Video
The Adventures of Huck Finn
Film based on Mark Twain's classic book which tackles the issue of the impossible friendship between a young boy Huck Finn and his best friend Jim, a runaway slave. A film about freedom, equality and friendship. (USA, 1993)
Africa 1 & 2
A documentary on the history of Africa by historian Basil Davidson. (1984)
Amistad
The films tells the story of 53 captured Africans who revolt on board the "La Amistad", a Spanish slave ship carrying them to the USA. The mutiny leads to the imprisonment of the Africans and the beginning of a long trial which gives us a glimpse of the transatlantic slave trade. This real incident is believed to have precipitated the Civil War in the USA. (USA, 1997)
The Better Hour: William Wilberforce, A Man of Character Who Changed the World
This one-hour documentary shot in high definition coincides with international events in 2007 commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of British and American slave trade in a 20-year heroic effort led by British Parliamentarian William Wilberforce. (2007, www.thebetterhour.com)
The Colour Purple
One of the few major Hollywood dramas to concern itself with the life of Black,women in a post-slavery era. The film is based on Alice Walker's novel. (1985)
Dreams Die Hard
This film explores slavery in contemporary America. You can watch it on-line and download its Study Guide at: http://freetheslaves.net/store/dreams-die-hard/
Glory
The story of the famous 54 th all-black regiment which fought with the Union in the American Civil War. (USA, 1987)
The James Mink Story
The story of a young educated woman, born of a free black Canadian and a white Canadian woman who is sold to a plantation-owner in the USA by her white husband. (USA, 1994)
La derniere cåne
(Tomas Gutierrez Alea)
La Promesse
An interesting and realistic film about illegal immigration and black labour in contemporary Belgium. The film shows very clearly the dangers of these practices. (Norsk tittel: Løftet) (Belgium, 1996)
Les descendants de la nuit
Edmond Albius, esclave prodige
"A Man called Toussaint"
by Haile Gerima and Med Hondo on the revolutionary Haitian of the l8th century, Toussaint L'Ouverture.
The Mission
Winner of the Palme d'or in Cannes 1986, the Mission is the story of a slave-hunter who, following the murder of his brother, joins a Jesuit mission in what is now Paraguay and finds himself in the middle of a territorial conflict involving Indians, Jesuits, Spain and Portugal. The film raises issues of ethics, religion and colonialism. It is based on Robert Boltls novel The Mission (Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, 1986). (England, 1986)
Moving Midway
Award-winning Southern film critic Godfrey Cheshire uses the relocation of his family’s North Carolina plantation as the occasion to examine the Southern plantation in American history and culture, including its impact on areas as diverse as music, movies, and contemporary race relations. Part present-tense family drama, part cultural essay, the film also involves an ongoing dialogue between Cheshire and Dr. Robert Hinton, an African-American history professor whose grandfather was born a slave at Midway Plantation.
Quilombo Country
Brazil, once the world's largest slave colony, was a brutal and deadly place for millions of Africans. But many thousands escaped and rebelled, creating their own communities in Brazil's untamed hinterland. Largely unknown to the outside world, today these communities, known as quilombos, struggle to preserve a rich heritage born of resistance to oppression.
"Quilombo Country" ("Quilombo" is an Angolan word meaning "encampment") provides the historical context in which these communities developed, as well as discussion of contemporary political and social issues, plus rare footage of festivals and ceremonies. The film illustrates a significant yet often-overlooked case of the vast African contribution to the development of the Americas, based in a country with the largest African diaspora population in the world.
"Quilombo Country" is narrated by Chuck D, the legendary poet, media commentator and front man of the iconic hip hop band Public Enemy. 73 minutes * Digital Video * (Portuguese with English subtitles and narration. 2007) From: Quilombo Films quilombofilms@earthlink.net. To acquire a review copy, email us at info@quilombofilm.com or visit www.quilombofilm.com
Peter Von Scholten
A film about Von Scholten, governor of the Danish Virgin Islands, who, in 1848, abolished slavery in the colonies. (Denmark, 1987)
Sankofa
Written, directed and produced by Ethiopian-born filmmaker Haile Gerima. The African/African-American perspective of the travel to the past by a young contemporary model who experiences slavery and life on a plantation. (USA, 1993)
Sugar Cane Alley
Based on the novel by martinique writer Joseph Zobel and directed by Martinique director Euzhan Palcy, the story of an 11 year old boy and his grandmother living on a cane plantation in Martinique. (France, 1983. Original title: Rue Cases-Någres)
Through the Door of No Return
Personal journey by filmmaker Shirikiana Aina to Ghana and confronting her difficult past. (USA, 1997?)
Traces of the Trade
This personal documentary tells the story of first-time filmmaker Katrina Browne's Rhode Island ancestors, the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. At Browne’s invitation, nine fellow descendants agree to journey with her to retrace the steps of the Triangle Trade. They soon learn that slavery was business for more than just the DeWolf family—it was a cornerstone of Northern commercial life. The family travels from Bristol, Rhode Island, where the family “business” was based, to slave forts in Ghana where they meet with African-Americans on their own homecoming pilgrimages, to the ruins of a family-owned sugar plantation in Cuba. At each stop, the family grapples with the contemporary legacy of slavery, not only for black Americans, but also for themselves as white Americans. An Official Competition Selection in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival!(2007)
The Will to Survive: The Story of the Gullah/Geechee Nation
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