Motherland (film)
Encyclopedia
Motherland is a 2010 independent documentary film directed and written by Owen 'Alik Shahadah
. Motherland is the sequel to the multiaward winning film 500 Years Later
.
Surround. A technology which is usually associated with Hollywood big production films. The producers claim to have innovated a new way of mixing music in 5.1 for film which they call split positioning.
after his negative remarks regarding Zimbabwe and the ANC
split. Tutu does appear in one film Our Story Our Voice
by the same director.
Owen 'Alik Shahadah
Owen 'Alik Shahadah is a director, African writer, and scholar. He is best known for authoring works, which deal with African history, social justice, environmental issues, education and world peace...
. Motherland is the sequel to the multiaward winning film 500 Years Later
500 Years Later
500 Years Later is the title of an independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah, written by M. K. Asante, Jr. released in 2005. It won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary...
.
Synopsis
Motherland is an epic documentary about the African continent from Ancient Kemet to the present. It is an overview of African history and contemporary issues but with the African people at the centre of the story. It is one of the first Pan-African features to be made.Awards
- 2011 Motherland (film)Motherland (film)Motherland is a 2010 independent documentary film directed and written by Owen 'Alik Shahadah. Motherland is the sequel to the multiaward winning film 500 Years Later.- Synopsis:...
| Nominated Best Diaspora Documentary African Movie Academy AwardAfrican Movie Academy AwardThe African Movie Academy Awards, popularly known as AMAA Awards, are presented annually to recognize excellence of professionals in the African film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The awards are aimed at honouring and promoting excellence in the African movie industry as well...
(2011) - Best Documentary Zanzibar International Film FestivalZanzibar International Film FestivalThe Zanzibar International Film Festival , also known as Festival of the Dhow Countries, is an annual film festival held in Zanzibar, Tanzania. It has been described as the largest cultural event in East Africa. During the festival, films are shown in Stone Town in Zanzibar City, as well as rural...
(2010) - Best Board of directors award for Documentary Pan-African Film FestivalPan-African Film FestivalEstablished in 1992, The Pan African Film Festival is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression....
(2010)
Cast
The cast features key figures from the African political world.- Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
stock footage from visit to Africa - Harry BelafonteHarry BelafonteHarold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
- Rohan MarleyRohan MarleyRohan Anthony Marley is the son of late reggae artist Bob Marley and Janet Hunt.A 1991 graduate of Miami Palmetto Senior High School, Marley played linebacker for the University of Miami football team, where he played alongside players like Dwayne Johnson and Ray Lewis. In 1993 he led the...
, son of Bob MarleyBob MarleyRobert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
and member of the Rastafari MovementRastafari movementThe Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God... - Amiri BarakaAmiri BarakaAmiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
- Abdulkadir Ahmed SaidAbdulkadir Ahmed SaidAbdulkadir Ahmed Said is a prominent Somali film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor.-Biography:Said was born in 1953 in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In 1970, he began working for the Somali Film Agency as a photographer assigned to international relations and as a...
, Somali filmmaker - Maulana Karenga
- Jacob ZumaJacob ZumaJacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is the President of South Africa, elected by parliament following his party's victory in the 2009 general election....
, President of South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... - Frances Cress WelsingFrances Cress WelsingFrances Cress Welsing Frances Cress Welsing Frances Cress Welsing (born March 18, 1935 in Chicago is an African American psychiatrist practicing in Washington, D.C.. She is noted for her "Cress Theory of Color Confrontation", which explores the practice of white supremacy...
- Molefi Kete AsanteMolefi Kete AsanteMolefi Kete Asante is an African-American scholar, historian, and philosopher. He is a leading figure in the fields of African American studies, African Studies and Communication Studies...
- Kimani Nehusi
- Chen Chimutengwende, Minister of Information and Publicity ZimbabweZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
- Omowale Clay
- Meles ZenawiMeles ZenawiMeles Zenawi Asres is the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Since 1985, he has been chairman of the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front , and is currently head of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front .Meles was born in Adwa, Tigray in Northern Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian father from...
, Prime Minister of Ethiopia - David Commissiong
- Ali MazruiAli MazruiAli Al'amin Mazrui is an academic and political writer on African and Islamic studies and North-South relations. He is an Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and the Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York.-Education:Mazrui...
- Mohamed Ibn ChambasMohamed Ibn ChambasMohamed Ibn Chambas is a lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic from Ghana. In 2002 he became the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States . In 2007, he was appointed the group's first President by the governments of its member states, serving a four year term...
, President of the ECOWAS Commission - Haki R. MadhubutiHaki R. MadhubutiHaki R. Madhubuti is a renowned African-American author, educator, and poet. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, and served in the U.S...
- Hakim AdiHakim AdiDr Hakim Adi ) received his PhD from SOAS, London University. He is a founder member of the Black and Asian Studies Association, which he chaired for several years.-Written work :...
- Nicole Lee, TransAfrica ForumTransAfrica ForumTransAfrica Forum is an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to influence the foreign policy of the United States concerning African countries and the African diaspora.-See also:* Diaspora politics in the United States...
- Tsedenia GebremarkosTsedenia GebremarkosTsedina Gebremarkos is an Ethiopian artist. She has released songs about HIV/AIDS, and met Brad Pitt when he was visiting the country. She shared the prize for best East African female at the Kora Awards in 2004 for the song "Ewedhalehu", with Achien'g Abura for her song "Toto Wangu."Tsedina has...
- Zanele Hlatshwayo, Mayor of Pietermaritzburg
- Gamal NkrumahGamal NkrumahGamal Gorkeh Nkrumah is a Ghanaian journalist, a Pan-Africanist and an editor of Al Ahram Weekly newspaper. He is the eldest son of the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and his Egyptian wife Fathia Nkrumah....
, son of Ghana's first President Kwame NkrumahKwame NkrumahKwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana... - Jeff RadebeJeff RadebeJeffrey Thamsanqa "Jeff" Radebe , is currently South Africa's Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development. He was born in Cato Manor, and lived there until 1958 when his family was forcibly removed to KwaMashu....
, ANCAfrican National CongressThe African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a... - Hakim Quick
- Didymus MutasaDidymus MutasaDidymus Noel Edwin Mutasa is a Zimbabwean politician, currently serving as the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and as the Secretary for Administration of ZANU-PF.-Family background:...
, ZANU-PF - Abune PaulosAbune PaulosAbune Paulos is Abuna and Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church . His full title is "His Holiness Abuna Paulos, Fifth Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Ichege of the See of St...
, Patriarch of Ethiopian Orthodox Church - Esther Stanford
- Kwesi Kwaa PrahKwesi Kwaa PrahProfessor Kwesi Kwaa Prah is a sociologist and anthropologist. He is currently the Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society in Cape Town, South Africa...
- S'bu NdebeleS'bu NdebeleSibusiso Joel "S'bu" Ndebele , is the current Minister of Transport in the Cabinet of South Africa...
- Ali Moussa Iye
- Adama SamassékouAdama SamassékouAdama Samassékou from Mali is the current president, with ministerial rank, of the African Academy of Languages. Born in 1946 in Mali, he served between July 2002 and December 2003 as the President of the PrepCom of the Geneva phase of the . Previously, he was Malian Minister of Education and...
- Desmond TutuDesmond TutuDesmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
(deleted by directors)
5.1 surround
Motherland is one of the only African documentaries to be mixed in 5.1 Dolby DigitalDolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
Surround. A technology which is usually associated with Hollywood big production films. The producers claim to have innovated a new way of mixing music in 5.1 for film which they call split positioning.
Tutu interview
The director and producers decided to remove all interviews with Desmond TutuDesmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
after his negative remarks regarding Zimbabwe and the ANC
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
split. Tutu does appear in one film Our Story Our Voice
Our Story Our Voice
Our Story Our Voice is a 2007 independent political documentary which looks at the social tension in the world today. The film offers a dialogue with the marginalized voices that are rarely heard in mainstream media...
by the same director.