Screening more than sixty films, documentaries and shorts across ten days and six venues, Film Africa 2013 (November 1-10) rewards audiences greatly for braving dark London November evenings. So says curator Suzy Gillett, here chatting with BLOUIN ARTINFO as the festival heads into its final weekend.

What drew you to curating Film Africa 2013?

I’ve been working in African cinema for over twenty years. I was thrilled when the job was advertised on Facebook in May. I had it by June and had to deliver a programme by September. I worked seven days a week throughout the summer to put it together. It was an exciting process and very worthwhile.

How well is the festival going so far?

Amazing. Everyone has been so positive about the festival. There’s a hunger for alternative, international films. Enough with American cinema. People want to see more interesting stories made by more interesting directors.

We’ve had sold out screenings across the board. In fact, we’ve had to turn people away. Pre-booking has become a necessity, so if anyone wants to come and see something during the last few days of the festival, they should definitely check and book in advance.

Can you pick a few highlights?

We had an amazing opening night with “Of Good Report,” an incredible South African film by Jahmil X.T. Qubeka. There was a fascinating conference on The Business of Film in Africa last Sunday. On Wednesday we screened a lovely documentary called “The Virgin the Copts and Me,” an upbeat investigation of a family secret from a young Egyptian director, Namir Abdel Messeeh.

Also on Thursday we showed a wonderful documentary called “Sodiq.” It recently won Best Student Documentary at the 2013 Grierson British Documentary Awards. It’s about youth gangs in Peckham and comes from Adeyemi Michael, a Nigerian filmmaker. We wanted to include films from the diaspora, not just the continent, so this was perfect for the festival. 

Heading into the final weekend of the festival, are you excited about the line-up?

Absolutely yes. It’s remarkable. We’re screening classics as well as new films, including the very beautiful “Mother of George,” a drama set within New York’s immigrant community starring Danai Gurira, best known to most people as Michonne from “The Walking Dead.”

What does African cinema bring to the table that so-called mainstream cinema doesn’t?

Different voices. Voices you wouldn’t normally hear. We’re not running a human rights festival. We’re running a cinema festival. These are artistic works by creative people and it’s fantastic to see their work properly screened. The fact they’re selling out means there’s a hunger for this sort of cinema.

Beyond the festival, how many of the films you’re screening are being released in the UK?

Sadly only two of the new films and documentary features screening at the festival are receiving UK distribution. “Grisgris,” our closing night film by award-winning director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, will be distributed by New Wave Films. “In the Shadow of the Sun,” a documentary from Tanzania about albinos, is being distributed by Dogwood. And that’s all.

It’s incredibly tough for an international film to get past the studio system. Even though the audience is out there. We’re proving that. Distributors and cinemas need to be braver in their choices, because if our festival, and others like ours, didn’t exist, and if people didn’t buy tickets to see these films, they would literally be taken out of the market.

Buying a ticket to see one of our films is now a political act. You’re basically saying, ‘I want to see this film. This films belongs in cinemas.’ It’s up to us to get them there.

Film Africa 2013 runs until Sunday, November 10. 

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