Celluloid Rising: African Diaspora Film Festival

IN 1993, THE AFRICAN DIASPORA FILM FESTIVAL launched in New York to show films by and about "people of color in a context different from the usual museums, cultural centers and universities to which these films have been relegated," according to ArtMattan Productions' Web site.

This is the third year a version of the festival has come to D.C., and while this time around it's back in the "usual museum[s]," the first part of the mission is still the same.

The focus of 2008's Washington African Diaspora Film Festival is movies by or about women, ranging from dramas to documentaries, all screened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts from Friday to Sunday.

On Friday there's "Looking for Life" (4:30 p.m.), which tells the story of two Haitian women trying to make a living in the collapsing Port-au-Prince; "Gulpilil: One Red Blood" (6 p.m.), a documentary on Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil; and "NY's Dirty Laundry" (8 p.m., followed by a Q&A with director Patrice Johnson), which covers the strained relationship between blacks and Arabs in the post-9/11 Big Apple.

Saturday brings the Mozambique-filmed "Nelio's Story" (10 a.m.), a mythic, violent coming-of-age tale about an orphan boy with magical powers; "Maria Bethania: Music Is Perfume" (12 p.m.), a documentary on the Brazilian songstress; and "Faraw! Mother of the Dunes" (2 p.m.), a drama about a Malian mom struggling to keep her family together in the face of overwhelming poverty.

Sunday closes the festival with four films. "Susana Baca: Memoria Viva" (11 a.m.) captures the legendary singer who's known as the "Soul of Black Peru." "Sara Gomez: An Afro-Cuban Filmmaker" (noon) profiles Cuba's first female filmmaker but also explores racial discrimination under Castro's reign. "Cape Verde: My Love" (2 p.m.) is a drama that involves childhood friends whose adult lives intersect in devastating ways. And "As Old as My Tongue: The Myth and Life of Bi Kidude" (4 p.m.) documents the now 90-something Muslim taarab singer from Zanzibar whose smoking and flirting are as impressive as the life she's led as a superb artist whose voice was in demand by sultans and sailors alike.

» National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave. NW; Fri.-Sun., $9 per film; 202-783-7370. (Metro Center)

Bi Kidude photo courtesy W. Graebner