Browse Titles - 2 results
Allah Tantou
directed by David Achkar, 1960-1998 (California Newsreel, 1991), 1 hour
Allah Tantou is the first African film to confront the immense personal and political costs of the widespread human rights abuses on the continent. It follows filmmaker David Achkar's search for his father, his father's search for himself inside a Guinean prison and Africa's search for a new beginning amid the dis...
Sample
directed by David Achkar, 1960-1998 (California Newsreel, 1991), 1 hour
Description
Allah Tantou is the first African film to confront the immense personal and political costs of the widespread human rights abuses on the continent. It follows filmmaker David Achkar's search for his father, his father's search for himself inside a Guinean prison and Africa's search for a new beginning amid the disillusionment of the post-independence era. One of the most courageous and controversial films of recent years, Allah Tantou speaks in a...
Allah Tantou is the first African film to confront the immense personal and political costs of the widespread human rights abuses on the continent. It follows filmmaker David Achkar's search for his father, his father's search for himself inside a Guinean prison and Africa's search for a new beginning amid the disillusionment of the post-independence era. One of the most courageous and controversial films of recent years, Allah Tantou speaks in an unabashedly personal voice not often heard in African cinema. The life of Marof Achkar, David's father, can be seen as emblematic of much recent African history. In 1958, his countryman, Sekou Touri, declared Guinea the first independent French African colony and became a hero of Pan-Africanism. Marof Achkar, a leading figure in the Ballets Africains, served as U.N. ambassador for the new government. In 1968, Achkar was suddenly recalled, charged with treason and vanished into the notorious Camp Boiro prison. His family was exiled and, only after Touri's death in 1984, did they learn of Achkar's execution in 1971. David Achkar writes, "I knew my father was a hero, but I wanted to know what that meant." The Marof Achkar we first encounter in home movies and newsreels is a charismatic, confident performer on the world stage. The Marof Achkar glimpsed later through letters and a remarkable prison diary is a man bereft of position, identity and family; he is now simply "Number 54." But in prison, he undergoes an almost religious conversion. "It's strange," he wrote, "I've never felt so humble, insignificant and yet it is the deepest reason of my happiness: I believe it's the grace of God." In a cinematic tradition which has privileged the calm collective voice of the griot, Allah Tantou speaks with the fragmented, uncertain rhythms of the individual conscience. Achkar juxtaposes diverse, sometimes contradictory texts - documentary, newsreel, dramatizations, photos, journals - to deny us a single, authoritative narrative space. Allah Tantou argues through its example that vigorous debate, candor and self-criticism are the pre-conditions for Africa's political and spiritual renewal.
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Field of Study
Black Studies
Content Type
Documentary
Author / Creator
David Achkar, 1960-1998
Date Published / Released
1991
Publisher
California Newsreel
Speaker / Narrator
David Achkar, 1960-1998
Person Discussed
David Achkar, 1960-1998, Marof Achkar, 1930-1971
Topic / Theme
Political prisoners, Executions, Human rights, Life histories, Diplomats, Africans, Guineans
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1991 California Newsreel
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SNCC Legacy Video, 36, Freedom Concert
produced by Natalie Bullock Brown, Ascension Productions; performed by Harry Belafonte, 1927-, in SNCC Legacy Video, 36 (San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel, 2011), 1 hour 47 mins
SNCC 50th Anniversary Conference
Volume 36 - Freedom Concert
FEATURED MUSICIANS
Hot 8 Brass Band
SNCC Freedom Singers
This session is full of the sound and power of movement song. Bernice Johnson Reagon explains the origin of the SNCC Freedom Singers. She introduces a brief video of Cordell Reagon who organized...
Sample
produced by Natalie Bullock Brown, Ascension Productions; performed by Harry Belafonte, 1927-, in SNCC Legacy Video, 36 (San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel, 2011), 1 hour 47 mins
Description
SNCC 50th Anniversary Conference
Volume 36 - Freedom Concert
FEATURED MUSICIANS
Hot 8 Brass Band
SNCC Freedom Singers
This session is full of the sound and power of movement song. Bernice Johnson Reagon explains the origin of the SNCC Freedom Singers. She introduces a brief video of Cordell Reagon who organized the singers with Charles Sherrod. Many well known activists participate in the session including Guy Carawan who introduced We Shall Ov...
SNCC 50th Anniversary Conference
Volume 36 - Freedom Concert
FEATURED MUSICIANS
Hot 8 Brass Band
SNCC Freedom Singers
This session is full of the sound and power of movement song. Bernice Johnson Reagon explains the origin of the SNCC Freedom Singers. She introduces a brief video of Cordell Reagon who organized the singers with Charles Sherrod. Many well known activists participate in the session including Guy Carawan who introduced We Shall Overcome to SNCC in 1960 Folk singer Len Chandler, a regular presence at protests and rallies, explains singing freedom songs: "When you hear something twice, sing it!" Harry Belafonte leads the audience in his famous Banana Boat Song. SNCC's own anthem, We'll Never Turn Back, written by Georgia activist Bertha Gober, closes out the College Adult
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Field of Study
Black Studies
Content Type
Performance
Performer / Ensemble
Harry Belafonte, 1927-
Contributor
Natalie Bullock Brown, Ascension Productions
Author / Creator
Harry Belafonte, 1927-
Date Published / Released
2011
Publisher
California Newsreel
Series
SNCC Legacy Video
Speaker / Narrator
Len Chandler, Guy Carawan, 1927-2015, Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1942-
Person Discussed
Len Chandler, Guy Carawan, 1927-2015, Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1942-
Topic / Theme
Revolution and Protest context, Music and Social Change, African-Americans, U.S. Civil Rights Movement, 1954-, The Arts, Black Studies, African Americans, Brazilians
Copyright Message
Copyright © 2012. Used by permission of California Newsreel. All rights reserved.
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