Join us the evening of September 19th as we honor and say thank you to Manthia Diawara for his years of dedicated service and vision for the Institute of African American Affairs. The evening will begin with a screening of his latest film An Opera Of the World, the centerpiece of which is a staging of Wasis Diop’s Bintu Were, A Sahel Opera filmed on location in Bamako, Mali in 2007. The opera is a pioneering work telling the story of migration from West Africa to Europe by combining traditional Malian music with the structure of the Western operatic art form. Diawara’s film serves as a mirror to build an aesthetic and reflexive story, through song and dance, about the current and yet timeless drama of migration between North and South, and the ongoing refugee crises.

Details to follow in the Fall