Motherland (2010 film)

Motherland
Directed by	Owen 'Alik Shahadah
Produced by	Betelihem Zelealem
Written by	Owen 'Alik Shahadah
Starring	Kimani Nehusi Molefi Kete Asante Maulana Karenga Mohamed Ibn Chambas Amiri Baraka Hakim Adi Meles Zenawi Jacob Zuma Adama Samassekou Haki R. Madhubuti
Music by	Sona Jobarteh Ocacia
Distributed by	Halaqah Media Distribution Co.
Release dates	February 11, 2010
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Amharic Zulu Arabic Akan Hausa
Budget	$2.5 million

Motherland (እናት ሀገር ˀənatə hägär) is a 2010 independent documentary film directed and written by Owen 'Alik Shahadah.^[1] Motherland is the sequel to the multi-award winning film 500 Years Later.

Synopsis

Motherland is an epic documentary about the African continent from Ancient Egypt to the present. It is an overview of African history and contemporary issues but with the African people at the centre of the story. It is one of the first Pan-African features to be made.

Awards

• 2011 Nominated Best Diaspora Documentary African Movie Academy Award (2011)^[2]
• Best Documentary Zanzibar International Film Festival (2010)^[3]
• Best Board of directors award for Documentary Pan-African Film Festival (2010)^[4]

Cast

The cast features key figures from the African political world.

• Barack Obama stock footage from visit to Africa
• Harry Belafonte^[5]
• Rohan Marley, son of Bob Marley and member of the Rastafari Movement
• Amiri Baraka
• Abdulkadir Ahmed Said, Somali filmmaker
• Maulana Karenga
• Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa
• Frances Cress Welsing
• Molefi Kete Asante
• Kimani Nehusi
• Chen Chimutengwende, Minister of Information and Publicity Zimbabwe
• Omowale Clay
• Meles Zenawi, late Prime Minister of Ethiopia
• David Commissiong
• Ali Mazrui
• Mohamed Ibn Chambas, President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission
• Haki R. Madhubuti
• Hakim Adi
• Nicole Lee, TransAfrica Forum
• Tsedenia Gebremarkos
• Zanele Hlatshwayo, Mayor of Pietermaritzburg
• Gamal Nkrumah, son of Ghana's first President Kwame Nkrumah
• Jeff Radebe, African National Congress
• Hakim Quick
• Didymus Mutasa, ZANU-PF
• Abune Paulos, Patriarch of Ethiopian Orthodox Church
• Esther Stanford
• Kwesi Kwaa Prah
• S'bu Ndebele
• Ali Moussa Iye, UNESCO
• Adama Samassékou
• Desmond Tutu (deleted by directors)

5.1 surround

Motherland is one of the only African documentaries to be mixed in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. A technology which is usually associated with Hollywood big production films. The producers claim to have innovated a new way of mixing music in 5.1 for film which they call split positioning.^[6]

See also

• Pan-Africanism
• African history
• African holocaust
• Maafa
• List of films featuring slavery

References

1. British Council
2. AMAA Nominees and Winners 2011, AMA Awards website Archived March 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
3. Motherland wins Best Documentary at ZIFF 2010 Archived August 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
4. Motherland wins at PAFF 2010 Archived February 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
5. Motherland Filming photo Shahadah and Belafonte
6. Motherland trivia

External links

• Official Motherland homepage
• Motherland at the Internet Movie Database
• British Film Catalogue