FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Zenzelé Clarke, zenzele.clarke@gmail.com

Third World Newsreel Screening Series Features New and Old Encounters Between African Cultures, Religions, and Spiritualities

New York, NY — Third World Newsreel will host a February screening series in New York and Washington, DC featuring two documentary films on African Spiritualities that confront legacies of colonialism and imperialism by veteran filmmakers Al Santana and Manthia Diawara. The films include a new 2K digitization by veteran Brooklyn-based filmmaker Al Santana and a new release by prolific documentary maker Manthia Diawara.

• Voices of the Gods (1985): A stunningly vibrant new 2K digitization of veteran filmmaker Al Santana’s Voices of the Gods foregrounds Akan and Yoruba spiritual traditions as practiced across the United States. Al Santana is a visual artist, independent filmmaker, cinematographer, and still photographer with film credits stretching back over the past 40 years including numerous award-winning documentaries, public affairs films, and videos.
• AI: African Intelligence (2023): Premiering at the 73rd Berlinale in 2023, in AI: African Intelligence, prolific filmmaker Manthia Diawara gains historic first-time access to show audiences private Ndeup healing ceremonies in a fishing village in Senegal. A celebrated artist, writer, and scholar, Manthia Diawara crafts personal essay films that reckon with the many changing faces of the African continent and its diaspora.

“In recent years, we’ve seen a tremendous growth of documentary films fueled by audiences seeking out brave and original stories that help us make sense of the world,” said JT Takagi, Executive Director, of Third World Newsreel. “We’re thrilled to screen the films Voices of the Gods and AI: African Intelligence that take us into African communities in the United States and Senegal to witness how religion and culture shapeshift and influence our society across continents and generations.”

Full details about the screening series:

• AI: African Intelligence at The National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.) on Feb. 1st
• Voices of the Gods at Maysles Documentary Center (Harlem, NY) + post-screening discussion between Rico Speight and Al Santana on Feb. 7th
• AI: African Intelligence at Maysles Documentary Center (Harlem, NY) in Feb, date to be confirmed
• Voices of the Gods at Sun’s Cinema (Washington D.C.) on Feb. 20th
• AI: African Intelligence at Sun’s Cinema (Washington D.C.) on Feb. 27th
• AI: African Intelligence at Darkside Cinema (Corvallis, OR) in March, date to be confirmed

TWN is excited to kick off 2025 programming with this series, drawing upon our decades-long history of supporting social justice media by and about diverse communities to help nurture not only a new generation of activist filmmakers but also the audiences who are eager to engage with documentaries — both new and old — that illuminate our shared humanity and the path forward.

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Since 1968, Third World Newsreel (TWN) has advanced movement storytelling and media arts for cultural and social justice. We champion the self-representation of historically marginalized communities — including Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian, Pacific Islander, African, Middle Eastern, Mixed/Multiracial, People with Disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ individuals — through diverse genres and forms of media, such as documentary, experimental, and fiction. Our comprehensive support includes hands-on training, fiscal sponsorship, educational distribution, and preservation, all designed to advance cultural justice and societal change.