The revered traveling French-Africa short film series, Quartiers Lointains, has set a USA premiere, following successful runs in France and across the African continent.

Curated by French-Burkinabè film journalist Claire Diao (who also founded the screening series), this season (the touring program’s 3rd), features 4 outstanding shorts from up-and-coming French-African filmmakers, all celebrating the theme “L’amour à la française” (“French Love”). They are:  Yohann Kouam, Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo, Zangro, and Alice Diop.

Check out full descriptions of each short film below, as well as background info on each filmmaker, and a trailer for the series.

The 4 films, with a total running time of 103 minutes (or about the length of your average feature-length film) will US premiere at Lincoln Center in NYC this Saturday, May 7, at kicking off at 4pm as part of the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF). Melvin van Peebles, this season’s Ambassador, will be present, along with curator/founder Claire Diao, and filmmakers Alice Diop and Patrick Zingilé (“Towards Tenderness”).

Two other NYC screenings will also take place as part of the NYAFF at Harlem Children’s Zone Center on May 4, 2016 and at the Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artists on May 6, 2016.

Following its New York dates, the series will then travel to The Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul in Minnesota on May 9; the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) in Michigan on May 11; and the Black Cinema House at Rebuild Foundation in Chicago, IL on May 13.

This tour is organized and supported by the French Embassy in the US.

Quartiers Lointains is supported by Siniman Films, a French non-profit organization whose mission is to discover, understand, and interrogate the influence of dual cultures, and offer a better understanding of others.

For more information, visit Quartiers Lointains’ website at: quartiers-lointains.com.