The Arts Club of Washington Cinematography Committee
&
Emmy Awarded Producer, Todd Clark
Present
FILM & DISCUSSION SERIES:
"Finding Community in Post-Pandemic America"
Tuesday, June 8, 2021, at 6:00 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
ACW Members & Guests Free - Non-Members $10
This week our speaker will be:
Kevin Onyona, Owner, Swahili Village and
Emad Shoeb, Director of Operations, Swahili Village
Featured movie:
Jamie Uys, “The Gods Must Be Crazy” (1980)
SERIES: Curated and hosted by local EMMY Awarded Producer, Todd Clark, this timely series will provide its audiences with a weekly brief panel presentation and full film screening that will explore this idea of Community- and the importance people attach to being a part of a Community that is meaningful, comfortable and stable. With everyone coming out of Covid fears and political chaos, where are people turning to find a community, or communities, where they feel they are trusted and fully part of? Are there currently many new communities or just new versions of past communities? How and why have different communities thrived and others dissolved or become dysfunctional, or even dangerous?
SPEAKER: Kevin Onyonais an award-winning chef and Kenyan businessman and officially now a Washingtonian. Kevin founded the Swahili Village Group from very humble beginnings with his wife. Now almost 40 years later, he has utilized this organization to build an authentic connection between the African culture and the rest of the world. The African culture has often been misinterpreted globally and it is the thinking at Swahili Village that it is time to stand forward and offer the authenticity of African culture, food, arts and music. Chef Onyona has achieved this goal through a set of fine dining African restaurants. The first restaurant was located in the state of Maryland and was a gathering place for Africans away from the motherland to feel at-home through every meal, drink or visit. After serving the local community and travelers from far and wide in this humble restaurant for 25 years; receiving dining awards and community recognition by different national and international groups, he began his expansion of his restaurants to accomplish his mission in sites across the United States of America.
Emad Shoeb, COO & Director of Operations, Swahili Village. Emad has extensive experience leading commercial and leisure projects internationally. He served as Egyptian Career Diplomate in Sudan , Libya , & the US, and has bene an Owner/Operator of T.G.I .Fridays Morocco, as well as Owner / Operator of Papa John's Morocco and has served as Director of Operations for a diverse range of businesses worldwide.
Swahili Village/The Consulate D.C. is the first iconic fine dining African restaurant located in the heart of DC’s power-dining corridor. Strategically placed within the diplomatic corridors of Washington DC, the location is also known as THE CONSULATE—-a social hub for African culture with fine dining experience. A destination for African food that not only provides an ambience for fine dining but also provides a space for social and cultural events that fosters deeper and more meaningful US-African engagement, collaborations, and extensive cross-cultural understandings.
FILM: Jamie Uys 1980 Comic Allegory, The Gods Must be Crazy is a 1980 comedy film written, produced, edited and directed by Jamie Uys. An international co-production of South Africa and Botswana, it is the first film in The Gods Must Be Crazy series.
Set in Southern Africa, the film stars Namibian San farmer Nǃxau ǂToma as Xi, a hunter-gatherer of the Kalahari Desert whose tribe discovers a glass bottle dropped from an airplane, and believe it to be a gift from their gods. When Xi sets out to return the bottle to the gods, his journey becomes intertwined with that of a biologist (played by Marius Weyers), a newly hired village school teacher (Sandra Prinsloo), and a band of guerrilla terrorists. The Gods Must Be Crazy was released by Ster-Kinekor in South Africa, where it broke box-office records, becoming the most financially successful release in the history of South Africa's film industry. The film was a commercial and critical success in other countries, including the United States, where it was distributed by 20th Century Fox, with the film's original Afrikaans dialogue being dubbed in English. Despite its success, the film attracted criticism for its depiction of race and perceived ignorance of discrimination and apartheid in South Africa.
This event includes a cocktail reception, a panel discussion and a movie screening.
The entire event will be outdoors in the patio area weather permitting.
This is the second season of this unique downtown outdoor Film & Discussion Series. The theme of the 2020 Series was, “Voting, Democracy and the Rule of Law”. This series made possible by the Arts Club of Washington
and the 2021 Film & Discussion Series Host Committee:
Co-Chair, Kim Dodd, and Supporters, Jerome Barry, and the Embassy Series
Complimentary parking after 6 pm at 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
RSVP required, reserve online.
6:00 pm Cocktail Reception
7:00 pm Movie & Discussion
