Namibian premiere of cult classic ‘Sankofa’

CULT classic ‘Sankofa’ (1993) will be screened locally by AfricAvenir on Saturday, 31 October. The powerful and moving film is highly acclaimed. Directed by Haile Gerima, the film has had a transformative impact on audiences since its release in 1993.

Gerima can be considered one of the most influential African film directors in the United States, not only due to his body of filmwork but also in terms of his influence as a film professor at Howard University, Washington DC.

“Presenting ‘Sankofa’ to Namibian audiences has been on AfricAvenir’s wishlist since the beginning of African Perspectives in 2006/7. We finally can say: This masterpiece is showing in Windhoek. We can finally celebrate ‘Sankofa’ in Windhoek,” said AfricAvenir director Hans-Christian Mahnke.

‘Sankofa’ was developed from 20 years of research into the Maafa (the word used for the trans-Atlantic enslavery-trade/genocide) and the experiences of African enslaved in the new world. The film represents complex characters and empowering moments of resilience that assert humanity in the face of subjugation. Unlike Hollywood’s depiction of enslavery, Gerima presents the often suppressed history of enslaved resistance and rebellion and represents the enslaved as agents of their own liberation.

The story begins with Mona (Oyafunmike Ogunlano), an African American model on a fashion shoot at the former enslaved castles in Cape Coast, Ghana. Mona undergoes a journey back in time and place to a plantation in North America where she becomes Shola, a house slave, and experiences the suffering of enslavery firsthand. In becoming Shola and returning to her past culture and heritage, Mona is able to recover her lost identity and confront her ancestral experience. Shola’s interactions with her fellow enslaved are marked with humanity and dignity, most notably with Shango (Mutabaruka), a rebellious field slave, and Nunu (Alexandra Duah), one of the few enslaved to remember her life in Africa before being stolen by Europeans.

The film’s narrative structure follows the concept of ‘Sankofa’, an Akan word that signifies the recuperation of one’s past in order to comprehend the present and find one’s future.

This highly acclaimed film was nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1993 and won first prize at the African Film Festival in Milan, Italy, while also scooping the best cinematography award in Burkina Faso in 1993.

Entrance for the screening is N$40 at the Goethe Centre. The screening starts at 19h00.

– AfricAvenir

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