Sankofa is a Black filmmaker-family-owned and operated bookstore and cafe specializing in books, movies and programming about people of African descent since '98. Tye JMU class clip of Sankofa. Find trailers, reviews, synopsis, awards and cast information for Sankofa (1993) - Haile Gerima on AllMovie - While visiting an old fortress from the. Powerful, moving and highly acclaimed, director Haile Gerima’s Sankofa is a masterpiece of cinema that has had a transformative impact on audiences since its release in 1993.

by Daina Ramey Berry and Jermaine Thibodeaux

In this 1993 film by Ethiopian-born filmmaker Haile Gerima, a modern-day, fashion model is transported to the past to experience the traumas of American chattel slavery. It is only through her return to the past that she can move forward, hence the name of the film, Sankofa, an Akan word meaning “go back and take” or “go back to move forward.” The film opens with a photo shoot on the coast of Ghana on the grounds of a fortification (read castle/dungeon) used to house African captives prior to being forcibly transported to new world plantations. Zola, the main character, is forced back in time to an isolated sugar plantation. There she learns the power of family, community, and even rebellion as she and other members of the enslaved community seek their freedom through solidarity and decisive action. This is the closest film rendition of slavery since the 1977 television mini-series Roots. Gerima, a Howard University professor, did much to ensure that his portrayal of the institution of slavery and the presentation of African cultural traditions were as close to reality as possible.

Teza, another film directed by Haile Gerima

The bookstore, gallery and cafe, Sankofa, established by Gerima

Haile Gerima – Burkina Faso – 1993 – More information on this movie

Powerful, moving and highly acclaimed, director Haile Gerima’s Sankofa is a masterpiece of cinema that has had a transformative impact on audiences since its release in 1993. This empowering film tells a story of slavery and of the African Diaspora from the perspective of the enslaved, challenging the romanticizing of slavery prevalent in American culture.

Sankofa was developed from 20 years of research into the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the experiences of African slaves in the New World. The film represents complex characters and empowering moments of resilience that assert humanity in the face of subjugation. Unlike Hollywood’s depiction of slavery, Gerima presents the often suppressed history of slave resistance and rebellion and represents the enslaved as agents of their own liberation.

The story begins with Mona, an African American model on a fashion shoot at the former slave castles in Cape Coast, Ghana. Mona undergoes a journey back in time and place to a slave plantation in North America where she becomes Shola, a house slave, and experiences the suffering of slavery firsthand. In becoming Shola and returning to her past culture and heritage, Mona is able to recover her lost slave identity and confront her ancestral experience. Shola’s interactions with her fellow slaves are marked with humanity and dignity, most notably with Shango, a rebellious field slave, and Nunu, one of the few slaves to remember her life in Africa before being stolen by Europeans.

The film’s narrative structure follows the concept of «Sankofa,» an Akan word that signifies the recuperation of one’s past in order to comprehend the present and find one’s future.
Allyson Nadia Field, UCLA
trigon-film dvd-edition 260
Restored version
Language OV english Subtitles deutsch, français
Length 125 min. Screen 4/3 PAL, color Sound DD 1.0 mono FSK 16 Region code All regions

Professor Haile Gerima

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Sankofa Full Movie

Further products

• Magazine in german

• The right to own our past

• Magazine in german