588 Sankofa,Film
cultural conceptSankofa.Sankofa, an Akan term
that means to return to the past and move for-
ward, became emblematic of Black empowerment
and the embrace of Africanity in the late 1980s
and early 1990s among people of African descent.
Sankofathe film is a realist drama depicting the
horrors of the system of enslavement and the trans-
formative and redemptive characteristic of rebel-
lion. The plot of the film revolves around the
experiences of one main character, “Mona/Shola”
(Oyafunmike Ogunlano). As Mona, the character
is a miseducated fashion model who finds herself
transported from a modern-day photographic
assignment choreographed at an ancient slave-
holding castle in Ghana to the persona of Shola, a
house slave on a large plantation.Sankofais a
journey of self-discovery, which employs a num-
ber of African spirituality concepts, including
spiritual possession and the collective rituals
of resistance. A local priest and guardian of the
sacred site where enslaved Africans passed
through, Sankofa (Kofi Ghanaba) induces the
character Mona to “Get back to your past!” The
film also made bold statements about the inherent
cruelty of the system of enslavement, the hypoc-
risy of Christianity and slavery, the sexual
exploitation of enslaved African women, and the
management of African and slave identities to
internally advance the system of enslavement. In
contrast to prior major motion pictures depicting
Africans within the system of enslavement,
Sankofa consistently unfolded the story Afro-
centrically, from the African’s perspective,
emphasizing the overwhelming determination to
be free embodied in the character of Shango
(Mutabaruka).
Gerima, born in Ethiopia and based in the
United States since the late 1960s, faced a number
of challenges in getting the film completed and
aired throughout the country. His film company
partnered with the government of Ghana and used
equipment from Burkina Faso. An exemplar of
independent African filmmaking,Sankofawas pro-
duced for less than $1 million. Gerima, undaunted
by American production and distribution chal-
lenges to his film, initially galvanized Black com-
munities nationwide (New York, Los Angeles,
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Newark, Chicago,
and Atlanta) in the airing of the film in theaters
often classified as “art houses.” Gerima has won
national and international awards for his films,
including Sankofa (Oscar Micheaux Award and
First Prize, African Film Festival—Milan; and Best
Cinematography Award at the Pan African Film
and Television Festival of Ouagadougou [FES-
PACO] in Burkina Faso). As a result of its success
and impact on global cinema, many journalists and
scholars have critically reviewedSankofa. Sankofa
has been described as a “turning point” in contem-
porary Black film and a departure from the stock
Hollywood Black gangster genre. Gerima has con-
sistently produced films that challenge mainstream
views of the African experience (e.g.,Mirt Sost Shi
Amit[Harvest: 3000 Years] andAdwa:An African
Victory). His 1976 Bush Mamahas often been
described as an important departure from the era’s
blaxploitation films. As in Sankofa, Gerima is
noted for his ability to exceed cinematic convention
by humanizing African people and the Black expe-
rience. Sankofahas been linked to a number of
important African independent films that comprise
an Afrocentric or African-centered liberatory genre,
including, but not limited to, Daughters of the
Dust (Julie Dash), The Second Coming (Blair
Underwood), and documentaries such as Black
Studies USA (Niyi Coker) and 500 Years Later
(M. K. Asante, Jr., and Owen ‘Alik Shahadah).Katherine Olukemi BankoleSee alsoAkan; Ancestors; Maroon Communities;
Resistance to Enslavement; YorubaFurther Readings
Diawara, M. (1992).African Cinema. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.
Edelman, R. (1985, October). Storyteller of Struggles:
An Interview With Haile Gerima.The Independent,
pp. 123–154.
Howard, S. (1985). A Cinema of Transformation: The
Films of Haile Gerima.Cineaste(Berkeley), 14 (1),
236–267.
McKenna, C. (1995, May 29). A Saga of Slavery
Reaches the Big Screen.Los Angeles Times, n.p.
Pfaff, F. (1988).Twenty-five Black African Filmmakers:
A Critical Study,With Bibliography and Bio-
bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Safford, T., & Triplett, W. (1983, Spring). Haile Gerima:
Radical Departure to a New Black Cinema.The