Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 2 November 2006 — Page 35

The Muncie Times • November 2, 2006 • Page 35

AFRICAN BRIEFS

Foreign film makers flocking to Africa (GIN)—Some of Hollywood’s brightest and best are packing their camera equipment and heading to Africa, where a score of blockbuster films have emerged in recent months. The latest film out of Africa ta> open in the United .States, "Catch a Fire," is the real life story of a black family man who rebels against South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1980s. "Catch a Fire," opened to acclaim on the heels of "The Last King of Scotland" which may be an Oscar winner for Forest Whitaker, who playf^former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in a fictionalized story of the dictator's dark relationship with a Scottish doctor who becomes his personal physician. Other homegrown productions from Africa include last year's "Tsotsi," a South African drama that was the first in nearly 30 years to win the Academy Awa rd for best foreign language film. "I think the world is turning its attention to Africa, postcolonial Africa. It's a great source of conflict, and conflict is what makes drama, and drama attracts storytellers and filmmakers," said Phillip Noyce, the Australian director of "Catch a Fire". Other films scheduled for opening this fall include "Babel," starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, and "Blood Diamond," debuting in December, dramatizing the civil war and bloody gem trade in 1990s Sierra Leone. But will audiences around the world go for African films by African filmmakers, about Africans and star-

ring African actors?" "Catch a Fire" director Noyce said yes. "Those outsiders who have come in and paved the way by making African stories and taking them to the world will have opened the floodgates for the truly indigenous productions... There is a great talent pool out there." Actor Snipes, wanted on U.S. tax charges is. shooting movie in Southern African desert (GIN)—Actor Wesley Snipes is behind the camera in Namibia, Southern Africa, filming his next movie, "Gallowwalker." He's also behind the eightball of federal tax officials, following his indictment on eight counts of tax fraud. The "Blade" star has been charged with failing to file federal income tax returns between 1999 and ■ 2004 and claiming what may be illegal refunds of almost $12 million. He reportedly took the advice of accountants, also charged, that U.S. residents could be taxed only on income from foreign sources. Joanne Reay says Snipes, who is the lead actor in the movie, is on location in the desert. She says he traveled to the African country to shoot the film and not to flee the tax charges in the United States. If convicted on all charges, he could face 16 years in prison. African 'drama queen' dies in SA car crash (GIN)—From a gospel singer to one of the best known and most popular pop stars in post-apartheid South Africa, Lebo Mathosa led a star-crossed life that

ended much too soon in a car crash this week near Johannesburg, She was 29. A head turner with her dyed blonde hair, breathtaking dance routines and vocal range, Mathosa was a leading artist of "kwaito", South Africa's version of hip-hop. Mathosa won numerous African music awards, saw her debut album go gold within 4 weeks of its release, performed for the qu een in Trafalgar Square and played at Nelson Mandela's 85th birthday. This year she was nominated for Best African Act at the Mobo Awards. Press reports in South Africa said Mathosa was killed when the car she was traveling in flipped over on a highway east of Johannesburg. Upon learning of Mathosa's death, South African Culture Minister Pallo Jordan said: "We will always remember her as a highly gifted, young African 'drama queen' who used her life, talent and career to promote pride, respect and appreciation for African music, dance, fashion, heritage, art and culture." U.S. bars African Muslim scholar (GIN)—An Islamic scholar from South Africa, who had been invited to the United States to participate in activities marking the end of the holy month , was refused entry into the country by Customs and Border officials and sent home. Moulana Fazlur Rahman Azmi was refused entry when he landed in San Francisco on Friday. Azmi had come to give lectures and take part in the religious activities marking the end of Ramadan at the Islamic Society of East Bay in Fremont, Calif.

Members of the mosque say they waited more than 9 hours to pick up Azmi, a diabetic who had been fasting even during his trip from London to San

Northcote Parkinson Fund prize in Civil Courage, was speaking at the African Roundtable of Global Information Network, cohosted by Milton Allimadi, publisher of Black Star

News. Marques noted that not only in New York are apartments renting and selling for astronomical prices. Million dollar homes are

to evil at great personal risk, rather than military valor. More information about Marques and the prize can be found at the website of Northcote Parkinson: www.civilcourageprize.org

Francisco. They were not allowed to provide food for the 60-year-old scholar and were not told why he had been denied entry. (Azmi had previously entered the United States without any problem last April . ) In September, another South African Muslim scholar was similarly denied entry at a Virginia airport. At that time, the Council on American-Islamic Relations expressed concerns that there is a pattern of targeting Muslim scholars traveling to the United States. Angola's oil wealth benefits country's ruling elite, says leading journalist (GIN)—Angola's vast oil supply is making billions for multinational oil companies thanks to generous contracts signed with the former socialist government of Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor in Angola, Africa's second biggest oil exporter, is widening. More than twothirds of the country's 16 million people live on U.S.$2 or less a day- and 4 million of those survive on U.S. 75 cents or less a day. Those were among the many tragic images of modern Angola asserted by independent journalist Rafael Marques de Morais. Marques, in New York last month to receive the

also available just outside of Luanda, the country's capital. The country's wealth is "concentrated in the hands of a small elite, who often use government positions for massive personal enrichment," he explained. According to Angolense, a newspaper based in the capital, Luanda, 10 Angolans have fortunes exceeding U.S.$100 million, while another 49 have more than U.S.$50 million. President Jose' Eduardo Dos Santos was rated as the richest of the rich, followed by a parliamentary deputy, two officials in the president's office, an ambassador, a former army chief of staff, and the minister of public works. The seven richest Angolans were all in the ruling MPLA government. Marques also noted that non-governmental organizations from western countries fail, in many cases, to listen to the people they are assigned to serve and for that reason, their projects use a lot of money iyThe African Roundtable is intended to bring unique and thoughtful voices and perspectives from the continent that rarely find a platform in the United States. The online edition of Black Star News can be seen at www.blackstarnews.com The Civil Courage Prize honors steadfast resistance