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LEADER 00000ngm a2200385 i 4500
003 CaSfKAN
005 20140402113757.0
006 m o c
007 vz uzazuu
007 cr una---unuuu
008 150413p20152004cau050 o vlfre d
028 52 1139619|bKanopy
035 (OCoLC)908378027
040 CaSfKAN|beng|erda|cCaSfKAN
043 e-fr---
099 Streaming Video Kanopy
245 00 Arlit :|bDeuxieme Paris.|h[Kanopy electronic resource]
264 1 [San Francisco, California, USA] :|bKanopy Streaming,
|c2015.
300 1 online resource (1 video file, approximately 51 min.) :
|bdigital, .flv file, sound
336 two-dimensional moving image|btdi|2rdacontent
337 computer|bc|2rdamedia
338 online resource|bcr|2rdacarrier
344 digital
347 video file|bMPEG-4|bFlash
500 Title from title frames.
518 Originally produced by California Newsreel in 2004.
520 Old home movies, newsreels and a prison diary are
interwoven to link personal and public history in this
assessment of human rights abuses in Guinea-Conakry. Allah
Tantou is the first African film to confront the immense
personal and political costs of the widespread human
rights abuses on the continent. It follows filmmaker David
Achkar's search for his father, his father's search for
himself inside a Guinean prison and Africa's search for a
new beginning amid the disillusionment of the post-
independence era. One of the most courageous and
controversial films of recent years, Allah Tantou speaks
in an unabashedly personal voice not often heard in
African cinema. The life of Marof Achkar, David's father,
can be seen as emblematic of much recent African history.
In 1958, his countryman, Sekou Touri, declared Guinea the
first independent French African colony and became a hero
of Pan-Africanism. Marof Achkar, a leading figure in the
Ballets Africains, served as U.N. ambassador for the new
government. In 1968, Achkar was suddenly recalled, charged
with treason and vanished into the notorious Camp Boiro
prison. His family was exiled and, only after Touri's
death in 1984, did they learn of Achkar's execution in
1971. David Achkar writes, "I knew my father was a hero,
but I wanted to know what that meant." The Marof Achkar we
first encounter in home movies and newsreels is a
charismatic, confident performer on the world stage. The
Marof Achkar glimpsed later through letters and a
remarkable prison diary is a man bereft of position,
identity and family; he is now simply "Number 54." But in
prison, he undergoes an almost religious conversion. "It's
strange," he wrote, "I've never felt so humble,
insignificant and yet it is the deepest reason of my
happiness: I believe it's the grace of God." In a
cinematic tradition which has privileged the calm
collective voice of the griot, Allah Tantou speaks with
the fragmented, uncertain rhythms of the individual
conscience. Achkar juxtaposes diverse, sometimes
contradictory texts - documentary, newsreel,
dramatizations, photos, journals - to deny us a single,
authoritative narrative space. Allah Tantou argues through
its example that vigorous debate, candor and self-
criticism are the pre-conditions for Africa's political
and spiritual renewal. "Wrenching as well as cathartic, it
required a special kind of courage to make this film." -
Philadelphia Inquirer. "Better than any African film
before it, Allah Tantou brilliantly redefines the
documentary genre." - Manthia Diawara, New York
University. "Makes intense links between personal and
public history...A powerful tool for reassessing the
recent African past." - Black Film Review
538 Mode of access: World Wide Web.
650 0 Uranium mines and mining|xEnvironmental aspects|zAfrica
|zNiger.
650 0 Economic and Social Conditions|xEmigration and immigration
|zAfrica|zNiger.
655 7 Documentary films.|2lcgft
700 1 Kpai, Idrissou Mora |d1967-.|efilm director.
710 2 Kanopy (Firm)
856 40 |uhttps://naperville.kanopy.com/node/139620|zAvailable on
Kanopy
856 42 |zCover Image|uhttps://www.kanopy.com/node/139620/external
-image