'Sankofa' Children Claim Their Story. Gregory Freeman. P-D 6/6/1995

Headline: `SANKOFA' CHILDREN CLAIM THEIR STORY
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Tue., Jun. 6, 1995
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 11B, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

AN UNDERGROUND movement of African-American moviegoers is causing a film about the physical and mental shackles of slavery to be the talk of St. Louis these days.
The film is "Sankofa." It is being kept alive by a movement made up by individuals who have seen the movie and are making concerted efforts to spread the word about it. With only a limited budget, virtually no money is being spent on promotion. Instead, people push the film by word of mouth, and others take groups to see it. It's being featured at the Union Station cinema.
"Sankofa" is the brainchild of Howard University film professor Haile Gerima, an Ethiopian-American who wrote, directed, edited and produced the movie.

In the film, an African-American woman is taken back into time and forced to experience slavery in America.
The film is a two-hour emotional experience, with as much of an impact as Alex Haley's epic, "Roots, " which affected so many in the 1970s.
But "Sankofa" is perhaps more hard-hitting and direct.

The word "sankofa" is a West African term meaning to reclaim the past to go forward. That is what the film's main character, played by actress Oyafunmike Ogunlano, does, against her will.
Through her eyes, moviegoers are taken to the days of slavery in this country. Not surprisingly, it's not a pretty sight.
Perhaps more surprisingly, though, is the depth that various characters are given. Though all the blacks portrayed in the film are slaves, the film moves smoothly in developing the characters. Some, like the character Nunu, were born in Africa and hold on to their customs, traditions and native language, even as they are forced to submit to torture. Others, such as Nunu's son, Joe, born in America - the result of the rape of Nunu by a white overseer - live mentally tortured lives as they try to deal with two very different cultures. Still others are like Noble Ali, a "head man, " put in charge of his fellow slaves by day, but plotting a slave revolt by night.

It's not an easy film to watch. It's certainly not one of those commercial films that makes you feel good at the end.
The many emotions stirred by this film are clearly what has made it a must-see movie for those interested in the history of slave trade in this country. A man who saw the film at the same time I did told me he cried throughout the movie.

The film's life - in St. Louis, as elsewhere - has been nothing short of a miracle.
It made its debut here a month ago, and has been kept alive on a week-to-week basis by moviegoers who have adopted the film. So moved have been some of them that they call themselves the "Children of Sankofa." Many are volunteering to help promote the film and participate in question-and-answer sessions after each showing.

Such a grass-roots approach is in keeping with the way the film began. It took Gerima nine years to make "Sankofa."
   It was rejected repeatedly by major Hollywood film companies. Some of those movie concerns were producers of blaxploitation movies, the sort of violence-laden, drug-laden, woman-bashing films that pass for entertainment in some circles these days. But they turned down "Sankofa, " arguing that it was not commercial enough.
   Indeed, "Sankofa" is the type of film that one might expect to find in an art house. It took Gerima $1 million to make it. But with the type of word of mouth that it has received wherever it has shown, it has made more than $2 million.
   Gerima tried other venues after being rejected by Hollywood. He was turned down by "American Playhouse." The National Endowment for the Humanities said "no" to it. PBS turned it down. To make the film, Gerima pleaded for grants, used his own credit cards and bartered for plane tickets and lodging.
   After having no luck in finding a distributor, Gerima formed his own distribution company, Mypheduh Film Inc., and the film opened in Washington in October 1993. After a three-month run there, the film moved to other cities and has developed a following wherever it's gone. It has won awards at the Berlin Film Festival, the African Festival in Milan, Italy, and the FESPACO Film Festival in Burkina Faso, Africa. The film has become a critical success.

Gerima has said that the film is 90 percent fact-based and 10 percent fiction. That being the case, perhaps the film is the result of a cry by an African priest at the beginning of the film. "Lingering spirit of the dead, step up and claim your story, " he says.
Perhaps those spirits are behind the "Sankofa" phenomenon, actively claiming this story through the Children of Sankofa.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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