presents Glamorous (The biggest ever Afrobeats Party) at Abacus Bar, 24 Cornhill, London, EC3V 3ND. Playing Azonto, Afrobeat, RnB, hip hop, dancehall, soca, old skool, old skool garage, house and slow jams with guest DJ’s from BBC 1xtra and Choice FM. Admission is £10.00 before 12.00am more after, if purchased in advance, its £10.00  for all night tickets from here.

Film Africa

From 9.00am to 6.00pm we have Evolving African Film Cultures: Local and Global Experiences at the University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, W1W 2UW, with 60 international speakers who will debate the evolving African Film cultures in terms of production, distribution and consumption inside and outside Africa and how the digital economy especially the internet has opened up huge opportunities for African film distribution. Tickets for this 2 day conference are £140.00 (students £60.00), day tickets are also available (£100.00/ £45.00). Register here 

From 10.00am to 2.00pm we have The Distribution Forum workshop at the Ritzy Picturehouse which will bring together African and UK based filmmakers from the Diaspora with UK based film distributors to offer practical advice of the different methods for distributing African and black films with focus of digital forms of distribution, The is a FREE event.

At 2.00pm at the BFI Southbank, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XT we have Maami (Nigeria) followed by a Q&A with the director Tunde Kelani. Tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 and £8.00 members) from here.

At 2.30pm we have Lust (El Shooq) (Egypt/ France) at the Ritzy Picturehouse, about the lives of the people of a marginalised street in Alexandria, Egypt before the revolution, followed by a Q&A with director Khaled El Hagar, tickets are £7.50(£6.50 concs and £5.50 members) from here.

At 3.00pm we have 5 film shorts at Rich Mix. The Godfather/ Le Parrain (Burkina Faso), The Last Passenger (Algeria), Kengere (Uganda) and then Protect the Nation (South Africa) where a young boy begins to question whether he has the courage to do what’s right, Siggil (France) is about an old man in Dakar who walks the dog of a rich woman until he loses the dog. These screenings are FREE and are repeated at 4.30pm and 6.00pm.

An Uncommon Woman (Burkina Faso) at 3.50pm at the Hackney Picturehouse is about a successful businesswoman who catches her unemployed husband with the neighbour’s wife and reacts in a completely unpredictable way. Tickets are £7.00 (£5.50 concs and £5.00 members) from here.

At 5.00pm at the BFI, Southbank we have Phone Swap (Nigeria), a warm comedy which breaks the typical low budget Nollywood mould in this witty story about 2 people who accidentally exchange phones and have to tread in each other’s paths. Followed by a Q&A with director Kunle Afolayan and lead actor Wale Ojo, tickets are £5.00 from here. 

At 6.40pm we have Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony (Spain) at the Hackney Picturehouse a documentary about Western Sahara and the Sahrawi’s peoples fight against Morocco’s attempted annexation and the resulting state of war in the territory This is followed by a discussion, tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs) from here.

At 8.00pm we have Ruby and the Vines and Mosi Conde at the Ritzy Picturehouse. Ruby and The Vines fuses rock, afrobeat, jazz and reggae, contrasting with multi instrumentalist Mosi Conde who will be performing with his trademark kora and other instruments, with DJ Africathy on the decks, admission is £5.00 or FREE for screening ticket holders

At 8.45pm we have Tey (Today) (France/ Senegal) at the Hackney Picturehouse tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs and £8.00 members)

Sunday 11^th November

At 3.30pm we have a screening of the Malian film Bamako at the Africa Centre, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 8JT. Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako this elegiac movie involves a trial held in the courthouse of the compound inhabited by Mele a bar singer and her unemployed husband, whilst their marriage flounders, the trial in the courtyard is to determine whether the World Bank and IMF or corruption are to blame for the unfortunate state of many African countries. This is a fascinating film, with a great soundtrack and is FREE (although a £3.00 donation is gently hinted at) from here

From 5.30pm we have the 8^th Screen Nation Film and TV Awards at Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge Hotel, 200 Westminster Bridge Road, Southwark, SE1 7UT. Hosted by Wil Johnson and Sarah Jane Crawford and broadcast live across several Sky based channels, the event will feature the cream of black British film and TV talent as well as stars of the sporting, music, fashion, media and political world. The event consists of a Caribbean Cocktail Reception, 3 course Caribbean/ European banquet accompanied by fine wines and music and comedy, followed by the Award Show starting at 9.00pm followed by the After Party at 10.30pm. Tickets start from £65.00 for the Awards ceremony and £35.00 for the After party from here 

Also at 3.30pm at the Vortex Jazz Club, we have the Township Comets, playing the soaring joyous, South African township jazz of Dudu Pukwana. led by vocalist Pinise Saul, Chris Batchelor (trumpet), Harry Brown (trombone), Jason Yarde (saxophone), Adam Glasser (piano), Dudley Phillips (bass) and Frank Tontoh (drums). Tickets are £8.00 from here  

          

At 5.00pm the West Indian Association of Service Personnel will hold its one hour Remembrance Sunday Service at St Peters Church, Prescott Place, Clapham, SW4 6BT. This is especially for serving or ex uniformed personnel and their families or anyone who wishes to support, RSVP here 

Also at the Vortex Jazz Club at 8.30pm we have veteran oud player Attab Haddad drawing from Middle Eastern and flamenco influences as well as Sudanese singer Amira Kheir fusing African music with soul, jazz, latin and Middle Eastern sounds. Tickets are £12.00 from here 

Film Africa

At 11.30am at the Hackney Picturehouse we have Ayens Cooking School for Men (Sudan/ Australia) a documentary that takes a humorous look at gender conventions in the Sudanese refugee community in Australia, as a Sudanese lady Ayen try’s to teach young men to cook, followed by a Q&A with Frederique Cifuentes. Alongside this is Cinema in Sudan: Conversations with Gadalla Gubara (Sudan/UK) a portrait of the great Sudanese filmmaker Gadalla Gubara one  of the pioneers of African cinema who kept working till he was 88 despite being blind. Tickets £7.00 (£5.50 concs and £5.00 children) from here.here

There will be an African Market from 12.00pm to 4.00pm at Hackney Picturehouse. At 2.00pm there will be Storytelling with Helen McDonald, 2.40pm Craft-making with Tonie Grelet, 3.20pm more Storytelling and at 4.00pm African Songs for the family with Joyce Moholoagae

At 1.00pm is El Gusto (Algeria/ Ireland) at The Ritzy Picturehouse, an uplifting story of a Jewish/ Muslim orchestra torn apart by conflict 50 years ago. This film allows beautiful Andalusian/ Arab street music take centre stage through rehearsals in Marseille. Tickets are £7.50 (£6.50 concs and £5.50 children) from here. 

A Filmmaking Master Class for 16-25 Year olds at South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, Camberwell, SE5 8UH, at 2.00pm with award winning filmmaker Karen Boswall. Book this FREE event here. 

At 2.00pm we have Stories from Lakka Beach (Netherlands) at Rich Mix, qa documentary in which 5 Sierra Leonean villagers contemplate the most profound moments of their lives and tell stories of the ocean, land, war, love and hope, This is a FREE screening.

At 2.00pm we have Adventures in Zambezia (South Africa) at the Hackney Picturehouse, this 3D South African animation is about Kai a young falcon who feels trapped by his strict father and his isolated desert life, leading him to take his chances in the bird city of Zambezia, with the voices of Samuel L. Jackson, Richard E. Grant and Leonard Nimoy this is a fascinating family adventure. Book tickets here. 

At 5.00pm is Sabar Dance with Diene ‘Waaw Waaw’ Sagna at the Hackney Picturehouse. An evening of dance going on till 6.15pm.Tickets are £5.00 (£3.00 for screening ticket holders).

At 6.00pm we have Mama Africa (Germany) at the Hackney Picturehouse, a moving tribute to South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba documenting her music, life, marriages, exile and activism/ Tickets are £10.00 (£9.00 concs and £8.00 members) from here.

Sunday the 11^th is Remembrance Sunday in the UK and in majority of the Commonwealth, it is as good a time as any to bear in mind the 166,550 men and women from the Africa and 16,000 from the Caribbean, who volunteered to fight in the Second World War in particular (notwithstanding the thousands of Commonwealth soldiers who have served in Britain’s Armed forces and are serving today, including Britain’s first living Victoria Cross holder since 1965, Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC who was decorated for twice saving the lives of his platoon in Iraq by driving them out of two ambushes despite being wounded).

Whether you disagree with war in general or these particular wars, this is still a part of our collective history and if we do not remember these men and women no one will, there are barely any monuments and scant mention in the history books of the Nigerians, Ghanaians, Kenyans, Ugandans, Tanzanians, Somalis, Malawians, Zimbabweans, South Africans, Gambians, Sudanese, Egyptians, Sierra Leoneans, Bermudans, Jamaicans, Trinidad and Tobagoans, St Vincent, Grenadans, Barbadians, British Guyanese, Leeward Islanders, Windward Islanders, British Hondurans and Turks and Caicos Islanders.

If we do not remember them, no one will