Because jazz is the miraculous product of the horror of slavery, Youssou N'Dour returned to the slave route and the music they created, in search of new inspiration. Accompanied by the blind Swiss pianist Moncef Genoud and the Director of the Gorée House of Slaves Museum, Joseph N'Diaye, the Senegalese singer wrote new songs during this initiatory voyage which took him to the USA then to Europe. At Gorée, an island just off the Senegalese coast and symbol of the slave trade, his memorable concert marked the end of this quest and the start of a new challenge: making today's generation aware of the tragedy of slavery, the importance of not forgetting and the need for reconciliation.
The story of three Turkish men. They all grew up in Switzerland and all got deported after various criminal offenses.
Part documentary, part personal essay, this experimental film combines archive imagery with the striking wintry landscapes of Alaska to tell the story of immigrant experience coming into the UK from 1960 onwards.
This biographical docudrama traces the life of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, from his birth in Alsace, up to the age of 30 when he made the decision to go to French Equatorial Africa and build his jungle hospital. The latter half of the film encompasses a full day in the hospital-village, following the octogenarian Samaritan in his daily rounds.
'Insecure' star Yvonne Orji celebrates her Nigerian-American upbringing in her debut HBO comedy special, which intersperses her stand-up with documentary footage of a trip to Nigeria.
In Nigeria, to be a twin can be a blessing or a curse. The father of O is the village chief, a witch doctor who believes in the curse of twins. One day, this witch doctor tried to kill his two sons during a ritual ceremony: O managed to escape but saw his brother being murdered. Having fled across his country, he succeeded, by chance, in leaving Nigeria and going into exile in France.
In 2014, 276 teenage girls came together for exams in Chibok, Nigeria -- by dawn, nearly all had disappeared and their school was burnt. Jessica, an escapee, shares her haunting account of a friendship violently interrupted by Boko Haram.
2 Rats is a 2003 Nigerian comedy film directed by Andy Chukwu. Nollywood's highest-paid actors, Osita Iheme and Chinedu Ikedieze, play two young boys whose father has been murdered by their uncle. In a selfish move, Amaechi Muonagor wants them to work as house boys in their father's own house.
As queer trans and gender non-conforming children of the Vietnamese diaspora, we are fragmented at the crossroads of being displaced from not only a sense of belonging to our ancestral land, but also our own bodies which are conditioned by society to stray away from our most authentic existence. Yet these bodies of ours are the vessels we sail to embark on a lifetime voyage of return to our original selves. It is our bodies that navigate the treacherous tides of normative systems that impose themselves on our very being. And it is our bodies that act as community lighthouses for collective liberation. Ultimately, the landscape of our bodies is our blueprint to remembering, to healing, to blooming.
A poetic tribute to writer, poet and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed alongside eight other activists for opposing the environmental damage done in their oil-rich homeland, Ogoni.
Out of Darkness is a full length three-part documentary by director Amadeuz Christ (Δ+), examining the untold history of African people, the African cultural contribution to the nations of the world, and the events that have contributed to the condition of African people today. Out of Darkness will explore the Nubian/Kushitic origins of Nile Valley Civilization, contact between Africa and the Americas since the times of antiquity, as well as the influence of the Moors in Europe leading to Europe’s intellectual Renaissance. In addition, the film will analyze the history of modern day racism, the concept of “white supremacy,” the impact of Hip Hop as a social movement, and the idea of nationhood. Out of Darkness is narrated by Prof. Kaba Kamene and co-stars Dr. Umar Johnson, Dr. Claud Anderson, Tim Wise, Prof. James Small, Dr. Joy DeGruy, Anthony Browder, Sabir Bey, Atlantis Browder, and Taj Tarik Bey.
This feature documentary looks at new evidence that suggests the majority of the Jewish people may not have been exiled following the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Travelling from Galilee to Jerusalem and the catacombs of Rome, the film asks us to rethink our ideas about an event that has played a critical role in the Christian and Jewish traditions.
Almost all Jews in South Africa originally came from Lithuania. As early as the 19th century, a handful of them reached the shores of South Africa. Those who made the trip became successful artists, entrepreneurs and activists, while those who stayed behind were massacred by Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators. The film explores how these bittersweet circumstances have constructed the identities of South African Litvaks. Personal recounts and anecdotes paint the tragedy of the Holocaust, hopes of a new life in South Africa, as well as unique bonds for the future. (Lithuanian Film Center)
When the 2004 tsunami hit the coast of Sri Lanka, 65-year-old Anton Ambrose's wife and daughter were killed. "In five minutes," he says, "I lost everything." A year later, Anton returns to Sri Lanka. With him is his nephew, award-winning filmmaker Rohan Fernando. A Tamil, Anton moved to California in the 1970s and became a very successful gynecologist. His daughter, Orlantha, made the opposite journey, returning to Sri Lanka where she ran a non-profit group that gave underprivileged children free violin lessons. Blood and Water is the story of one man's search for meaning in the face of overwhelming loss, but it is also filled with improbable characters, unintentional comedy and situational ironies.
Shehu, a Nigerian cab driver who's had less than stellar luck with women, recently has the misfortune of picking up a woman who wasn't one at all. Out of frustration, Shehu vows to never touch another American woman again. He travels home to Nigeria to find a wife and hang up his bachelor ways. His plan is to find a nurse so she can get certified in the USA and make enough money for him to stay home and drink beer if he so chooses. When Shehu returns to the USA with a new wife and a fresh outlook on life, he didn't count on his new wife learning the ways of the African American woman. Now his wife has embraced her new-found identity, and Shehu is stuck trying to figure it all out.
American Herro is the remarkable story of a young Kurdish girl who comes to America as a refugee from Iraq and lives out the American dream. 30-years later, traveling the globe working for Condoleeza Rice, U.S. Diplomat Herro Mustafa invites her first American friend, filmmaker Kirk Roos, to visit Iraq and retrace her steps to freedom.
Irpinia follows the journey of young West Indian dreamer Dudley as he makes his way to England in the 1960s. At 24 years old, Dudley boarded a ship named Irpinia in search of a better life in England, the so-called motherland. Now 86, Dudley reflects on the exciting journey at sea and the harsh reality that lay ahead of him.
Africans have become the new must have accessory. Okay, not really, but everyone knows one, works with one or has a sister that’s dating one of us. What makes you African? Is it enough that you’re born there? Do you need to be able to dance? Why does being South African not register as African in most places? You’re thinking about it right now aren’t you? Questioning it. Africa changes people. People who visit game reserves wear ranger outfits... why is that? We don’t wear scrubs when going to the doctor... Africa puts things in perspective, this show will help you find that focus, delivered to you by a Token African.
Ben Caldwell’s Medea, a collage piece made on an animation stand and edited entirely in the camera, combines live action and rapidly edited still images of Africans and African Americans which function like flashes of history that the unborn child will inherit. Caldwell invokes Amiri Baraka’s poem “Part of the Doctrine” in this experimental meditation on art history, Black imagery, identity and heritage.