Sankofa is a 1993

1993 in film

The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...

 Burkinabé drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Haile Gerima

Haile Gerima

Haile Gerima is an Ethiopian filmmaker, who resides in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. His films have received wide international acclaim. Gerima has also been an influential film professor at...

.

Plot

The story follows Mona, a contemporary model

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

, as she is visited by spirits lingering in the Cape Coast Castle

Cape Coast Castle

Cape Coast Castle is a fortification in Ghana built by Swedish traders. The first timber construction on the site was erected in 1653 for the Swedish Africa Company and named Carolusborg after King Charles X of Sweden. It was later rebuilt in stone....

 in Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

 and travels to the past, where, as a house servant named Shola she is constantly abused by her slave masters. Nunu, an African-born field hand, and Shango, Shola's West Indian love interest, all continuously rebel against the slave system. For Nunu this means direct conflict with her son (whose father is a white man) benefiting from the system as a head slave. Inspired by Nunu and Shango's determination to defy the system, Shola finally chooses to fight back against her masters.

Cast

• Kofi Ghanaba
• Oyafunmike Ogunlano
• Alexandra Duah
• Nick Medley
• Mutabaruka
  Mutabaruka
  Mutabaruka is a dub poet. His name comes from the Rwandan language and translates as "one who is always victorious". He lives in Potosi District, St. James with his significant other, Yvonne, and their two childern. Mutabaruka continues to perform and write poems on every issue known to man...
  
  
• Afemo Omilami
  Afemo Omilami
  Afemo Omilami is an American actor.-Career:He has appeared in many films such as Glory , The Firm , Gordy , Remember the Titans , Hounddog , and The Blind Side...
  
  
• Reggie Carter
  Reggie Carter
  Reginald "Reggie" Carter was an American basketball player. At 6'3" and 175 lb , he played as a guard. He played collegiately for the St. John's University after spending his schoolboy years starring for Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, New York...
  
  
• Mzuri
• Jimmy Lee Savage
• Hasinatu Camara
• Jim Faircloth
• Stanley Michelson
• John A. Mason
• Louise Reid
• Roger Doctor
• Alditz McKenzie
• Chrispan Rigby
• Maxwell Parris
• Hossana Ghanaba

Nominations

The film was nominated for the Golden Bear

Golden Bear

According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....

 at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival

43rd Berlin International Film Festival

The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 11 to 22, 1993.-Jury:* Frank Beyer * Juan Antonio Bardem* Michel Boujut* François Duplat* Katinka Faragó* Krystyna Janda* Naum Kleiman* Brock Peters...

.

Further reading

• Sylvie Kandé and Joe Karaganis, "Look Homeward, Angel: Maroons and Mulattos in Haile Gerima's "Sankofa", Research in African Literatures, 29 (Summer, 1998), pp. 128-146