Cry Freetown

Maafa: Truth 2007(en)

With the British government promoting an inaccurate revisionist version of the 1807 Abolition of the 'Slave Trade' Act many are determined to ensure that Truth prevails in 2007. With contributions from community activists, project workers, teachers, historians and the business community, this documentary confronts the myths about British slavery, presents the true history of the Maafa and African resistance and examines the politics of the government's bicentenary celebrations. On Screen Contributors: Dr Abiola Ogunshola, emma pierre, Bro Hakim, Dr Hakim Adi, Henry Bonsu, Ms Serwah, Bro Omowale, Kwaku Bonsu, Kubara Zamani, Dr Kimani Nehusi, Bro Ldr Mbandaka, Michael Eboda, Onyeka, shaka Marday, Stephen Henry, Teleica Kirkland and Dr William Lez Henry. Directed by Toyin Agbetu Produced by emma pierre

Maisha Solutions(en)

In a two part documentary, specifically made for a Pan African audience, we follow the writer and activist, Toyin Agbetu as he shares the results of his three year journey across three continents in seek of solutions to the many problems African people currently face as a result of Maafa. Rejecting the classic ten point plan method, Maisha Solutions instead features contributions from various voices across the world with a strong emphasis placed upon independent learning and the empowerment of young people and women. This two part film offers insights into various topics and invites viewers to take leadership roles by becoming Pan African community workers that utilise our progressive traditional customs in order to successfully tackle many of the challenges we face today. Directed and Produced by Toyin Agbetu

The Walk(en)

On 27 March 2007 a Pan Africanist named Toyin Agbetu challenged the British Government, Monarchy and Church as they gathered to hold a religious celebration for the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in Westminster Abbey, England. Toyin, who condemned the service as an insult and disgrace, halted the proceedings with words that gave a voice to the collective view of millions around the world. As Maafa truths were revealed he was demonised and misrepresented in the British media as a ‘lone madman’. Watch the restored uncensored footage of what happened that day and afterwards when the African community in Britain stood beside him - from his arrest and incarceration to the eventual dropping of all criminal charges. Directed by Toyin Agbetu Produced by emma pierre

Ancestral Voices(en)

An educational documentary spanning two continents, opening up a much-needed debate about traditional African spiritual systems; their cosmologies, ideologies and underlying ethical principles. Modern science no longer refutes the origins of mankind being in Africa and similarities in the cosmological ideologies of African esoteric systems with those found many established world religions today, suggest that it was not only people that migrated, but also concepts and themes that then provided bedrock for the formation of other systems of belief.

Shado'man(en)

In Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, a group of friends lives on the streets. They call themselves the Freetown Streetboys, even though there are some women among them as well. Suley, Lama, David, Alfred, Shero and Sarah have all faced enormous physical and psychological challenges, and have been abandoned by the world around them. Without commentary and in poetic, cinematic images, the camera records the dark environment that they inhabit. The group shares their heartrending stories of the precarious nature of life in this complex country. But there is also room for everyday personal struggles, such as starting relationships, how to bring up children (or not), and sex.

Break Free - Two People. Two Years. One Dream(de)

When Lena and Ulli start the engine of their old Land Rover, Lady Terés, they have a plan: to drive from Hamburg to South Africa in six months. What they don't know yet is that they won't ever get there. Two totally different characters, jammed together in two square meters of space for almost two years, they experience what it really means to travel: leaving your comfort zone for good.

Awoko(en)

Shot over one night in the loud, dimly lit printing press, this is the story of the men whose labour lies behind Sierra Leone's oldest daily newspaper.

Ritos Populares: Umbanda no Brasil(pt)

A documentary based on the book Umbanda no Brasil by the scholar Mata e Silva, who is interviewed by the director. The book studies the Brazilian religion known as spiritism, a syncretism of African beliefs and magical rites, Indian beliefs and images, and Catholic symbols.

Rivers of Fire and Ice(en)

A Wildlife Safari through Africa.

Villa Madjo(fr)

The Language You Cry In(en)

THE LANGUAGE YOU CRY IN tells an amazing scholarly detective story that searches for -and finds- meaningful links between African Americans and their ancestral past. It bridges hundreds of years and thousands of miles from the Gullah people of present-day Georgia back to 18th century Sierra Leone.

The Scientist of Sound(en)

Thursday 27th of October 2016 – Teatro Espace, Turin. Mulatu Astatke is a musician, composer, arranger and Ethiopia’s cultural ambassador. He’s known as the godfather of ethiojazz, a unique blend of jazz, traditional Ethiopian music, latin, caribbean reggae and afrofunk. Born in 1943 in Jimma, Mulatu studied music not only in Ethiopia but also in UK and USA. In 2005 he contributed to the soundtrack of Jim Jarmusch’s film “Broken Flowers”, reaching a new public worldwide.

The Last of the Babingas(fr)

In the equatorial forest of Congo Brazzaville and the Central African Republic pygmies live. Over-exploitation and waste of resources have had a significant impact on the lives of Pygmies. The story is based on Mangala an old and wise voice of these disappearing people.

The Adventure(en)

In 2011, as tens of thousands of migrants, Loss, and Madess Moussa arrived in Europe via Turkey. Required by EU law to remain in Greece, they only want one thing : to leave. Therefore earn the money needed to start is an obsession and all means are good. The film "The Adventure" follows the lives of these three Ivorians to Athens - their sense of enclosure, strategies to find money, failover illegally, attempts to start - and explores what is at stake, individually and collectively during migration: relations to other migrant communities, friendship, betrayal, solidarity, mafias and violence.

52 Blocks: Show and Prove(en)

As beautiful and sleek as it is deadly, 52 Blocks merits special conservation efforts as the United States' only existing native martial culture, as it is indeed, the jazz of the martial arts world. Across the African diaspora, there are manifestations of African-derived warrior-dances, capoeira in brazil, mani in Cuba, ladja in Martinique, pinge in Haiti- yet the US offshoot has remained esoteric, because it was suppressed throughout slavery, Reconstruction and Jim Crow and then obscured in the criminal justice system. The history, interviews and training of the martial arts style that created Breakdance and boxing greats like Mike Tyson.

Blood Diamonds(en)

Blood Diamonds is a made-for-TV documentary series, originally broadcast on the History Channel, that looks into the trade of diamonds which fund rebellions and wars in many African nations. The program focuses primarily on two nations: Sierra Leone and Angola. Diamonds which are traded for this purpose are known as blood diamonds.

Os Comprometidos - Actas de um processo de descolonização(pt)

The film deals with the judgment of the so-called "compromised", who integrated the colonial apparatus. At Josina Machel school, in an amphitheater with a full audience and balcony, there is a stage where Samora Machel and the members of the Frelimo political committee are located. He records Samora, an impeccable political actor, sometimes histrionic, in the role that he is attributed as the animator of the scene in the trial.

Adrift: People of a Lesser God(en)

ADRIFT- People of a Lesser God is the story of an incredible odyssey made by several-times Pulitzer Prize-nominated undercover reporter Dominique C. Mollard. In this gripping story, Mollard sails with 38 African migrants, among them a five-month-old baby, out of West Africa on a quest to reach the golden shores of Europe. All aboard are packed together like sardines in a leaky fishing canoe as they set off under full moon on their harrowing journey. ADRIFT-People of a Lesser God captures the struggle of these desperate migrants as they brave their way across the cold Atlantic, risking their lives in search for a better future. —Ziad H. Hamzeh

Hell(es)

Chennu committed his first crime when he was 15 years old: being a street kid. And he entered hell: Pademba Road. The adult prison in Freetown. In hell, Mr. Sillah is in charge, and there is no hope. Chennu got out after four years. Now he wants to go back.

On Freedom of Movement (wi de muv)(en)

The film considers what it means to be free to move, not as in leave or flee, but to move. It explores the ability of the environments we live in – especially cities – to create the space people need to move. Shot in Freetown, Sierra Leone, it explores the power of the creative sectors in the city and their immense potential.