NYC: African Diaspora Film Festival Opens With “The Man Who Mends Women…”

Dr. Mukwege
Story & Picture: Black Star News

Human Rights documentary The Man Who Mends Women – The Wrath of Hippocrates will have its U.S. Premiere on November 27 at 7pm at the Opening Night of the 23rd Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival.

Presented by U.S. distributor ArtMattan Films, THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN is the portrait of the impressive life and work of internationally-renowned gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He received the 2014 prestigious Sacharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, for his struggle against sexual violence. Dr. Mukwege medically assisted over 40,000 sexually abused women in 16 years of professional practice.

Sexual violence against women has been used as a weapon of war for years in the violence-ridden and poverty-stricken Democratic Republic of Congo. In order to provide medical, psychological and emotional aid to the victims, Dr. Mukwege founded the Panzi hospital in Bukavu in 1999.

Besides his work as a physician Dr. Mukwege also defends human rights and seeks to raise global awareness on the issue of sexual violence in his country. He condemns the political reluctance to tackle the problem and is not afraid to hit the nail on the head.

His work is not without danger, as Dr. Mukwege experienced in 2012, when armed men entered his home and started shooting. Dr. Mukwege and his family survived the attack, but his guard was killed.

The doctor now lives cloistered in his hospital in Bukavu under the protection of the United Nation peacekeepers. The women, whose physical and emotional integrity and dignity have been restored, stand beside him, true activists for peace, and hungry for justice.

The 23rd African Diaspora Film Festival is to be held in Manhattan, New York City from November 27 to December 13 at MIST Harlem, Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas and Teachers College, Columbia University with the presentation of more than 50 films, including 26 US and NY Premieres.

For more information about the 23rd Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival, to receive the complete line up, screeners and high resolution images please contact Diarah N’Daw-Spech at (212) 864-1760 or e-mail pr@nyadiff.org. Festival web site: www.nyadiff.org

Described by film critic Armond White as “a festival that symbolizes diaspora as more than just anthropology,” ADIFF has managed to increase the presence of independent Afrocentric films from all over the world in the general American specialty movie scene by launching films such as The Tracker by Rolf de Heer (Australia), Kirikou and the Sorceress by Michel Ocelot (France), Gospel Hill by Giancarlo Esposito (USA), Darrat/Dry Season by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad), The First Rasta by Helene Lee (France/Jamaica), The Story of Lovers Rock by Menelik Shabazz (UK) Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story by Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt), and The Pirogue by Moussa Touré among others.

Attracting a wider cross-section of cinephiles and audiences of African-American, Caribbean,
African, Latino and European ethnic backgrounds that share a common interest for good stories about the human experience of people of color, ADIFF is now a national and international event with festivals held in New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, and Paris, France.

The African Diaspora International Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization.
The 23rd annual New York African Diaspora International Film Festival is made possible thanks to the support of the following institutions and individuals: ArtMattan Productions; the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Community Affairs, Teachers College, Columbia University; the New York City Council in the Arts; New York City Council Member Inez E. Dickens; the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York; Ethiopian Airlines, the Délégation Générale du Québec à New York, TV5 Monde, The Village Voice, WBAI, and Public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. ADIFF is a proud member of the Harlem Arts Alliance.

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