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UCLA WAC Students Redefine Black Womanhood Through Dance Film

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Neima Patterson, third year World Arts and Cultures/Dance (WAC) major, teamed up with fellow UCLA Bruins (Anna Awolope, Kristin Baylis, Guya Frazier, Janae Osby, Natalee Palmer, Kenya Simms, Irmary Garcia, Anjali Vaswani, and Keenan Park) to produce the dance film Sister Soldiers.

As the filmmaker, editor, and choreographer of the film, Patterson addresses the stereotyped image of Black women as hyper-sexualized and dominant beings. Through choreographed dance, the film opposes the marginalization of African American women and rather defines Black womanhood as strength, pain, perseverance, beauty, and unity. “The relationships between Black women cannot be paralleled because they are unique: they are not just friends, they are sisters fighting through the journey of life,” said Patterson.

Sister Soldiers was showcased at this year’s WACsmash’D, an annual interdisciplinary live arts show held in Kaufman Hall, and can be viewed at the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFMzBZZhYI0

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Madiba Forever

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mandela

Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom dynamically portrays Nelson Mandela’s and the country of South Afrika’s struggle to achieve liberation from the oppressive European (Afrikaner) regime from the 1940s to the end of apartheid in 1994. Directed by Justin Chadwick, the film aims to tell an often-untold story about Mandela and the experiences he, his wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and the entire Black South Afrikan people endured in order to attain true democratic rule. Mandela features two stellar performances by Idris Elba, as Nelson Mandela, and Naomie Harris as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

The apartheid system in South Afrika was extremely oppressive. By 1899, the British and the Dutch had both settled in the country, yet both had competing interests: the British were interested in exploiting South Afrika for its natural resources while the Dutch were mainly motivated by religious reasons to settle within the country to preserve their language and culture. Consequently, a major conflict ensued. The Boer War (1899-1902) was extremely bloody.  The British lost over 70,000 troops and the Dutch (or the Boers/Afrikaners) lost around 4,000 troops. Nevertheless, an armistice was formed which allowed for the Afrikaners to keep their weapons and the preservation of their language and culture while the British would exercise effective control over South Afrika’s mineral wealth under the advisement and accord of the Afrikaners. By 1910, The Act of Union was established between the Dutch and British without the consent of the Black majority, which made South Afrika an independent nation-state initially controlled by British politicians.  Eventually, the Afrikaners eased the British out and were able to establish an increasingly oppressive apartheid regime.

Immediately after the Act of Union came to effect, the Black majority created the Native National Congress (NNC), which was founded in 1912. The NNC transformed into the Afrikan National Congress (ANC), which Nelson Mandela became a leader of in the 1940s. Mandela was a skilled lawyer, as portrayed in the film. Through legal channels, the ANC aimed to secure legal rights for all Black South Afrikans, yet they were largely ignored. Whites systematically eliminated Blacks in governmental roles. By 1959, Blacks lost the ability to gain strong footing in the political system. Thus, the systems of apartheid further intensified while other Afrikan countries were winning their independence from their colonial oppressors.

Working as a lawyer, Mandela aimed to advocate for and organize with the Black majority to fight for basic human rights, yet the apartheid system was so oppressive, he ultimately changed his approach after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960. After a day of demonstrations, a crowd of about 5,000 to 7,000 Black protestors went to the Sharpeville police station. The South Afrikan police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people. The film does an outstanding job in portraying the brutality and devastation of that tragic day by inserting real-life images of the massacre within the scene. As a symbol of resistance, as the film also portrays, Mandela helped organize Black South Afrikans to burn their citizenship passes, which they were legally obliged to carry. In the film, Mandela boldly states while burning his pass, “I can not support a government that wages war on its own people.”

The massacre moved him so much that even though he was initially committed to non-violent protest, he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (abbreviated as MK, translated as “Spear of the Nation”) and in 1961, he lead a bombing campaign against government targets. In a thrilling and climatic scene, Mandela attempts to run from a safe house that the police were raiding, however, he was soon caught. Consequently, in 1962 he and his accomplices were arrested, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

At this time, he was married to 21-year-old Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South Afrika’s first Black professional social welfare worker. They were married for three years and they had two daughters, Zenani (3 years of age) and Zindzi (two years of age). Shortly after his conviction and during his imprisonment, Winnie was arrested by the South Afrikan government and served 18 months in solitary confinement for an unwarranted charge. After she was released, Winnie came out angrier and more determined to fight against the unjust and oppressive apartheid regime. She began to lead an international advocacy campaign calling for Mandela’s release.  Ultimately, through various negotiations with then President F.W. de Klerk, and through added pressure from the international community, Nelson Mandela was finally released in 1990. Mandela served 27 years in prison.

The expression of Black love, and more specifically the relationship between Nelson and Winnie, and the way in which it was affected by the apartheid regime, was especially riveting to experience on screen. After Mandela’s release, the two became very distant. In one scene, Mandela suggests that he and Winnie stay in separate houses for the “sake of the party” (ANC) given that she advocated for Black South Afrikans to riot, whereas Mandela was starting to take on a more non-violet approach. Winnie expressed that she was tired of being alone. To this, Mandela coldly asserted that she was not the only person who has been alone for too long. This scene exquisitely and subtly exposes how once seemingly undying love can be completely dispirited and even destroyed by oppressive systems like the apartheid regime.

In one of my favorite scenes, Chadwick juxtaposes the images of riots in the South African shantytowns or Bantustans with Bob Marley’s ‘War’, a song that is infamous for lyrics that originated from a speech made by Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie I, before the United Nations General Assembly in June 1936:

 

That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; That until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; there is War…. And until that day, the Afrikan continent will not know peace, We Afrikans will fight – we find it necessary. And we know we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil, yeah!

 

I thought I knew Nelson Mandela’s story. Throughout my childhood, I saw Nelson Mandela as a symbol of peace and diplomacy. Through my involvement in the Afrikan Student Union, I learned about Black student activists who helped lead a divestment campaign against UCLA for investing in The Coca Cola Company and Bank of America, corporations that had economic ties to the apartheid regime. In my third year, I took an Afrikan Politics course with Professor Edmond Keller, where we learned about Mandela and the South Afrikan region. Yet, I did not fully grasp the totality and the richness of his narrative until watching this film; Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom beautifully portrays the often un-told story about this revolutionary freedom fighter. Ironically, I recently noticed an illustration of Nelson Mandela accompanied with a quote, which currently hangs on a wall in the Afrikan Student Union Office: “Only through hardship, sacrifice, and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.” Madiba forever.

 

* Madiba means father in Xhosa, the tribe to which Mandela belongs. He is often described as “The father of the nation”.

Mandela opens in select theaters November 29th

 

Author: Kamilah Moore/ ASU Chair

Nommo Contributor

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Free Screening of “Mandela”

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The Coca Cola Company is hosting a free screening of the new movie  “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” on November 18 at 5:30 p.m. at The Landmark Theater, 10850 West Pico Blvd. Beaman Incorporated is working with The Coca-Cola Company to kick off a nationwide tour of the new film. This special screening is for UCLA students , and  will have refreshments, the opportunity to win prizes, and  special appearances by the film’s stars, actor Idris Elba (Prometheus), who plays Mandela, Naomie Harris (Skyfall) who plays Winnie, and director Justin Chadwick.

To view the film’s trailer, please click HERE.

The Coca-Cola Company believes the film provides teachable moments to influence the next generation of leaders. It’s one of the reasons why they are supporting the Weinstein Company’s production of “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” and offering exclusive screenings for students on or near college campuses in cities such as DC, Atlanta and several others.

The story of Nelson Mandela has been sketched on the canvas of modern-day history….and it is important that his story be shared.  Mandela’s perseverance over injustice and oppression is to be admired.

For those of you who are on social media, the film’s hash tag is #Mandela.  As seating is limited, please  RSVP as soon as possible via the Eventbrite link: http://mandela-screening-la.eventbrite.com.

“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” is in theaters 11/29 for NYC and LA and in theaters 12/25 for all other markets

SYNOPSIS

MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM is  based  on  South  African  President  Nelson  Mandela’s   autobiography of the same name, which chronicles his early life, coming of age, education and 27  years  in  prison  before  becoming  President  and  working  to  rebuild  the  country’s  once   segregated society. Idris Elba (PROMETHEUS) stars as Nelson Mandela, Naomie Harris (SKYFALL) stars as Winnie Mandela, with Justin Chadwick (THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL) directing.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

JUSTIN CHADWICK (DIRECTOR)

British filmmaker, Justin Chadwick started his career in the entertainment industry as a child actor. He graduated from the University of Leicester, and in 1991, he made his screen debut in London Kills Me. Additional acting credits include The Loss of Sexual Innocence and appearances in the television dramas Heartbeat, Dangerfield, Dalziel and Pascoe, and others.

Chadwick’s directorial debut was the 1993 television movie Family Style starring Ewan McGregor, which he directed and performed in Shakespeare Shorts, a series that explored the history of Shakespearean characters and presented them in key scenes from the plays in which they appeared. He directed episodes of Eastenders; Byker Grove; The Bill; Spooks, and Red Cap before directing nine of the fifteen episodes of the mini-series Bleak House, which was broadcasted by the BBC in the UK and by PBS in the United States as part of its Masterpiece Theatre series.

Chadwick was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Director for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special, the Royal Television Society Award for Breakout Performance Behind the Scenes, and the BAFTA Award for Best Direction of Bleak House, which was the Best Drama Serial winner in the British Academy Television Awards 2006. Bleak House was also nominated for two Golden Globes, four Royal Television Society Awards, three Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, three Satellite Awards, and the Television Critics Award.

Following The Other Boleyn Girl, which was screened at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival, he completed the multiple award-winning and critically acclaimed feature film The First Grader, starring Naomie Harris.

WILLIAM NICHOLSON (WRITER)

William Nicholson was born in 1948, and grew up in Sussex and Gloucestershire. He was educated at Downside School  and  Christ’s  College,  Cambridge,  and  then  joined  BBC  Television,  where  he  worked  as  a  documentary  film   maker. There his ambition to write, directed first into novels, was channeled into television drama. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story , both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award-winners were Sweet As You Are and The March . In 1988 he received the Royal Television Society’s  Writer’s  Award.  His  first  play,  an  adaptation  of  Shadowlands  for  the  stage,  was  Evening  Standard  Best   Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony Award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

Since then he has written more films – Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl , Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second Oscar nomination, Elizabeth: the Golden Age, and Les Miserables. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight; and four further stage plays, Map of the Heart, Katherine Howard, The Retreat from Moscow , which ran for five months on Broadway and received three Tony Award nominations, and Crash.

His fantasy novel for older children, The Wind Singer, won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, Slaves of the Mastery, was published in 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, Firesong , in 2002. The trilogy has been sold in every major foreign market, from the US to China.

His second sequence of fantasy novels is called The Noble Warriors. The first book is Seeker (2005), the second book, Jango (2006) and the third book Noman (2007).

His love-and-sex novel for teens, Rich and Mad, was published in 2010.

His novels for adults are The Society of Others (2004), The Trial of True Love (2005), The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life (2009), All the Hopeful Lovers (2010) The Golden Hour (2011), Motherland (2013) and Reckless (2014).

He lives in Sussex with his wife, the social historian Virginia Nicholson, and their three children.

ANANT SINGH (PRODUCER)

Born and raised in apartheid South Africa in the eastern coastal city of Durban, Singh began his film career at age 18 when he left his studies at the University of Durban-Westville to purchase a 16mm movie rental store. From there, he moved into video distribution, forming Videovision Entertainment and then progressed into film production in 1984 with Place of Weeping, the first anti-apartheid film to be made entirely in South Africa.

Anant Singh is recognized  as  South  Africa’s  pre-eminent film producer, having produced more than 80 films since 1984. He is responsible for many of the most profound anti-apartheid films made in South Africa, among which are  “Place  Of  Weeping,” Sarafina! and Cry, the Beloved Country.

Nelson   Mandela   called   him   “a   producer   I   respect   very   much…a   man   of   tremendous   ability”   when   he   granted   him   the film rights to his autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom.

Singh is the producer of Yesterday (from director, Darrell James Roodt), which received South   Africa’s   first   Academy Award Nomination in the Best Foreign Language Picture category in 2005, the Peabody Award and an Emmy Nomination in 2006 in the “Outstanding  Made  For  Television  Movie”  category.

A selection of his subsequent feature films includes: Sarafina! with Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo and Miriam Makeba; The Road to Mecca, with Kathy Bates; Father Hood, with Patrick Swayze and Halle Berry; Captives, with Julia  Ormond  and  Tim  Roth;  Stephen  King’s  The Mangler, Cry, the Beloved Country with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris; and Red Dust, directed by Tom Hooper and starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor, a drama focussing  on  South  Africa’s  Truth  and  Reconciliation  Commission.

Released in 2008 and produced by Singh is More Than Just A Game, the moving docu-drama feature which tells the inspiring story of organised soccer among prisoners on Robben Island (the maximum security prison where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were incarcerated by the apartheid regime in South Africa).
The First Grader, directed by Justin Chadwick, was a hit at the Telluride, Toronto, London and Doha Film Festivals in 2010, tells the remarkable and uplifting story of a proud old Mau Mau veteran who is determined to seize his last opportunity to learn to read and goes to school for the first time, joining a class of six year olds.

Among the documentary features produced by Singh are My  Hunter’s  Heart which  explores  the  world’s  oldest   Shamanic culture and how it is now at the brink of extinction; and Once In A Lifetime which celebrates the magic and euphoria of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Anant Singh has also produced notable documentaries, including Countdown to Freedom, about the first democratic election in South Africa, Prisoners of Hope, about a reunion on Robben Island of 1250 of its former political prisoners led by Nelson Mandela, Hero For All which  documents  Nelson  Mandela’s  farewell  visit  to  the   United States as he stepped down from the South African Presidency. Viva Madiba: A Hero For All Seasons was produced as a 90th Birthday tribute to Nelson Mandela in July 2008 and Obama:  People’s  President, a documentary feature that explores the unique and innovative US presidential campaign mounted by Barack Obama as well as The Journalist And The Jihadi: The Murder Of Daniel Pearl which tracks the parallel lives of the late Wall Street Journal writer and his Jihadi murderer, Omar Sheikh.

Singh co-owns Cape Town Film Studios, a state-of-the-art film studio facility in Cape Town which also hosted the shoot of Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom and where authentic sets were created on the back lot. He also co- chairs the Cape Town Metropolitan radio station, Smile 90.4FM.

He is a former board member of the International Marketing Council Of South Africa (now Brand South Africa) and South African Tourism, having served two terms on both these bodies, the Los Angeles-based Artists For A New South Africa and the Nelson Mandela 46664 AIDS Awareness Initiative.

Singh is a recipient of the Crystal Award of the World Economic Forum and the Lifetime Founder Member Award of the  Nelson  Mandela  Children’s  Fund.  Both  the  University  of  Durban-Westville and the University Of Port Elizabeth have conferred honorary doctorates on him.

Singh was also nominated for the 2006 Black Businessman Of The Year Award by the influential business magazine, Black Business Quarterly.

The 2007 Palm Beach International Film Festival conferred the World Visionary Award to Singh for his contribution to world cinema and his production of socially conscious films.

The South African Film Industry honoured Anant Singh for his significant contribution to the advancement of the industry with the inaugural Golden Horn Award for Outstanding Contributor at the first South African Film and Television Awards in October 2006. Singh was also awarded the inaugural Simon Mabhunu Sabela Film Lifetime Achievement Award from the KwaZulu Natal Film Commission in honour of his contribution to raising the profile of the film industry in the KwaZulu Natal province and South Africa.

ABOUT THE CAST

IDRIS ELBA (NELSON MANDELA)

Golden Globe winning actor Idris Elba showcases his creative versatility both on-screen in television and film as well as behind the camera as a producer and director. He continues to captivate audiences and secure his position as the one to watch in Hollywood, with a string of well-received performances in high-profile films as well as and multiple critically acclaimed television series.

Idris  was  most  recently  seen  in  Guillermo  del  Toro’s  Pacific Rim, alongside Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi. This fall, Idris will reprise his role as Heimdall in Thor: The Dark World. In Winter 2014, he will both star in and executive produce No Good Deed, a thriller also starring Taraji Henson. Elba is currently in production for Pierre  Morel’s  The Gunman, alongside Sean Penn and Javier Bardem. Next up, Elba will begin production on Beasts of No Nation with director Cary Fukunaga.

Elba  began  his  film  career  in  roles  in  such  projects  as  HBO’s  Sometimes in April (NAACP Image Award nomination), Tyler  Perry’s  Daddy’s  Little  Girls (BET Award nomination), The Reaping alongside Hilary Swank, and the horror thriller 28 Weeks Later.

In  2007,  Idris  starred  in  Ridley  Scott’s  Golden  Globe  nominated  American Gangster with Denzel Washington, Russel Crowe, Ruby Dee and Josh Brolin. The cast went on to receive a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Following,  he  starred  in  Guy  Ritchie’s  RocknRolla with Tom Hardy, opposite Beyone Knowles in Obsessed (NAACP Image Award Nomination), The Losers (NAACP Image Award nomination), Legacy (which he also executive produced), Thor, Ghost Rider with  Nicolas  Cage,  and  Ridley  Scott’s  Prometheus with Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron.

Prior  to  his  big  screen  debut,  Elba’s  career  skyrocketed  on  the  small  screen  in  some  of  UK’s  top  rated  shows   including Dangerfield, Bramwell and Ultraviolet. In 2000, Ultraviolet was purchased by Fox in the United States, offering Idris a break into the American marketplace. He soon moved to New York and earned rave reviews for his portrayal of Achilles in Sir Peter  Hall’s  off-Broadway production of Troilus and Cressida. Shortly thereafter he landed a part on the acclaimed television series Law & Order.

Soon after his move to the states, Idris landed the role of Stringer Bell, the lieutentant of a Baltimore drug empire on  HBO’s  critically  acclaimed  series  The Wire. Elba’s  portrayal  of  the  complex  but  deadly  Bell  is  arguably  one  of  the   most compelling performances in TV history. In 2005, his performance earned him an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

Idris  returned  to  television  in  2009  when  he  joined  the  cast  of  NBC’s  hit  television  show The Office as Michael Scott’s  less  than  amused  boss  Charles  Minor. In 2010, Idris landed the title role of John Luther in the BBC crime drama mini-series Luther. Following the first season, Elba was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in Luther as  well  as  for  his  guest  appearance  on  Showtime’s  The Big C. His performance in the first season of Luther earned him an NAACP Image Award, a BET Award, and a Golden Globe. In 2012, Elba earned an Emmy nomination for the second season of Luther. The third installment of the BBC mini-series will air September 2013. Additionally, Elba has recently finished filming a two-part documentary titled King of Speed for BBC Two.

In  2013,  Elba  made  his  directorial  debut  with  SKYTV’s  Pavement Psychologist and the music video for Mumford & Sons  “Lover  of  the  Light.”

NAOMIE HARRIS (WINNIE MANDELA)

As a critically acclaimed actress in film, television, and theatre, Naomie Harris is making a name for herself with each of her luminous performances.

Harris most recently starred in the latest James Bond installment, SKYFALL, opposite Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney. The Sam Mendes-directed film went on to gross over $1 billion worldwide,  becoming  both  the  top  grossing  movie  in  UK  box  office  history  and  the  highest  grossing  film  in  Sony’s   history.

In 2011, Harris starred at The National Theater in London  in  Danny  Boyle’s  production  of  FRANKENSTEIN  opposite   Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch. Harris also starred in THE FIRST GRADER, which won Audience Awards at the Telluride, and Doha Film Festival and was runner up at the Toronto Film Festival. Harris played ‘Jane,’  a  first  grade  teacher  in  Kenya  who  fights  for  the  right  of  an  84  year  old  man  to  be  educated—even if it means learning in a classroom with six year olds.

The London-born actress had her first major breakthrough performance in 2002  with  Danny  Boyle’s  28 DAYS LATER and  went  on  to  receive  further  international  recognition  and  critical  acclaim  for  her  role  as  ‘Tia  Dalma’  in  PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD  MAN’S  CHEST and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:  AT  WORLD’S  END. Other major feature film  credits  include  Michael  Mann’s  MIAMI VICE; Michael  Winterbottom’s  TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY; STREET KINGS with Keanu Reeves and Forrest Whittaker; and SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL with Andy Serkis.

On television, Harris  starred  in  the  BBC’s  SMALL ISLAND and  BLOOD  AND  OIL  and  in  the  UK’s  popular  television   adaptation  of  Zadie  Smith’s  bestselling  novel,  WHITE TEETH, as well as the adaptation of the novel POPPY SHAKESPEARE,  and  Peter  Kosminsky’s  THE  PROJECT.

Harris has won various awards, beginning in 2003 with Best Actress at the Monte Carlo Television Festival. In 2007, she won the Rising Star Tribute Award at the Bahamas International Film Festival as well as Best Actress at the Screen Nation Awards (which she won again in 2009). That same year, she was nominated for a BAFTA Orange Rising Star. More recently, she was awarded Best Actress at The Royal Television Society Awards in 2010.

Harris graduated with honours from Cambridge University with a degree in social and political science then trained at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

TONY KGOROGE (WALTER SISULU)

Tony Kgoroge is an accomplished theatre, television, and film actor. He graduated from Pretoria Technikon. In 1997 he received a Vita award for the best upcoming actor. He has been involved with numerous theatre produtions, including Die Jogger, Equus, Woza Albert, Fiddler On the Roof, Mooi Street Moves, and Joseph. He also toured England with Sezar.

He has played leads in many television series including: Isidingo; Deafening Silence; Dark Angels; Tarzan; Soul City; Gazlam; Homecoming and Zero Tolerance.

His film work includes: Blood Diamond directed by Edward Zwick for Warner Bros; Lord of War directed by Andrew Nichols; Hotel Rwanda directed by Terry George; Hijack stories directed by Oliver Schmidt and The  Bird  Can’t  Fly directed by Threes Anna.

RIAAD MOOSA (AHMED KATHRADA)

Riaad Moosa is  one  of  South  Africa’s  most  popular,  award-winning and innovative comedians; and happens to be a qualified medical doctor as well! Recently, Riaad has also flexed his comedic and dramatic acting muscles, playing the  lead  in  the  movie  “Material”, which is currently inspiring audiences all over South Africa. On stage, he conquers new fans on an almost daily basis with sold-out one-man  shows  such  as  “Strictly Halaal”  and  “Riaad Moosa For The Baracka.”  Both  shows  prompted  extended  runs,  as  well  as  special  shows being created to accommodate the huge public demand. Both shows were also released on DVD. Riaad has appeared in various TV and film productions, such  as  “Laugh Out Loud”  (SA’s  largest  standup  comedy  show  in  TV  history);  Riaad  was  also  a  writer  and  performer for SABC  1’s  “Pure  Monate  Show” – which  achieved  cult  status  amongst  South  Africa’s  youth.  He  also  featured  in  the Anant Singh/John Vlismas produced comedy-collective  feature  film  “Outrageous”,  which  was  released  at   cinemas nationwide towards the end  of  2009.  Along  with  SA’s  other  top  comedians  – including Trevor Noah, David Kau, John Vlismas, Tumi Morake and Marc Lottering – Riaad was one of the headline acts supporting international superstar Eddie Izzard for the 46664 “It’s  No  Joke”  concert  in  February 2010. Riaad has since become a regular presenter of a segment entitled “The  Second  Opinion  – with  Dr  Riaad  Moosa” on the E news channel’s  satirical   news programme “Late  Nite  News  with  Loyiso  Gola.” In  March  2011,  Riaad  was  awarded  the  “Comics Choice Award” at  the  “1st Annual  South  African  Comic’s  Choice  Awards.”

Moosa,  one  of  the  country’s  most  popular  and  acclaimed  funnymen  with  a  style  all  his  own,  is  known  as  “the   Comedy  Doctor”,  and  he  certainly  seems  to  have  the  remedy  for  the  nation’s  ills  at  the moment: a healthy dose of laughter, straight up – hold the aspirin.

JAMIE BARTLETT (JAMES GREGORY)

Jamie was born in Berkshire, England in 1966 and was schooled in Cape Town and Johannesburg. He studied Speech and Drama at the University of Cape Town and Post Graduated with Peter Bridgemont at Chrysalis Theatre Acting School in London.

He turned professional  in  1986  in  the  Award  Winning  play  “Cock  &  Bull  Story”.  He  has  worked  extensively  in   Theatre, Film and Television in South Africa and England. He has been nominated for 5 Best Actor Theatre Awards, 2 for Television and 1 for Film.

Jamie played a lead in the local Drama Series, ISIDINGO which made him a household name. He performs many Guest appearances on live television shows, radio talk shows and as master of ceremonies.

He recently starred opposite Angelina Jolie in Beyond Borders and Hilary Swank in Red Dust.

LINDIWI MATSHIKIZA (ZINDZI MANDELA)

Lindiwe Matshikiza was born in London, UK, and came home to South Africa in 1991. She completed a BA degree and an Honours degree in Drama at Rhodes University. As a student, she was cast as the title character in Chris Mann’s  Thuthula: Heart of the Labyrinth directed by Janet Buckland- her first major role-, which ran on the main programme of the National Arts Festival in 2003. After graduating as one of the top Drama students of her year in 2004, she lived and worked in Cape Town as an educational theatre facillitator and freelance performer. It was during this time that she first collaborated with award-winning playwright Mike Van Graan, her breakthrough role being the lead in the two-hander Mixed Metaphors. The role earned her a Naledi Best Newcomer nomination, and led to her being cast in the one-hander Bafana Republic by Mike Van Graan, directed by Lara Bye (2007). The play has  toured  the  country’s  leading  theatres  and  festivals,  and  has  earned  Matshikiza  outstanding  critical  acclaim,   nominations on her performance (Aardklop Festival Best Actress Nominee, 2007; SA Comedy Awards Best Breakthrough Artist Nominee, 2007), and an SA Comedy Award for Best One-Person Show.

As an actor she has also worked with esteemed artists such as Andrew Buckland, Nicholas Ellenbogen, Jaco Bouwer, and Gary Gordon. She has directed for AREPP: Theatre for Life (Cape Town), and has led several drama workshops  for  various  school’s  festivals  and  mentorship  programmes  around  the  country.  Her  stage  directorial   debut played at the 2007 National Arts Festival: Recess, a one-hander written and performed by New York based artist-activist Una Osato, which has subsequently played to sold-out houses in New York City.

Matshikiza is now based in Johannesburg and is active in a number of areas related to theatre, film, design and community social events. Having studied jazz singing and theory as part of her BA degree, she is an amateur singer, an interest that has fortified much of the performance work she has been involved in to date.

DEON LOTZ (KOBIE COETZEE)

The internationally award winning actor Deon Lotz studied drama in Cape Town before entering a career of thirteen years in the Hospitality industry where he opened and managed various five star hotels in and around Cape Town.

Deon returned to acting fulltime in 2001 and has been in a variety of theatre, television, radio and film productions.

In 2008 he received a Fleur du Cap – Best Actor theatre nomination for his performance in Wrestlers at Artscape. He was nominated this year for a Fiesta Theatre Award as Best Actor in the play – “Agterplaas”.

2011 has been a great year in Film for Deon. Roepman was released and Skoonheid /Beauty premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Queer Palm Award as it was part of the Uncertain Regard section of the competition. The film also won an award at the Durban Film Festival in South Africa and Deon won the Best Actor award at the Zurich Film Festival and the SAFTA Best Actor award in South Africa 2012.

Sleepers Wake and Flight of the Storks are two more films that were completed last year and due for release during 2012.

Deon  and  his  family  live  in  Cape  Town  where  he  completed  filming  on  “Verraaiers”,  Black  South  Easter, Vloeksteen and Long Walk to Freedom .

MAIN CREDITS

The Weinstein Company

Anant Singh Presents

In Association With Distant Horizon Origin Pictures Pathe

Long Walk To Freedom (PTY) LTD Industrial Development Corporation Of South Africa Limited National Empowerment Fund A

Videovision Entertainment Production

A Justin Chadwick Film

MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM

Directed By

Justin Chadwick

Screenplay By

William Nicholson

Based  On  Nelson  Mandela’s  Autobiography

Long  Walk  To  Freedom

Produced By

Anant Singh

Producer for Origin Pictures

David M. Thompson Idris Elba Naomie Harris Tony Kgoroge Riaad Moosa Jamie Bartlett Lindiwe Matshikiza Terry Pheto Deon Lotz

Executive Producers

Cameron McCracken Francois Ivernel Geoffrey Qhena Basil Ford

Executive Producers

Sudhir Pragjee Sanjeev Singh Philisiwe Mthethwa Hlengiwe Makhathini

Co-Producers

Robert Naidoo Brian Cox Vlokkie Gordon

Director of Photography

Lol Crawley, BSC

Production Designer

Johnny Breedt

Editor

Rick Russell

Music By

Alex Heffes

Music Contributions

Caiphus Semenya Blondie Makhene Dizu Plaatjies

Casting Director

Moonyeenn Lee

Costume Designers

Diana Cilliers Ruy Filipe

Courtesy of: Robin Beaman

President of Beaman Incorporated

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“12 Years a Slave” – A Shocking Reminder of America’s Shameful History

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The opening scene of the movie. Chiwetel Ejiofor (middle) plays the character Solomon. Source: Official Fox Searchlight Pictures image

The opening scene. Chiwetel Ejiofor (middle) plays the character Solomon. Source: Official Fox Searchlight Pictures image

From beginning to end, “12 Years a Slave” is difficult to watch.  It makes you feel like you are learning the true horror of slavery for the first time because no effort has been made to play down its violence and brutality, which past feature films about slavery have done. There are scenes which make you wince and others which are almost impossible to watch.  Contrasted with beautiful screen shots of the South’s natural landscape, the crimes of slavery – including rape and murder – appear even uglier.  It is still hard to believe that slavery occurred in the United States, the country everyone associates with democracy, well into the nineteenth century, and so, “12 Years a Slave” comes as a shocking reminder of the dark history America would rather forget.

The film is based on an autobiography of the same name which was published in 1853 by Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery.  Solomon, after being drugged, wakes up one day to find that he has been taken to the South to work on a plantation.  The initial scenes show Solomon with his family and friends, well-dressed, going about his day-to-day life.  So, when the screen suddenly changes to Solomon confusedly feeling the chains on his hands and feet, which were not there last time he was awake, viewers are forced to experience how surreal and absolutely terrifying it must have been to find himself now a slave.

By focusing on a single slave (Solomon) for most of the film and his transition from freedom to slavery, and eventually freedom again, viewers begin to really understand the psychological damage of slavery.  Solomon is forced to accept a completely new identity and lifestyle that are entirely alien to him – he is told that he is not Solomon and beaten for using his real name.  The dehumanizing nature of slavery is one of the film’s main themes and slavery is shown to have reduced the humanity of both masters and slaves.  The slave masters are depicted as animalistic because they can inflict so much pain, or death, upon other human beings without feeling any guilt or shame.  The slaves, on the other hand, become less human as they set about their work like machines, forbidden basic human rights.  A particularly striking scene is when one of the older slaves dies and Solomon stands over the grave with two other slaves.  As Solomon begins filling the grave with dirt one of the others stops him because he wants to say a few words in honor of the dead man first.  Here Solomon is shown to have become numb to death, which happens so regularly among the slaves, and it seems that he has forgotten that the buried man meant something to someone.   Slavery has forced him into the mindset that slaves are like livestock: when one dies another is bought to replace them.

The film also pays attention to the role religion played in slavery, for both the slaves and the slave masters.  Solomon’s first master, William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) holds church service for his slaves, reading the Bible to them outside.  The hypocrisy of a Christian slave master is highlighted by the fact that as he reads one of the slave women, Eliza, is crying throughout, over his voice.  She has recently been bought by master Ford, who watched her be separated from her children.  Solomon’s next master Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), who is notoriously cruel toward his slaves, uses religious scripture to assure himself that there is no injustice in how he treats his slaves since he does not view them as humans, but as property.

Religion is even more important to the slaves, who sing spirituals and hymns as they labor, to maintain their hope for a better day and salvation.  A memorable scene from the film is the funeral of one of the slaves.  All the slaves are gathered around the grave singing the spiritual “Roll Jordan Roll” and the camera focuses on Solomon, who is not singing, but is clearly struggling with himself.  It seems he cannot decide whether he to remain faithful, considering there are no signs that God is taking care of him or his fellow slaves.  The camera stays on Solomon, and it seems that he isn’t going to join in; but finally his lips move and we hear his individual voice singing among the rest.  This part of the film, along with others, highlights how important religion was to slaves, helping them to survive when they had nothing else.

The film concentrates mainly on Solomon’s story but brings in a wide range of characters, showing different aspects of slavery and how it was not a single, unified experience for those involved.  The horrors of slavery particular to female slaves, for example, are conveyed through the characters of Patsy (Lupita Nyong’o), Mistress Shaw (Alfre Woodard) and Eliza (Adepero Oduye).  Patsy is not only raped by her master but also punished by her mistress, who sees how her husband finds Patsy attractive and treats her favorably over the other slaves.  Eliza, a mother, is inconsolable with grief after she is separated from her two children, who are not bought by her new owner.  Mistress Shaw, a black woman married to a white slave plantation owner, describes the trauma she suffered in order to escape picking cotton herself.

Undoubtedly, “12 Years a Slave” will provoke mixed reactions in America, especially in the South.  The film’s raw treatment of slavery – which film directors have traditionally shied away from for fear of low sales – has led the New York Times to describe it as “box office test-case.”  The film is directed by Steve McQueen, a Black British director, and one of the questions that has already been raised in light of the film is, why has it taken a British director, rather than an American, to finally portray the atrocities of slavery in an unrestrained way?  Is slavery still a taboo topic for Americans?  If so, why?

 

Author: Greta Tugwell

Nommo Staff

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Opening of the “American Promise” in Pasadena

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Source: blackaids.org

Source: blackaids.org

Please join the Black AIDS Institute tonight, October 25th, at the Pasadena Playhouse 7 for a screening and conversation about the award-winning documentary, American Promise, the educational coming-of-age story of two Black boys that follows them and their families from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Winner of the Sundance Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking, American Promise provides a rare look into Black middle-class life while exploring the common hopes and hurdles of parents navigating their children’s educational journeys. Go here  to watch the trailer: http://youtu.be/knFReWtLkgc.

 

Let’s have a conversation about how much we value Black boys and can better serve them and then take actions to make it happen! 

 

Source: blackaids.org

Source: blackaids.org

 

The Pasadena Playhouse 7 is located at 673 East Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, California. Go here  to purchase your ticket in advance. If you can’t join us in Pasadena, the film is opens in Los Angeles at the Music Hall 3 at 9036 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills on October 25th as well.

 

Phill Wilson

Nommo Contributor

 

 

 

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