''Sankofa'' (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: ሳንኮፋ) is a 1993

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

n-produced

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Haile Gerima Haile Gerima (born March 4, 1946) is an Ethiopian filmmaker who lives and works in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. Since 1975, Haile has b ...

that is centered on the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

. The storyline features Oyafunmike Ogunlano, Kofi Ghanaba,

Mutabaruka Allan Hope CD (born 26 December 1952), better known as Mutabaruka, is a Jamaican Rastafari dub poet, musician, actor, educator, and talk-show host, who developed two of Jamaica's most popular radio programmes, ''The Cutting Edge'' and ''Stepp ...

, Alexandra Duah, and

Afemo Omilami Afemo Omilami (born December 13, 1950) is an American actor. Early life Omilami was born in Petersburg, Virginia on December 13, 1950. Afemo has not made any public reference to his paternal background, however his name has ties to the Yoruba co ...

. The word

Sankofa (pronounced ''SAHN''-koh-fah) is a word in the Twi language of Ghana meaning “to retrieve" (literally "go back and get"; - to return; - to go; - to fetch, to seek and take) and also refers to the Bono people, Bono Adinkra symbols, Adinkra ...

is derived from the

Akan language Akan (), or Twi-Fante, is the most populous language of Ghana, and the principal native language of the Akan people, spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana. About 80% of Ghana's population speak Akan as a first or second language, and ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and means to "go back, look for, and gain wisdom, power and hope," according to Dr. Anna Julia Cooper. The word 'Sankofa' stresses the importance of one not drifting too far away from one's past in order to progress in the future. In the film, Sankofa is depicted by a bird and the chants and drumming of a Divine Drummer. Gerima's film shows the importance of people of African descent not drifting far away from their African roots. Gerima uses the journey of the character Mona to show how the African perception of identity included recognizing one's roots and "returning to one’s source" (Gerima).

Plot

The film opens with an elderly Divine Drummer, Sankofa (played by Kofi Ghanaba), playing

Fontomfrom Fontomfrom is a Bono type of hourglass-shaped drum mostly used in a royal music ensemble of Bono people in order to relay Bono monarchy messages within a Bono people ethnic group setting. The Fontomfrom ensemble provides music for ceremonies hon ...

drums and chanting the phrase, "Lingering spirit of the dead, rise up." That is his form of communication with the

ancestors An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from w ...

of the African lands, specifically

. His drumming is essential in drawing forth the spirit of his ancestors, who died during the Maafa back home. The story proceeds to show Mona (Oyafunmike Ogunlano), a contemporary

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

, in a photo session on the coast of

. The session takes place at

Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle () is one of about forty slave fort, "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast (region), Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or Factory ( ...

, where she writhes on the ground as the photographer encourages her to imagine she's having sex with the camera. Mona is unaware of the history of West African

slave forts Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

like Cape Coast Castle in the

slave trade Slave trade may refer to: * History of slavery - overview of slavery It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas: * Al-Andalus slave trade * Atlantic slave trade ** Brazilian slave trade ** Bristol slave trade ** Danish sl ...

because she has been disconnected from her

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n roots for so long. While Mona is on the beach modeling, she encounters the mysterious old man Sankofa, who was playing the drums at the beginning of the film. Sankofa persistently urges Mona to remember her past and insists that Cape Coast Castle is a sacred place. He conjures up the spirits of the enslaved Africans who were taken in chains from Cape Coast to the Americas. He attempts to block tourists from entering. When Mona enters the castle, she is transported back in time and is surrounded by many enslaved Africans. Mona attempts to run out and is met by European slave traders; she tries to reason with them, claiming that she is free. The slave traders pay no attention to Mona's claim, dragging her to a fire where they strip off her clothing and

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

her. Mona takes on the life of a house servant named Shola "to live the life of her enslaved ancestors." She is taken to the Lafayette

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

, where she suffers abuse by her slave masters and is often a victim of rape. On the plantation, Shola encounters Nunu (Alexandra Duah), an African-born field hand who remembers the "old ways" and was characterized as a "strong motherly slave with a rebel mindset"; Noble Ali (

), a headman with loyalty split between his masters and fellow slaves and who deeply loved Nunu and refused to let anything happen to her; and Shango (

), a rebellious

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

slave who was sold to the Lafeyettes after being deemed a trouble-maker and who soon became the lover of Shola. Shango is named after the Yoruba god of thunder and lightning, and displays loyalty to his fellow slaves to the extent that he would risk his own life. He often gets in trouble for attempting to fight on behalf of another slave. He often performs rebellious acts such as trying to get Shola to poison the overseer or cutting down sugar canes out of anger. When asked why he does not simply run away from the plantation, he says it is because he cannot leave his fellow slaves behind. Both Nunu and Shango resist and rebel against the slave system by doing everything in their power to gain freedom. Shola witnesses Nunu and Shango being actively involved in a secret society that had meetings at night; its members were slaves from the Lafayette and other nearby plantations. At first, Shola says that she does not want to join the secret society because she had Christian beliefs. Together, the slaves of the society decide to rebel; their confrontstion results in a fire and sugar cane fields are left in ashes. Nunu comes into conflict with her own

mixed-race The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...

son, Joe. He was fathered by a white man who raped Nunu on the slave ship. Joe (Nick Medley) has been made a head slave and often has to discipline other slaves in order to keep his master happy. Joe identifies as a white Christian man, abandoning his African roots. He is brainwashed by Father Raphel (Reginald Carter), who teaches Joe that the Africans on the plantation, including his mother, are devil worshippers and that Joe could not identify with them. Joe ends up killing his mother Nunu because he believes that she is possessed. He later realizes that his action was sinful, and he cannot forgive himself. After Nunu's death, some believe that she was able to return home on the wings of a bird, meaning that her deep desire to return to Africa was finally fulfilled. Throughout the film, Shola gradually transforms from being a compliant slave to a person who gains rebellious instincts after being given the Sankofa bird by Shango. The bird once belonged to Shango's father, and Shango decided to pass it on to Shola after she was

flogged Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on a ...

for attempting to run away. Inspired by Nunu and Shango's determination to defy the system, Shola joins them in fighting back against her masters in a rebellion. She retaliates against her white rapist and kills him. After her trials, Shola returns to the present as Mona, deeply aware of her African roots. She is greeted by a woman who says "My child, welcome back" and walks past the photographer, who symbolizes

colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

and

westernization Westernization (or Westernisation, see spelling differences), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt what is considered to be Western culture, in areas such as industr ...

. Now enlightened, Mona is captivated by the sound of Sankofa's chants and his African drum. She joins a group of black people who have also learned what Sankofa really means and are reconnecting to their roots. Nunu comes out of the slave castle while Mona was in a trance and sheds tears of joy. Meanwhile, Sankofa plays his drums, chanting: "Lingering spirit of the dead, rise up and possess the stolen spirit of those stolen in Africa." The film ends with a bird soaring high in the sky, signifying the final liberation of those who had found the true meaning of the word "Sankofa" and reconnected to their past.

Cast

* Kofi Ghanaba as Sankofa * Oyafunmike Ogunlano as Mona/Shola * Alexandra Duah as Nunu * Nick Medley as Joe *

as Shango *

as Noble Ali *

Reggie Carter Reginald Carter (October 10, 1957 – December 24, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. At and , he played as a guard. Born in New York City, Carter played collegiately for the St. John's University and the University of Hawa ...

as Father Raphael * Mzuri as Lucy *

Jimmy Lee Savage Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

as Mussa * Hasinatu Camara as Jumma *

Jim Faircloth Jim or JIM may refer to: Names * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy People and horses * Jim, the nickname of Yelkanum Seclamatan (died April 1911), Nat ...

as James * Stanley Michelson as Mr. Lafayette * John A. Mason *Louise Reid * Roger Doctor as Nathan * Alditz McKenzie as Kuta * Chrispan Rigby as Photographer * Maxwell Parris as Baby Ngozi * Hossana Ghanaba

Critical reception

Sankofa won the grand prize at the African Cinema Festival in Italy and Best Cinematography at the FESPACO Pan-African Film Festival in Burkina Faso. The film is also listed as one of the 500 Utterly Essential Movies to Cultivate Great Taste in Cinema by professors of Film Studies at Harvard University, under the heading "the most essential films in the history of world cinema, 1980-2000." "The film was met with great approval by the audience, which was as deeply moved as I was by this epic two-hour drama." (William Beik, July 1994) "Haile Gerima's poetic and precisely detailed film takes its audience into its heroine's life and mind as her moral sense is challenged and changed. No viewer can avoid the discomforting questions the film so eloquently raises." "The Ethiopian-born Gerima, best known for "Bush Mama"—his 1976 portrait of an impoverished woman living in Watts—has brought a distinctive style and an often raw but always authoritative command of his medium to confront the horrors of slavery and its persisting significance, perhaps as no other filmmaker has." "''Sankofa'' (1993) is a compelling historical account of the Maafa, the African Holocaust. This rich film illustrates slavery from the view that many Blacks have been denied, their history. It explores the themes of loss of identity and racial consciousness; respecting and returning to our ancestral roots; and recognizing the connections that exist between people of African descent who live throughout the world." "Clearly, Gerima intends for ''Sankofa'' to expand the boundaries of Black representation in ways that include more diverse, realistic, and empowering images and, in turn, enable Black audiences to see themselves in new ways that are divorced from dominant images."

Nominations

The film was nominated for the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...

at the

43rd Berlin International Film Festival The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 February 1993. The Golden Bear was jointly awarded to American-Taiwanese film '' The Wedding Banquet'' directed by Ang Lee and Chinese film '' Woman Sesame Oil Maker'' di ...

Re-release

In 2021,

ARRAY An array is a systematic arrangement of similar objects, usually in rows and columns. Things called an array include: {{TOC right Music * In twelve-tone and serial composition, the presentation of simultaneous twelve-tone sets such that the ...

remastered the movie in 4K with a limited theatrical run and releasing on Netflix on September 24, 2021. It had its L.A. re-release debut at DuVernay’s Array Creative Campus.

References

External links

Sankofa Official Site

Paper on proverbs in film
* {{FESPACO Best Cinematography Prize, state=expanded Films about American slavery Films set in Ghana 1993 films Burkinabe drama films English-language Burkinabe films 1993 drama films German drama films English-language German films Ghanaian drama films English-language Ghanaian films Films directed by Haile Gerima American drama films British drama films Films about body swapping Afrofuturist films Ethiopian drama films English-language Ethiopian films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1990s British films 1990s German films English-language historical drama films