Tag: Yaba Badoe

Once I became aware of myself, it occurred to me that maybe I should add to the world’s store of stories.

-Ama Ata Aidoo

 

On 17^th September, The African Women’s Development Fund launched The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo, a documentary on the life and work of critically acclaimed Ghanaian author, Ama Ata Aidoo, at the British Council in Accra. The documentary was directed and produced by Yaba Badoe and co-produced by Amina Mama for Fadoa Films. AWDF contributed 40% funding for the project with the remaining 60% accumulated through crowdsourcing on IndieGogo.

 

AWDF CEO, Theo Sowa, introduced the documentary and its protagonist with these words: “Here we celebrate one of our icons – an African leader who pushes for social justice and change. She has done so much for all of us. She’s marked by a love for her people today and forever. Using an evocative and magical medium, Yaba and Amina have helped us to understand this phenomenon in our world. She is representative of African women who are strong, agile, and flexible and have been leaders on our continent for ages. Her words will continue as a model for younger generations.”

Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo

Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy, who served as a member of the film’s Advisory Committee, also offered opening remarks. She humored the audience with her personal insights of the writer, describing her ‘feisty’ character, praising her rare ability to reflect critical questions in her characters, and her adeptness at baking pineapple pie. As Sutherland-Addy mused, “This film plunges us deep into Ama Ata Aidoo’s world. She is a playwright, essayist, poet, novelist, short story writer, academic and politically conscious intellectual. What force caused such a person to emerge in our literary scene?” She highlighted the need for women’s stories to be told and encouraged events such as these to promote the visibility of African women.

Prof. Esi Sutherland Addy’s opening remarks

Kinna Likimani, Ama Ata Aidoo’s daughter, spoke on her mother’s behalf stating how “increasingly pensive and nervous she became as we were getting closer to this day. She kept saying, there’s so much exposure!” Kinna revealed that three books had been written about Aidoo’s life detailing that this was a great accomplishment preceding the documentary. Kinna shared, “She has labored to write while being an African woman – also mother, grandmother, daughter, caregiver, teacher and philanthropist. She struggles to be appreciative of what she’s done, mournful about the books she hasn’t written.”

 

Kinna explained that, “growing up, no one in her life discouraged her from writing.” In fact, Aidoo was supported by anchors from her early days in Abeadzi Kyiakor to her studies at Wesley Girls [where a teacher gave her a typewriter] and the University of Ghana-Legon, teaching at the University of Cape Coast and working within an evolving sisterhood of African women writers. Kinna continued, “her life is situated within a community of women writers, academics and filmmakers. In many ways, this documentary is a coming together of African women creators.”

 

Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo and Kinna Likimani

In the film, Aidoo’s writing journey is documented through snippets of her life history. She reads excerpts from a diverse archive including Dilemma of a Ghost (1965), Our Sister Killjoy (1977) and Changes: A Love Story (1991). This adds a serene pace to the tone of the documentary. The film portrays her relationship with mentor Efua Sutherland and fellow writers Mariama Ba and Buchi Emecheta, among others.

 

Aidoo’s story takes the audience on her journey from start to finish. The film also illustrates how Aidoo’s love of storytelling came from her mother who would share stories in the early hours of the morning. An insistence on showing her hometown gave the audience a better insight into the early days of her life there as daughter of a chief and part of the royal family. Aidoo explains the Fante folktale culture of her childhood, giving the audience an opportunity to witness a story being performed live with music and dance.

 

Her ability as a writer to develop complex characters that signal the demands of social life is matched by a close attention to the contradictions within relationships. As Aidoo muses in the film, “Ghanaians have always been nervous about the presence of people from the diaspora here. This is in part because they remind us of what we don’t want to deal with. In the wake of the slave trade, we ourselves were colonized. We were conquered and we have not really dealt with the implications of colonization…So the relationship between us and the African diaspora is charged.”

 

Her literary diversity is further highlighted in the range of stories she tells. The stories are timeless in the sense that the characters and attitudes portrayed are still very much relevant today as is evident in No Sweetness Here (1970). Aidoo is also a strong believer in the capacity of African communities to solve problems experienced. She uses literature to encourage her audience to consider social issues more seriously.

 

A Q+A followed with the filmmakers and Aidoo providing greater insights into her personality and range of work. As Ghana’s Minister of Education from 1983-84, she encouraged the recruitment and development of women teachers. Aidoo shared that this is the accomplishment she was most proud of during her tenure. Ultimately, the author left this position because writing is and has always been her calling. The scene that stood out most in the film was how speechless Aidoo was by the crowd’s reaction at the close of Anowa, performed by theater students from the University of California, Santa Barbara. The performance of Aidoo’s work by these students translates the vast impact of her work not only for Literature but also for Theater and Performance Studies. There is also a deep sense that Aidoo is impacted by the influence her work has achieved among fellow writers and admirers.

Open forum with Yaba Badoe, Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo, Prof. Esi Sutherland Addy and Amina Mama

Ama Ata Aidoo discussed her own struggle with publishers and the lack of support in the publishing world for African writers, particularly African women writers. She highlighted that this was now changing with the success of writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This conversation sparked a fundraising call to boost AWDF’s support of women organizations in Art, Culture and Sports. DVDs of the film were then auctioned and pledges were made by multiple audience members, totaling more than 11,000GHC.

Abigail Burgesson auctioning copies of the Documentary

The filmmakers also discussed the challenges experienced making The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo over the last three years. Yaba Badoe and Amina Mama gave greater perspective on the process of creating a documentary and encouraged more women to get into the filmmaking practice by portraying the affirming aspects of African cultures. Amina Mama detailed, “Many people outside of the continent are only interested in Africans suffering. We did experience difficulty in mobilizing resources for the film. But we can never let money detain us because we have great things to do. This film is a movement and it built its own community.”

 

By Shakira Chambas and Sionne Neely

Photos by Seth Adu-Amankwah

 

AFRICAN WOMEN IN CINEMA

AWDF would like to extend a big congratulations to Yaba Badoe who has been nominated for the ‘Distinguished Woman of African Cinema Award’ alongside Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche and Lupita N’yongo! The award is given by the International images Film Festival for Women(IIFF) biennially, IIFF being a programme of Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe which is celebrated in five countries – Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia with the support of the EU-ACP programme for ACP cinema. WFOZ “zooms in on women”.

AWDF is proud to have been able to support two of Yaba Badoe’s projects, “The Witches of Gambaga’ and ‘The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo!’

 

Yaba Badoe, born in 1955, is a Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker, journalist and author. She left Ghana to pursue an education in Britain at a very young age. A graduate of King’s College, Cambridge, Badoe worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ghana,before beginning her career in journalism as a trainee at the BBC. She also was a researcher at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. She has taught in Spain and Jamaica and has worked as a producer and director making documentaries for the main television channels in Britain. Among her credits are: Black and White, an investigation into race and racism in Bristol, using hidden video cameras for BBC1; I Want Your Sex, an arts documentary exploring images and myths surrounding black sexuality in Western art, literature, film and photography, for Channel 4; and the six-part series Voluntary Service Overseas for ITV.

In addition to making films, Badoe is a creative writer, her first novel, True Murder, being published by Jonathan Cape in 2009 Her short story “The Rivals” was included in the anthology African Love Stories (Ayebia, 2006), edited by Ama Ata Aidoo. Badoe directed and co-produced (with Amina Mama) the documentary film The Witches of Gambaga, which won Best Documentary at the Black International Film Festival in 2010, and was awarded Second Prize in the Documentary section of FESPACO 2011.Her next film project is entitled The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo.

words by Sionne Neely, Ph.D. | images by Moment Catchers GH

A nation without documentaries is like a home without photo albums. We have to gain confidence in telling our stories to the world. Without a family album, we don’t have a history.

-Yaba Badoe at AWIFF, September 23, 2013

If we have problems documenting our past how do we transcribe our future?

-Sefi Atta at AWIFF, September 23, 2013

 

 

Nearly two weeks after beginning a new position as Knowledge Management Specialist at AWDF, I joined our team in hosting the 2nd African Women in Film Forum [AWIFF] in Accra [September 23-25]. The forum featured a delightful array of intimate speaker sessions and workshops at the African Regent Hotel and free film screenings at Alliance Française d’Accra and the National Film and Television Institute [NAFTI]. Participants came from near and far including Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, U.S., UK, and France. The three days zipped by in a whirlwind of creative conversations by filmmakers, writers, activists, researchers, actors, producers and students on how to sustain African women to share their stories with the world.

The forum engrossed us in the crosshairs of many stories. Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, Communications Specialist at AWDF and the lead organiser of AWIFF, did a brilliant job making all feel welcome and comfortable. Her sincere and persistent focus on creating evolving discussions and action steps on the way forward was inspiring. Therefore, we were compelled to share our experiences or what Dr. Beti Ellerson called “a plurality of perspectives” with one another. Day by day, narratives kept unfolding – stories of forced exile and bittersweet return [Yaba Badoe’s The Witches of Gambaga], stories between grandmothers, mothers and daughters that trigger the pulse of diasporic longing [Sarah Bouyain’s Children of the White Man and The Place in Between], stories that re-imagine myth-making through the portal of a father’s funeral [Akosua Adoma Owusu’s Kwaku Ananse], stories that search for answers in the dense mine fields along the Zimbabwean border [Tsitsi Dangarembga’s On the Border].

As a researcher and archivist, my job is all about mining stories. Digging for stories in the field to understand how AWDF impacts grantees. Cultivating the organisational narrative and helping our staff, donors, partners and grantees to see how our stories and solutions are interconnected. Sharing new information with all stakeholders about how our work matters and the many ways we can captivate with our stories. Stories show us the magic of life, of journeys with no fixed end in sight but rather boundless paths leading to exploration, discovery and possibility.

Stories are also relational practices – a social contract between speakers and listeners. What stories are we telling and for what purposes? By engaging storytelling as a political tool, the sharing transforms an account into an act of accountability, reciprocity and self-awareness between witnesses.

 

Here are just a few key stories that I gleaned from AWIFF:

 

1. Our Stories Are Diverse and Multi-Faceted

Hawalatu Inusah took a 24-hour round-trip bus ride, from Tamale to Accra, to see the AWIFF film screenings. She works as Project Director of Northern Friends for Development, an NGO that trains young women with professional sewing, hairdressing and weaving classes. The organization began as a way to combat “kayayoo” (female head porters) or the migration of Northern women to Accra for work that often results in exploitative conditions.

Hawa’s bright eyes and warm spirit mirrors a passion to transform the livelihoods of women in the North. “AWDF works with many local organizations in northern Ghana and helps us to stay connected, brainstorm and exchange ideas,” Hawa shared prior to the first AWIFF film. “It’s enlightening to learn about film production because it’s different from my field. They are helping to change the way African women are shown. And this affects my chances – as an African woman – of being seen and heard.”

Playwright and scriptwriter, Ade Solanke who also led a master class on Scriptwriting on the first day of the forum, asked what other genres can we explore for storytelling? Ade’s production company, Spora Stories, is invested in telling stories of the diaspora or “fish out of water stories, African abroad stories, in and out of culture stories.” Such diverse migration stories, according to Ade, are universal experiences increasingly felt by people across the world. However, cultural and commercial values are revealed in how we share our stories. Ade suggests we reframe the story by focusing on fresh, nuanced strategies to express the many realities of African lives.

 

2. Our Stories are Always on the Move

Our stories indicate that we are flexible when confronting challenges, able to adapt and thrive, and imagine alternative dimensions to expand. Anita Erskine, CEO of Brand Woman Africa, spoke about the importance of chasing the passion of our stories and nurturing organisational development. She discussed a desire to change the narrative of what it means to be African women into a destiny that is resourceful, inventive and interdependent. On the last day of AWIFF, Anita demonstrated her commitment by announcing that her company would provide production grants to two women students to make short films [and the grants will be managed by AWDF].

Similarly, Tsitsi Dangarembga pointed to the need for greater production support of African women’s stories, particularly mid-career directors who are often locked out of viable funding options. Tsitsi remarked, “filmmaking is not a site of privilege for African women but a site of struggle.” Therefore, our work should ensure that future generations of women can “climb higher.”

Writer and filmmaker Sarah Bouyain’s work sits at the crossroads of mixed-race identity and reflects the complexity of being both French and Burkinabé. Bouyain’s work is persistently framed through Burkina Faso and a dense exploration into intergenerational relationships between women family members. She muses, “I was looking for cinema even when I was writing novels. I was writing with images. [Therefore] I want to make films from the perspective of a mother – to be an example for my daughter so she can do what she wants.” In her next film, Sarah will use multi-racial identity as a conceptual device to tell the story because “it’s on my mind all the time, being from two countries where one colonized the other.”

 

3. Our Stories Are Thread with Common Experiences

Writer and documentarian, Yaba Badoe shared her story of “endless perseverance” to complete book and film projects over the past two decades. She’s continuing the journey with her next project, a feature-length documentary about the life and work of writer and activist Ama Ata Aidoo who inspires Badoe with a thriving “pan-African and internationalist” blueprint.

In the closing address, Dr. Yaba Blay shared a touching story about meeting Ama Ata Aidoo as an adult during AWIFF after hearing stories from her father for years about the writer who also named Blay at her outdooring.

Indeed, African women are the repositories of history, “the keepers of culture” says Blay. She encouraged us to be self-reflexive, to see that the story begins with ourselves. “Who are we in relation to the stories we tell?” Blay prodded. “Part of my duty in storytelling is in telling the truth. We are accountable to each other through our stories. My people, my integrity are at stake and I am not for sale.”

South African filmmaker and producer, Lodi Matsetela, was moved to tears by the women in Badoe’s Witches of Gambaga who reminded her of her grandmother and other women from home. “It doesn’t matter how far apart we are – we all have similar stories to tell,” she mused. The future of our stories is what is at stake for Lodi who asks, “how do we create alternative distribution for independent filmmakers? How do we set up a pan-African circuit for developing our projects?”

 

4. Our Stories Must be Focused on Self-Determined Strategies

Sarah Mukasa, Director of Programmes at AWDF, also raised pertinent questions about the sustainability of our stories. How do we keep the firing burning year after year? Citing how development work can use film to build capacity and raise awareness about the issues we are working against, Sarah added, “Film can amplify the voices of African women, connect us as agents of our change and help us to share new ideas. How do we sustain the generation of resources – funding, technical assistance, resource sharing – on the continent and in the diaspora?”

Filmmaker Anita Afonu understands all to well the thin line between historical preservation and extinction. The director of Perished Diamonds, the documentary chronicles the Ghanaian cinema industry and its currently endangered archive. Last year, Anita singlehandedly launched a campaign to preserve more than 15,000 colour films made during Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s tenure in office. The films – archived in London facilities for safekeeping – were under threat due to years of overdue payments shirked by Ghana’s government. “I lost weight, I couldn’t sleep, I cried so many nights,” Anita shares. With the help of forum participants, Anita will lead a committee to organize a digital archive of the films for educational and commercial use in Ghana.

Marking the way forward, we closed AWIFF with discussions on how to encourage new spaces of hope and innovation for women story makers. Where can we create “home” in the craft of storytelling and mold nodes of comfort, nurture, openness and honesty within our communities? One action group meeting in particular focused on composing an African women and media manifesto led by Dr. Ellerson and Tsitsi Dangarembga.

In addition to nurturing talent, strengthening capacity and focusing on women’s skills and expertise, we can interface digital technologies with our stories. How do we do this? By making more information available online, participating actively in digital forums, innovating digital projects, seminars and open Skype sessions, launching crowdsourcing platforms and digital distribution of our stories.

The 2nd African Women in Film Forum is proof in the pudding that we as African women can innovate alternative spaces to learn and improve our craft, establish new techniques and invent new patterns of being.

Sisters, keep stirring that magic brew.

As keepers of the archive, we must also be keepers of the flame.

As part of the African Women in Film Forum, The Witches of Gambaga and On the Border will be screened for FREE at Alliance Francaise (Accra) on Monday, 23rd September from 6pm.

I first saw ‘The Witches of Gambaga‘ at its premiere during the 3rd African Feminist Forum in Dakar, Senegal. I then watched the documentary again during it’s premiere in Ghana, and at the 2011 FESPACO (Pan African Film and Television Festival) where it won 2nd prize in the Best Documentary category. Each time the film has had a profound effect on me. It’s mind boggling to think that in this day and age women (and a few men) can be accused of witchcraft, and have to seek refuge for their lives in camps under the benevolence of a chief. Because of my work with the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), which also supported The Witches of Gambaga at its post production stage, I have had the opportunity to visit Gambaga as part of our monitoring visits to the women’s rights organisations AWDF supports. Life at the Gambaga camp is tough. When you watch the documentary you will realise that women with homes, businesses and an independent life of their own have had to flee to these camps because they have been accused of witchcraft. In the camps they have to work for long hours on the farms of the chief under whose benevolence they live. It’s a difficult life, and one from which there appears to be little way out. This is a film that I recommend everyone to see.

I am also really looking forward to watching ‘On the Borders’ directed by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Internationally, Tsitsi is arguably best known for her 1989 novel “Nervous Conditions” which was recently named as one of the Best Twelve African Books of the 20th Century. What people may not know is the pivotal role that Tsitsi has played in developing Zimbabwe’s film industry. A description of ‘On the Border’ states:

The world is horrified at the devastation caused by anti-personnel mines in many countries. At the same time while many things have been reported about Zimbabwe recently, few people know about the the legacy of minefields that were planted by the colonial Rhodesian troops in the late 1970s – except of course the people who live in or adjacent to this minefields. Also less well known are the efforts being made to rid Zimbabwe of this menace. This film portraits the work of Zimbabweans and men of other nationalities who enter the minefields to open up land and make Zimbabwe’s border safer. Yet it could well be true that in Zimbabwe, as in other countries where anti personnel mines were used in warfare, the last victim has not yet been born.

The best part of the screening is that the general public will have the opportunity to interact with the filmmakers Tsitsi and Yaba during the question and answer session facilitated by Anita Erskine of Brand Woman Africa, one of the sponsors of the AWIFF. This will be an opportunity to watch thought provoking films, and to learn more about the filmmakers who made these films.

Will I see you there?

Nana Darkoa

On the 4^th of August 2011, I attended the ‘Adventurers in the Diaspora Series’ at Accra’s Golden Tulip. The topic for discussion was “Revitalising Ghana’s National Museum of Arts”, and judging by the huge turnout the subject was clearly of interest to a large number of people. There were several ‘distinguished’[1] persons on the panel. This is how members of the panel were described in the event posted on Facebook:

 

“Mrs. Frances Ademola -artist and owner of Ghana’s first private art gallery, the LOOM

Mr. Seth Dei—Ghana’s largest collector of contemporary art and whose Dei foundation supports various Ghanaian artists and indigenous high-tech initiatives. He is also a partner at Blue Skies industry, a pre-eminent agro-business based in several countries around the world.

Hon. Fritz Baffour, MP- Chairman of the Museum board

Hon. J.S. Annan (MP)- Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry and ex-Minister for Education

Prof, Atukwei Okai- Secretary General of Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) and professor of African literature

David Adjaye- principal of Adjaye Associates, a world-leading architecture firm based in London and New York.

Kofi Setordji- reknowned artist and sculptor, co-director of Nubuke Art Gallery”

 

I feel like there were a lot more panelists at the actual event than described above, and I cannot remember Professor Okai being there (but I could be mistaken).

 

A couple of the panelists struck me for diverse reasons. Frances Ademola struck me, because she is a woman artist, the founder of an Art gallery and was credited by many members of the panel as the one who had nurtured their appreciation of Art, yet I had no prior knowledge of the existence of either her or her art gallery. David Adjaye because I have heard so much, and read so much about this award winning Ghanaian British architect yet I had no idea that he even visited Ghana or was in any way active here[2] and finally Kofi Setordjii because he gave a compelling call to action when he spoke.

 

At the end of the evening I was having a drink with one of my artist friends – he’s a photographer, likes to strum the guitar, writes and has an amazing eye for fashion and style.

 

Me: I want to go and check out the Museum of Arts, I had no idea one even existed.

 

Him: Yes, let me know when you want to go and we’ll make a trip of it.

 

Me: I want to see what potential there could be for AWDF to work with the Museum. We want to build an African Women’s Museum but we’re putting that on the backburner for now. Maybe we can fund an exhibition of women artists.

 

Him: [laughing] Which women artists?

 

Me: Yeah, that’s the point isn’t it? I am sure there are women artists everywhere but we don’t know about them. And it depends how you think about art – there is photography, fashion, writing…

 

Him: True. A lot of the time people do not think of photography as art…

Our conversation got me thinking. Who are the African women artists and where are they? I am especially interested in African women artists who use their art as a tool to provoke social consciousness. I started to create a mental list of African women artists that I know are doing this and then I thought, “I should blog about this and ask people to add to the list”. So that’s what I’m doing. My list is only going to comprise of people that I know in some way, and for the sake of brevity I will highlight only 10 African women artists. Either I have read their books, watched them perform, heard them speak, seen a trailer for their movie or engaged with them in some way – even if it’s only been via twitter 🙂

 

Do me a favour and add on to this list in the comments box. Let’s track who the African women artists are, what they do, and where they are.

 

Here’s my list:

 

• Frances Ademola? – I’m a bit confused as to whether to add her to the list. Is she an art gallery owner or an artist? Is the owner of an art gallery also an artist because they have an artistic eye or does an artist always create? AiD’s programme described her as an artist but in googling her I have come across this interview, which quoted her as saying, “I’m the eye of the buyer. It’s a good thing that I’m not an artist”[3]

 

• Nneka – Nigerian/German songstress who sings in English and Pidgin about the need for Africans to take responsibility for the problems we face on the continent (The Uncomfortable Truth), jogs our collective memory on the issues confronting Nigerian society whilst reminding us of the importance of remembering Ken Saro Wiwa and the causes for which the prominent environmental activist died , (Soul is Heavy) and the need for us all to recognize our inherent beauty (Beautiful). Nneka agreed in 2010 to work as an Arts Ambassador for AWDF and I’m really looking forward to exciting collaborations between her and AWDF

 

• Yvonne Chaka Chaka – One of Africa’s most powerful voices who also lends her support to many admirable initiatives. Yvonne Chaka Chaka sits on the AWDF South Africa board, is a member of the African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health, serves as a UN Goodwill Ambassador for Malaria and also has her own NGO, The Princess of Africa Foundation. I personally met Yvonne when she attended AWDF’s 10^th anniversary celebrations in November 2010 and I was struck by how nice Yvonne was as a person. Sometimes when you meet huge stars you’re disappointed because they act like divas but Yvonne is niceness personified.

 

• Wanuri Kahiu –I get most of my updates on Wanuri via her twitter handle @wanuri . I have seen the trailer for her film Pumzi and unfortunately missed an opportunity to see the full length film at the last Environmental Film Festival of Accra yet what I have seen of her trailer has been enough to convince me that this is the type of work that organizations like AWDF need to fund if we are going to use the arts as a tool for gender empowerment. In researching Wanuri further I came across her blog and it looks like she is not only nifty with the camera but with words too.

 

• Ama Ata Aidoo – Where do I start from when it comes to this doyenne of African literature? Like many people in Ghana, I first came across Ama Ata Aidoo in secondary school as “Dilemma of a Ghost” and “Anowa” were on our reading list. At university I decided to write my dissertation on the concept of ‘home’ as seen through the works of Ama Ata Aidoo and Buchi Emecheta (another stalwart of African women’s literature). In 2008, I met Auntie Ama face to face and was thrilled to be able to interview her for AWDF’s very first e-newsletter.

 

• Asa – I have been told Asa is my lookalike but that’s not why I have included her on this list 🙂 Recently I’ve heard one of her songs, which touches on the issue of sexual abuse. Please let me know what the title is if you know the song I’m describing – she sings about a young girl who has been abused and somehow the girl’s Father is involved.

 

• Jessica Horn – Jessica is a personal friend, poet and an all round inspiration to me. She’s the author of “Speaking in tongues” and a dynamic member of the African Feminist Forum’s steering committee. Jessica is also a women’s rights consultant focusing on issues of health, women’s rights and social change

 

• Leila Djansi – I first heard of Leila when her film “Sinking Sands” came out. I eventually watched ‘Sinking Sands’ with a friend and immediately afterwards was interviewed by Joy Fm for our perspectives on the film. Although we liked many aspects of the film we both felt that it’s a shame the male lead had what many may perceive as an excuse to be violent to his wife, especially as domestic violence is such an every day occurrence all over the word. Despite this, and upon continued reflection on the film I feel that ‘Sinking Sands’ is an important milestone in the Ghanaian film industry. The lead actress Ama K Abebrese did an amazing job and was well rewarded with an African Movie Award for Best Actress in a lead role. Kudos to Leila for highlighting the issue of domestic violence.

 

• Yaba Badoe – ‘The Witches of Gambaga’ is a powerful documentary, which brings us the real life stories of women condemned to live as witches at the Gambaga camp in Northern Ghana. I first saw this documentary at the 3^rd African Feminist Forum in Dakar, Senegal, and subsequently at its premiere in Ghana. ‘The Witches of Gambaga’ always provokes a variety of reactions in the audience – shock, disbelief that women are accused of witchcraft in this day and age, and a strong desire to change the status quo. It is my hope that this documentary remains a powerful tool for creating a more just world for women and men.

 

So in your opinion where all the African women artists who use their art as a tool for social justice and the empowerment of women?

 

Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah

Programme Officer for Fundraising & Communications

AWDF

I missed the first couple of minutes of ‘The Witches of Gambaga’ documentary when it was premiered in Dakar, Senegal during the 3^rd African Feminist Forum, yet in minutes I was gripped… the documentary took me back to Gambaga which I had visited in January 2010 during an AWDF monitoring and evaluation visit of grantees in the Northern Region of Ghana. I recalled our male guide saying to us “the women are witches you know, they confessed…” and my colleague Nafi and I arguing the point with him. We were left with an overwhelming sense of sadness when we left the camp. “Why isn’t the government doing anything about this?” we asked, “why are women in this day and age still being accused of being witches”?

In watching the documentary I couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope. “Finally, here is a medium which will tell the stories of the women at the Gambaga camp. Finally here is a documentary that can capture the interest of the International Community. Finally the government of Ghana will be forced to act”.

Even as I remain hopeful I cannot help but wonder how much of a difference the documentary will make in a context of superstitions, belief in witchcraft[1] and the rise of new churches that pride themselves on casting out demons and principalities. Accusations of witchcraft are not limited to poor, elderly women living in far-flung corners of Ghana. In November 2010, the Ghanaian public was horrified to see front-page pictures of an elderly woman in Tema who had been burnt to death for being a witch. One of the people accused of being complicit in her death is an evangelical preacher; I cannot help but wonder how many other women have died in the face of such accusations.

At 10am on Tuesday, 15^th February 2011, ‘The Witches of Gambaga’ will be screened at the British Council in Accra. In attendance will be the Director Yaba Badoe and Co-Producer Amina Mama.

See below for a synopsis, You Tube link and reviews of ‘The Witches of Gambaga’.

Synposis – The Witches of Gambaga

The Witches of Gambaga is a haunting 55 minute documentary film about a community of women condemned to live as witches in Northern Ghana. Made over the course of 5 years, this disturbing expose is the product of a collaboration between members of the 100 strong community of ‘witches’, local women’s movement activists and feminist researchers, united by their interest in ending abusive practices and improving women’s lives in Africa. Painful experience and insight combine to generate a uniquely intimate record of the lives of women ostracized from their communities. Told largely by the women themselves, their incredible stories and struggles are rendered comprehensible to a wide range of audiences by the director’s narration. Completed in July 2010, Fadoa Films Ghana and UK, Directed by Yaba Badoe, Co-produced by Yaba Badoe and Amina Mama.

Winner, 2010 Black International Film Festival Best Documentary Award

REVIEWS of ‘The Witches of Gambaga’

“An excellent exploration of how women are victimized …a valuable resource for understanding how to end this problem.” Cornelius Moore, California Newsreel
“An admirably unsensational but powerfully affecting reminder of the terrible influence still wrought by superstition on the lives of so many women.” Geoff Andrew, film critic, British Film Institute
“A brave and brilliant production” Hope for the African Village Child Trust
“…will go a long way to promote the rights of women…” African Women’s Development Fund
“A shocking, extraordinary film…” Michael Eaton, screenwriter
“… the unacceptable and abusive treatment of women as witches is
exposed…” ABANTU FOR DEVELOPMENT
Below is a link to the trailer of the film of You T

ube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFhHX7CJSes

Yaba Badoe is a Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker and writer. A graduate of King’s College Cambridge, she worked as a civil servant in Ghana before becoming a General Trainee with the BBC. She has taught in Spain and Jamaica and has worked as a producer and director making documentaries for the main terrestrial channels in Britain. Her short stories have been published in Critical Quarterly and in African Love Stories: an anthology edited by Ama Ata Aidoo.In 2009, her first novel, True Murder was published by Jonathan Cape. Her TV credits include: Black and White, a ground-breaking investigation into race and racism in Bristol, using hidden video cameras for BBC1; I Want Your Sex, for Channel 4 and a six-part series, VSO, for ITV. African Love Stories is now available in Swedish from Tranan publishers under the title Kärlek x 21.

Amina Mama is a Nigerian feminist activist, researcher and scholar, who has lived and worked in Nigeria, South Africa, Britain, the Netherlands and the USA. She spent 10 years establishing the University of Cape Town’s African Gender Institute and is founding editor of the African journal of gender studies, Feminist Africa. She authored Beyond the Masks: Race, Gender and Subjectivity (Routledge 1995), Women’s Studies and Studies of Women in Africa (CODESRIA, 1996), and co-edited Engendering African Social Sciences (CODESRIA 1997). She is currently developing a transnational activist research initiative on gender and militarism and pursuing her interest in documentary film. ‘The Witches of Gambaga’ is her first film.
She currently lives in Berkeley and works at University of California, Davis as Professor and Director of Women and Gender Studies.

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[1] Men are rarely accused of being wizards