Movie Night & Discussion: Sankofa
Selected and presented by
Young Mothers Residential Program (YMRP)
Fri., July 10, 2009
Doors open @ 6:15PM
Movie begins @ 6:30PM
2521 Holman Street
Light Refreshments provided
Film Synopsis:
Sankofa is an Akan (Ghanaian) word meaning “one must return to the past in order to move forward.” Written and directed by Ethiopian-born filmmaker and Howard University professor Haile Gerima, Sankofa is the story of the psycho-spiritual journey of Mona, a self-possessed African American woman who faces an identity crisis. From the African continent through the Middle Passage and the Americas, Mona relives her past and is transformed.
A seductive model in the United States, Mona is posing near a former slaveholding fortress in West Africa for a photo shoot. Far from the exotic setting her photographer hoped for, Mona is possessed by lingering spirits and is transfixed by a self-appointed cultural guardian and griot (storyteller) who won’t let her forget her past.
In a flashback, Mona is taken into slavery. She lives out her life as Shola, a house servant on a Southern plantation. This film is about the still present legacy of slavery, told from the perspective of its victims. Filmed in West Africa, Jamaica, and Louisiana, it offers a rich view of the psycho-spiritual baggage of the slave past. While the story will be an eye-opener for some, it speaks powerfully of the complexities of the slave legacy and invites viewers into the hearts, minds, and souls of a people whose lives were not their own.
