The New York African Film Festival was just voted the fourth best festival in the city–no mean feat.

The 17th edition of the festival kicks of later this week at Lincoln Center and a few other venues around New York City.  Highlights include Oliver Hermanus’ claustrophobic “Shirley Adams,” about a mother in a coloured township in Cape Town caring for her ungrateful son who is paralyzed. (I had to review the film for the festival. Hermanus is definitely going places.) There’s also “Streetball,” about the homeless World Cup, the comedy “White Wedding” (picture above), “Bronx Princess,” about Ghanaian immigrants in New York City, and a film about Che Guevara’s Congolese translator.

I’ll be there a few times–among others, I will interview the filmmakers, Monique Mbeka Phoba and Guy Kabeya Muya, after a screening of their film, “Between the Cup and the Elections,” (a beautiful film about Zaire’s 1974 World Cup football team).

For the schedule and information about the films, click here.