We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
1
WEDNESDAY
Funded in part by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Ford Foundation, Yellow Card is basically a propaganda film. But it’s an engaging one, and one with a worthy cause: promoting condom use in AIDS-ravaged Africa. Tiyane (Leroy Gopal) is a high-school student in Zimbabwe and a promising soccer player with the semipro Hyenas, “the golden boys from the ghetto.’’ He engages in a one-afternoon stand with classmate Linda (Ratidzo Mambo), who has a crush on him. Then, soon after Tiyane meets true love Juliet (Kasamba Mkumba), a biracial preppie with a beaming smile and rich parents, Linda inconveniently announces that she’s pregnant. This film, part of the American Film Institute’s ongoing CinemAFRICA series, is both better-made and more credible than Thunderbolt, the Nigerian AIDS parable shown in February. And though the movie takes its name from a soccer penalty, it’s blessedly short on sports-flick clichés. The film screens at 8:45 p.m. (see Showtimes for other dates) at the AFI’s Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $8.50. (301) 495-6700. (Mark Jenkins)