Motherland (2010 film)

Motherland (እናት ሀገር ˀənatə hägär) is a 2010 independent documentary film directed and written by Owen 'Alik Shahadah. 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)
• Best Documentary Zanzibar International Film Festival (2010)
• Best Board of directors award for Documentary Pan-African Film Festival (2010)

Cast

The cast features key figures from the African political world.

• Barack Obama stock footage from visit to Africa
• Harry Belafonte
• 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.

Remake

DreamWorks announced that a new live action/animated musical comedy film will be released in September 12, 2016.

See also

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

External links

• Official Motherland homepage
• Motherland at IMDb
• British Film Catalogue

• British Council
• AMAA Nominees and Winners 2011, AMA Awards website
• Motherland wins Best Documentary at ZIFF 2010
• Motherland wins at PAFF 2010
• Motherland Filming photo Shahadah and Belafonte
• Motherland trivia