WATCH VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH FRANCES BODOMO

What's The 411's Kizzy Cox talked with African filmmaker Frances Bodomo, director of the film, Boneshaker at the 20th Anniversary of the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF).

The Ghanaian-born Ms. Bodomo talks about how the experience of living in Hong Kong, Norway, and California has influenced her life and thus, her new film Boneshaker. She also talks about working with Academy Award-winning actress Quvenzhané Wallis and how Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène, the Father of African Cinema, shaped her views on filmmaking.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) and African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) teamed up once again for the 20th New York African Film Festival (NYAFF), presented under the banner theme LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD: 20 YEARS OF THE NEW YORK AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL.

This year's lineup will pay homage to Sembène.

Opening Night includes a screening of Guelwaar, Sembène's powerful and politically charged 1990s film that cemented his reputation as the Father of African Cinema and opened the very first NYAFF—and the first generation of African filmmakers while passing the baton to a new generation of African visual storytellers.

Some of the VIPS in attendance were: NYAFF Founder Mahen Bonetti; Samba Gadjigo, Professor of French at Mount Holyoke College and Ousmane Sembène's biographer; African Filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako (Life On Earth and October); and the legendary dancer, choreographer, actress, and mentor, Carmen de Lavallade.