[Peace] Independent Film Maker - speaking at YMCA

[Menjiwe]

Ethiopian born, Haile Gerima - Independent Film Maker of such films as
"Sankofa" is visiting UIUC on April 9, 2002 at 6:30 p.m. at the
University YMCA 1001 S. Wright Street. His lecture is entitled "The
Politics of Black Cinema". Following the lecture will be a brief
reception, then showing of the "Sankofa" at 8:00 p.m. 

Sankofa a film about
Mona, a black American model, has never given any
thought to her African heritage or her people's past. But during a
photographic assignment in Ghana, a mysterious African spirit leads her
into a fort that once held slaves awaiting shipment to
the colonies. Suddenly, Mona finds herself transported back in time,
where she becomes Shola, a plantation slave in the United States. With
no memory of the present, or of freedom, and living in a world where
rape and murder are the norm, Shola/Mona must learn, from the
newly-arrived Africans who still remember, the importance of liberty and
rebellion. Only then can she begin to liberate herself.

Unlike other films depicting slavery, "Sankofa" actually brings
audiences through the social, political and religious changes needed to
support a slave culture as well as destroy it. Because of its bold
realities and firm depiction of slavery from the eyes of the oppressed,
the film has constantly been under attack.