5. Crafts and Crafts People (DVD 8384)
Adesuwa, aged 10, and Akugbe, aged 11, are going to have new party dresses made. They choose a tie-dyed fabric, and we learn how it is made. We also learn how the famous bronzes were cast. Today's chief bronze caster narrates the dance drama that explains how the bronze casters became the most important craft guild in Benin.
Director: Ben Onwukwe, Deborah Isaacs Distributor:Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Keywords: Nigeria, Benin, agriculture, urban life, family, history, economy, crafts

Between War and Peace (DVD : 23 min. )  [2005]
DVD 8909
Abstract: Liberia, Africa's oldest republic, was relatively calm until 1980 when William Tolbert was overthrown by Sergeant Samuel Doe after food price riots. By the late 1980s, arbitrary rule and economic collapse culminated in civil war when dissidents of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front overran much of the countryside and executed Doe. Over half of the population fled their homes in terror during its long and bloody civil war. After 14 years of anarchy, the international community has arrived in force in an attempt to stabilize the country. Many see this as Liberia's last chance. With more than 59,000 fighters (some of them children) demobilized in the last three months and another 15,000 waiting to follow, this Life program reports on Liberia's attempts to find a way of engaging the former fighters in rebuilding their country - to sustain the peace.
Director: Emily Marlow Distributor:Bull Frog films
Keywords: Liberia, conflict management, civil war, government, history, politics, development. children

Bitter Melons (Motion Picture : 30 min. )  [1971]
MP-16MM 406
Abstract: Portrays the difficulty of survival in the central Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa, in a zone where game is scarce because waterholes are dry most of the year. A native musician performs songs about animals, the land, and the social life. Includes traditional music, dances, and children's games. Uses 1955 footage.
Director: John Marshall Distributor:Documentary Educational Resources
Keywords: Southern Africa, San (Bushmen), music, hunting

Child's Century of War (A) (Videocassette : 90 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8466
Abstract: From the perspective of children, this documentary takes the viewer on a journey through the past century, examining the way in which modern wars have increasingly threatened and targeted children. Two orphans of the two recent Chechen wars, children growing up on a dangerous street in the West Bank, and abducted, raped, and amputated children of Sierra Leone all tell their stories. This films makes parallel connections with past and present conflicts, with an eye to the future.
Director: Shelley Saywell Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: Chechnya, West Bank, Sierra Leone, war, orphans, trauma

Children of War (Videocassette : 28 min. )  [2001]
VHS 9178
Abstract: Thousands of children have been kidnapped and used as soldiers by the Ugandan rebel army, the Lord's Resistance Army. The children, many of whom are tortured, live a life of terror: girls as young as 12 are used as sex slaves, while the boys are forced to sometimes even kill family members. Once they have completed this terrible task, they are considered tough enough to be used in raids by the rebel army. This film follows two such children who escaped from their captors: Judith who for six years lived as a sex slave for a rebel commander, and Dennis who was caught when he tried to escape the first time and consequently forced to kill his friend. John Rheinstein, a therapist from 'Save the Children Denmark', attempts to create a new life for those children who have run away from the rebel army. The rehabilitation program includes having the children draw and reenact their traumatic experiences. Judith's parents are found and she is reunited with her family who thought that she had been killed. Three months after his return to the rehabilitation camp, Dennis is still battling with his traumas; his family has failed to retrieve him. Despite all attempts by groups like 'Save the Children' to stop the violence, it is a sad fact that very few children come out of the bush alive in this 'forgotten war'.
Director: Henrik Grunnet, Keld Kluwer Distributor:Filmakers Library, NY
Keywords: Uganda, children, child soldiers, civil war, rehabilitation, sexual abuse, trauma, violence

Children of the Forest. Pygmies of the Rain Forest. Selections. (Videocassette : 28 min. )  [1996]
V.CASS. VHS 7991
Abstract: Portrays the everyday life of the Mbuti Pygmies of the Ituri forest in Zaire, Africa. Shows hut building, food gathering and a hunt for a bull elephant.
Director: Kevin Duffy Distributor:Pyramid Media
Keywords: Zaire, Mbuti, everyday life, hunting

Choosing Exile (DVD : 55 min. )  [2003]
DVD 8241
Abstract: Filmmaker Marc Radomsky is third generation South African. His grandfather emigrated from Lithuania to escape pogroms. The family established their roots in Johannesburg and prospered. However Marc and his wife see that growing lawlessness and crime in post-Apartheid South Africa has driven the white community into gated communities where armed guards, attack dogs and barbed wire are the brutal signs of the need for increased security. Marc and his wife Vivianne have made the painful decision to emigrate to Australia. Their close-knit family, threatened with separation, tries to prevail upon the couple to reconsider. The camera captures the painful unravelling of their interconnected lives. Their parents will now be deprived of participating in the lives of their grandchildren, and their sobbing seven-year old tries to grasp why he must leave his dog behind. But leave they do, to an apparently welcoming new country, and hopefully a brighter future. Choosing Exile is a portrait of some of the current conditions in South Africa, as well as an intense portrait of the pain of emigration.
Director: Marc Radomsky Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: South Africa, Johannesburg, crime, emigration and immigration, family

Condoms, Fish and Circus Tricks: The AIDS Pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa (Videocassette : 47 min. )  [2002]
VHS 9182
Abstract: Shot in Malawi, South Africa and Zambia, this is a compelling documentary on the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is ravaging Southern Africa. It takes an intimate look at the people who are dying, those who are caring for them, and why this disease has had such a devastating impact on African society. In a remote village in Malawi, the struggle against AIDS is led by local volunteers who care for the orphan children and those that are dying, without medicines, clean water, or even rubber gloves. In a fishing village on Zambia's Kafue Flats the local fishermen earn their livelihood by selling their catch. When women don't have the money to pay, the men often trade their fish for sex. The result has been a huge surge of AIDS patients, overwhelming the local hospital which has only three doctors and three hundred beds. The film reveals a 'quiet revolution' is underway as young people are talking about sex and challenging traditional concepts of sexuality. Through performances in a street circus young people are spreading the message of AIDS prevention. It is these young people that offer hope for Africa's future.
Director: Brenda & Robert Rooney Distributor:Filmakers Library, N.Y. [www.filmakers.com]
Keywords: Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, children, HIV/AIDS, health education, disease prevention, orphans, youth

Cry Freetown, Return to Freetown (Videocassette : 134 min. )  [2005]
VHS 7205
Abstract: In Cry Freetown, Sierra Leonean filmmaker, Sorious Samura documents the civil war in Freetown, Sierra Leone. In Return to Freetown, filmmaker Sorious Samura returns to Sierra Leone and talks with three of the children who were abducted and forced to become soldiers in the civil war. Thousands were taken from their families by a ruthless rebel leader and turned into killers.
Director: Sorious Samura Distributor:Insight News Tv
Keywords: Sierra Leone, economy, civil war, youth

Cry of the Owl: The Himba in Namibia (DVD : 70 min. )  [2005]
DVD 8842
Abstract: In Namibia, in one of the most desolate regions of Africa, lives the Himba tribe, one of the last tribes trying to maintain a traditional way of life. Today the modern world is pressing in on them. Coupled with the real menace of HIV/AIDS, the Himba find their situation threatened from all sides. The film reveals the everyday lives of one family in an intimate manner. They open their home to us, and their hearts as well, as over the course of one year they share their innermost thoughts, desires and fears.

Big Mama, the head of the clan, has been diagnosed with a life-threatening case of tuberculosis. She is hospitalized in the nearest town which is hundreds of miles away from the village. Without her presence, the clan finds it hard to cope. On top of their worries about losing her, they have to deal with a mysterious cattle disease that is killing their herd at an alarming rate. The film follows three generations of strong Himba women, as they raise their children, trying to cope with the immense difficulties to simply survive.
Director: Erez Laufer Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Nambia, Himba, HIV/AIDS, women, family, health

Dead Mums Don't Cry (DVD : 49 min. )  [2006]
DVD 7635
Abstract: Becoming a mother in Africa can be among the most frightening and dangerous jobs in the world. This program investigates why more than half a million women die every year in pregnancy and childbirth. Dead Mums Don't Cry documents one woman's remarkable struggle to stop mothers in her country from dying. She's Grace Kodindo - an obstetrician in the poverty-stricken central African country of Chad. Women in Chad have a 1 in 11 chance of dying during pregnancy or in childbirth. The risk for women in the UK is 1 in 5100. Cutting maternal mortality by 75% by 2015 was one of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by 189 countries in 2000. Five years on, progress is far behind schedule - and this film reveals it's slowest on the goals that affect women and children. But Dead Mums Don't Cry shows there is reason for hope. A few poor countries have succeeded in saving mothers' lives. BBC reporter Steve Bradshaw and Grace Kodindo travel to Honduras, which has cut maternal mortality far faster than some wealthier neighbors. A key reason is that influential men and women cared enough to make the issue a priority.
Director: Grace Kodindo, Tristan Quinn Distributor:Bull Frog Films
Keywords: Chad, pregnancy, motherhood, health, development

Desired Number (The) (Videocassette : 28 min. )  [1995]
V.CASS. VHS 8047
Abstract: Investigates the condition of women in Nigeria, where a woman's status and value are tied to her ability to bear children of the desired number.
Director: Ngozi Onwurah Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Nigeria, women, children, social conditions

Eclipse (Videocassette : 25 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8248
Abstract: A dreamlike documentary depicting the total blackout of four girls' lives, eclipsed by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is a story about four sisters, Lara, Eugenisse, Fátima and Luisa-- the oldest sixteen and the youngest nine. They are AIDS orphans living in the Mozambican town of Chimoio. Their mother died of AIDS and their father disappeared, probably to commit suicide in a nearby place of spirits. The film documents the girls' day-to-day struggle for existence as they try to make ends meet by reselling produce they have bought from the market. Part of Steps for the Future, a unique collection of documentaries and short films from Southern Africa about life in the time of HIV/AIDS (Volume 9).
Director: Orlando Mesquita Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Mozambique, HIV/AIDS, children, orphans, family, Steps for the Future

Everyone's Child (Videocassette : 83 min. )  [1996]
V. CASS. VHS 3791
Abstract: In a rural village in Zimbabwe, Tamari and Itai are devastated following the tragic death of both their parents. For the children this is a time of fear and survival as family and neighbors turn their heads. The social climate in the city is just as hostile as it is in the village. In the end it is only tragedy that can bridge the gulf of denial between their two worlds and make the community realize that these are everyone's children.
Director: TsitsiDangarembga Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Zimbabwe, children, family, social life, feature film

Ezra (DVD : 105 min. )  [2007]
DVD 9460
Abstract: Tells the story of Ezra, a young boy kidnapped and forced to become a soldier with a rebel faction in the Sierra Leone civil war. Ten years later, he is before a truth and reconciliation commission and made to revisit and understand his crimes so as to begin the process of psychological healing.
Director: Carlos Arango de Montis Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Sierra Leone, wara, children, reconciliation, psychology

Faraw!: Une Mère des Sables = Mother of the Dunes (Videocassette : 90 min. )  [1997]
V.CASS. VHS 8414
Abstract: With three difficult children, a crippled, mentally unbalanced husband and no steady income, Zamiatou is the poorest woman in an impoverished desert village in Mali. She could have plenty of money to survive if she would sell her daughter as a prostitute to nearby French settlers, but she refuses to do so. Unfortunately, her family situation continues to spiral downward and she is finally forced to seek outside help.
Director: Abbdoulaye Ascofaré Distributor:ArtMattan Productions
Keywords: Mali, women, social conditions, poverty, feature film

Fathers (Video Disc/Laser Vision : 87 min. )  [2000]
V. CASS VHS 7169
Abstract: Each of these three films offers a critical look at the relationships between fathers and their children in contemporary Africa. In The Father, the patriarch in question is ultimately the military dictatorship which terrorized Ethiopia in the '70s and '80s. Surrender shows the traditional face of paternal tyranny, a father controlling his son's life. A Barber's Wisdom shows a modern father who compromises his children in his relentless pursuit of money.
Director: Ermias Woldeermlak, Celine Gilbert, Amak Igwe Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, fatherhood, patriarchy, family, short films

Geldoff in Africa (DVD : 240 min. )  [2005]
DVD 5559
Abstract: If Bob Geldof had never seen news footage of the horrific famine in Ethiopia back in the mid-'80s, he might have carried on in relative obscurity, making so-so records with his band the Boomtown Rats. But see it he did, which led to Band Aid (and 'Do They Know It's Christmas' ), Live Aid, Live 8, knighthood, and now Geldof in Africa, a profound, provocative, beautifully made six-part series that aired in 2005 on Britain's BBC. Sir Bob, who narrates both on- and off-screen, visited many parts of what he calls the Luminous Continent (as opposed to the Dark Continent moniker that was ironically bestowed on Africa by Europeans whose own countries were often gray and grim), including Somaliland, a sort of non-country whose very existence isn't acknowledged by any other nation; Ghana, from which slaves were once shipped to America and elsewhere; the Congo, the true heart of darkness, which still bears the ugly scars of Belgian colonization; the Sahara desert, where 'you discover the absolute insignificance of you'; Uganda, where a brutal 'rebel leader' abducts children and turns them into sex slaves and soldiers; and Ethiopia, where it all started for Geldof (and where conditions are actually improving). But Geldof and producer-director John Maguire's film is not a travelogue. Nor is it a scientific documentary, although we learn something about geography, anthropology, meteorology, geology, agriculture, history, religion, and, inevitably, politics. What distinguishes Geldof in Africa is the presence of Geldof himself. An excellent writer and articulate speaker, he brings a decidedly subjective point of view to the work. 'I can't do slick television,' he admits; neither cynical nor naïve, he says exactly what he thinks, and expresses his wonder, fascination, rage, grief, sympathy, blame, and hope with a quiet passion that compels the viewer to feel those things as well. The camera work is flawless throughout, with shot after shot of breathtaking beauty, and Pete Briquette's music provides graceful accompaniment. Extras include audio commentary by Geldof and Maguire, deleted scenes, photos, and a Geldof interview. --Sam Graham
Director: John Maguire Distributor:BBC/Warner Vision International
Keywords: Africa, Congo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, charity, development, NGO, travel

God Sleeps in Rwanda (DVD : 28 min. )  [2005]
DVD 5902
Abstract: Uncovering amazing stories of hope in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, Academy Award-Nominee God Sleeps in Rwanda captures the spirit of five courageous women as they rebuild their lives, redefine women's roles in Rwandan society and bring hope to a wounded nation. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide left the country nearly 70 percent female, handing Rwanda's women an extraordinary burden and an unprecedented opportunity. Girls are attending school in record numbers, and women now make up a large part of the country's leadership. Working with two cameras and no crew except for their translator --a genocide survivor herself-- the filmmakers uncover incredible stories: an HIV-positive policewoman raising four children alone and attending night school to become a lawyer, a teenager who has become head of household for her four siblings, and a young woman orphaned in her teens who is now the top development official in her area. Heart-wrenching and inspiring, this powerful film is a brutal reminder of the consequences of the Rwandan tragedy, and a tribute to the strength and spirit of those who are moving forth. In Kinyarwanda and English, Subtitled
Director: Kimberlee Acquaro, Stacy Sherman Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Rwanda, gender, genocide, race relations, women

Great Wonder (A): Lost Children of Sudan (DVD : 61 min. )  [2004]
DVD 7676
Abstract: More than 2 million Sudanese have died in the longest uninterrupted civil war in the world, now in its 20th year. Another 5 million civilians have fled their homes to escape the fighting. A Great Wonder traces the extraordinary journey of three young Sudanese orphans, a fraction of the 17,000 so-called 'Lost Boys' of Sudan, who have spent the majority of their lives either in flight from war or in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Northern Kenya. Having navigated the hazards of warfare, disease and starvation, their arrival and resettlement in Seattle, Washington is not your average immigration story. Over the course of 18 months, these youths have recorded their own experiences through their own eyes and in their own words using digital video cameras. The resulting diaries serve as a personal thread throughout the film, incorporating first-hand accounts of their experiences in war with their radically different lives as immigrants in America. A story of survival in its most elemental form, A Great Wonder explores the concepts of loss, faith, community and freedom as it bears witness to the spirit that drives these young people to rebuild their lives.
Director: Kim Shelton Distributor:Bull Frog Films
Keywords: Sudan, refugees, immigrants, children, war, resettlement

Guguletu Ballet (DVD : 23 min. )  [2007]
DVD 8107
Abstract: In 1992, a white South African ballet dancer ventured into a township and began teaching classes in an empty schoolroom. Within a few years, hundreds of township children took up ballet, and a program called Dance For All was born. Guguletu Ballet profiles some of the extraordinary people behind Dance For All's success -- from prima ballerinas who left the international stage to teach in the townships, to students who are overcoming great odds. Their stories offer a glimpse at the harsh realities of township life...and proof that ballet dancers can come from the most unlikely places.
Director: Kristin Pichaske Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: South Africa, Cape Town, dance, performance

Heart of Soweto (The), Part 2: When You Come Back Home (Videocassette : 30 min. )  [1991]
ON-ORDER
Abstract: Florence Williams and Nombulelo are mothers waiting for the return of their children, one from political imprisonment, the other from exile. Mrs. Williams has been waiting for months, highly expectant since De Klerk's announcement that all political prisoners will be released. Her daughter, Pumla, is in Pretoria Central Prison.
Director: NA Distributor:Video News Services Double Exposure
Keywords: South Africa, Soweto, social life, motherhood, politics, history, political movements

Imita Ikula (Videocassette : 26 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8250
Abstract: Memory is one of the 75,000 street kids in Lusaka, most of them orphans due to the AIDS epidemic. This documentary illustrates that she is streetwise and ready to fight, and yet she has her softer, more vulnerable side. Follows her as she finds a way to watch the solar eclipse, gets her hair braided, cooks, and sings and talks with her friends. Part of Steps for the Future, a unique collection of documentaries and short films from Southern Africa about life in the time of HIV/AIDS (Volume 11).
Director: Sampa Kangwa, Simon Wilkie Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Zambia, Lusaka, HIV/AIDS, children, orphans, family, Steps for the Future

In Danku the Soup Is Sweeter: Women and Development In Ghana (DVD : 30 min. )  [2000]
DVD 9105
Abstract: As in many African villages, life in Danku in the north of Ghana has been a struggle for subsistence. The women bear the burden of caring for the children, raising food, and trying to make life better for their families. Through a special project of the Canadian International Development Agency, the women were given access to credit for the first time. This film shows how this little bit of financial aid allowed the women to become 'entrepreneurs.' We follow two women who take advantage of this program, borrowing a little bit of start up money. We see how hard they work to pay back their loans. One makes butter from arduously pounding vegetables; the other cooks delicious soup from seasonal crops. They each sell their products from door to door and at the market near their village. Eventually their efforts make a small profit that affords their families some more comforts. This beautifully filmed video captures the rhythms of village life and the tenacity of the women who, though uneducated, are willing to undertake new responsibilities.
Director: Gary Beitel Distributor:NA
Keywords: Ghana, women, development, NGO, economy, credit associations

Invisible Children (DVD : 55 min. )  [2006]
DVD 5486
Abstract: In Uganda's long-lasting civil war, many children have been abducted to be trained as child soldiers. This film documents the children's life and general social conditions in Uganda in 2003. What started out as a film-making adventure in Africa, transformed into much more, when the three young Americans original travels took a divine turn, and they found themselves stranded in Northern Uganda. They discovered children being kidnapped nightly from their homes and subsequently forced to fight as child soldiers. Children as young as eight are methodically kidnapped from their homes by a rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The abducted children are then desensitized to the horror of brutal violence and killing, as they themselves are turned into vicious fighters. Some escape and hide in constant fear for their lives. Most remain captive, and grow to maturity with no education other than life in the bush and fighting in a guerilla war. Of the many ramifications that a 20 -year-long war can cause, the film highlights what the community refers to as 'night commuters.' We watch thousands of children commute out of fear, from their villages to nearby towns each night in order to avoid the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) abductions. They sleep in public places, vulnerable, and without supervision.
Director: Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole Distributor:Invisible Children
Keywords: Uganda, children, civil war, child soldiers

Kalahari Family (A) (Videocassette : 332 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 8339 PT1-5
Abstract: In 1951, Laurence and Lorna Marshall and their two children, Elizabeth and John, set out to find the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Their aim was to study and document their life and culture. While in Nyae Nyae the Marshall family documented everyday life as well as unusual events and activities, producing a massive body of work that continues to define the fields of anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking today. Encapsulating 50 years of Namibian history, A Kalahari Family represents a lifetime of documentation, research, and personal contact by filmmaker John Marshall. Contents: pt. 1. A far country -- pt. 2. End of the road -- pt. 3. Real water -- pt. 4. Standing tall -- pt. 5. Death by myth. (5 videocassettes)
Director: John Marshall, Claire Ritchies Distributor:Documentary Educational Resources
Keywords: Namibia, Bushmen, history, anthropology, John Marshall

Kenya, Where Women Rule (DVD : 20 min. )  [2006]
DVD 8230
Abstract: Domestic violence against women is rife among the Samburu in Kenya. In Samburu culture, the women also do all the work, including building the homes, herding, collecting firewood and water and caring for the children. In the 1980s and 90s, two hundred women from the tribe claimed they were raped by men from a nearby British army base. The Samburu men rejected them, whipped them and threw them out of their homes. In 1990 a small group of these stigmatized women decided to band together and create their own village. Under the leadership of one woman, Rebecca Lollosoli, their village has prospered, taking advantage of the income from tourism. The Samburu men have tried to sabotage the tourist business and have also mounted raids on the village. Finally, the Samburu men's chief tried to effect a reconciliation, but the women vehemently rejected his proposal. They are clearly enjoying the advantages of independence!
Director: Stormland Productions Distributor:NA
Keywords: Kenya, Samburu, women, economy, rape, tourism

Left Behind (Videocassette : 36 min. )  [2002]
VHS 9155
Abstract: Left Behind is a 36-minute documentary that reveals the devastating effects of AIDS on Kenya's children by exploring the lives of HIV-positive orphans at Nyumbani Children's Home; why the virus spreads in the poverty-ridden slum of Kibera; and the struggle for survival of homeless children in nearby Dagoretti who lost their parents to AIDS. Through the eyes and voices of the children themselves, as well as prostitutes, slum dwellers and those infected with HIV, Left Behind dramatically exposes the enormity of the challenge that faces all those who seek to help the victims and prevent the collapse of a continent.
Director: Christof Putzel Distributor:www.films.com
Keywords: Kenya, HIV/AIDS, children, orphans, homelessness

Liberia: an Uncivil War (DVD : 102 min. )  [2005]
DVD 4954
Abstract: Liberia: An Uncivil War provides an in-depth case study of one of the many brutal civil wars which have sprung up like wild fires across Africa. It is an exciting example of war-time journalism - white knuckles reporting with bullets ricocheting just feet from the camera placed in a historical context stretching back nearly two hundred years. Liberia can uniquely claim to be made in America and has always looked to the U.S. in its times of crisis. Reporter Jonathan Stack is besieged in the Liberian capital of Monrovia where President Charles Taylor says he will not leave until peacekeepers are in place. He is remarkably equable for a man who has just been indicted on 17 counts of crimes against humanity by the United Nations. James Barbazon is 'embedded' with the LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) who have pledged to pillage the country until President Taylor leaves. He introduces us to General Cobra, Col. Black Diamond and soldiers, slightly more than children, who eat their victim's hearts in the belief it will make them stronger. With the rebels at the bridges leading to Monrovia, the Nigerians are at last persuaded to send 750 peacekeepers and the U.N. follows soon with 14,000. But what remains in the viewers' mind is President Bush's empty promises of help during the darkest days of Liberia's civil war.
Director: Jonathan Stack Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Liberia, child soldiers, civil war, journalism, peacekeepers, United Nations

Listen to the Silence (DVD : 52 min. )  [2003]
DVD 8402
Abstract: The film reveals the kaleidoscope of rhythms heard in an African village. The night sings with the sounds of cicadas. Women pound pestles rhythmically to grind grain. Children amuse themselves with dancing, jumping and tapping games, and play together in small bands shaking marimbas and beating on rustic drums. We are shown the complexity of drumming by master drummer Akakpoli Afade, who also points out the wide variety of instruments used. Music of the Ewe, Ashanti, Ga and Frafra peoples in Ghana is represented. Collins points out that village music is communal, integral to social interaction. This lively film adds a new dimension to the appreciation of African music, focusing as it does on the space between sounds - the richness of silence.
Director: Peter Bischoff Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Ghana, Ashanti, Ewe, Ga, music

Living with AIDS (DVD : 49 min. )  [2005]
DVD 5584
Abstract: In the third of his Living with... series, Sorious Samura works as an orderly in a hospital in Zambia , where the majority of the patients are HIV positive. Confronted on a daily basis with death, he describes his workplace as being like a frontline in a war zone. The staff works under horrendous conditions where protective gloves are a luxury and shrouds for the dead are stained with the blood of previous corpses. In this film, Samura exposes the untold story of AIDS -- how poverty and the complex nature of African culture and sexuality are hampering efforts to eradicate this horrifying disease. He meets characters like Joshua and Lawson who continue to practice unprotected sex despite their HIV positive status, and Precious and Nancy, AIDS orphans who fend for themselves in a world where sex 'flesh to flesh' pays well and offers an easy short term solution. Samura also meets heroines such as Bitonda, who at sixteen is in sole charge of her dying 14 year old brother, an AIDS orphaned cousin as well as her own child. After one month, Samura is left with the realization that for the war against HIV in Africa to be won, poverty, ignorance and African sexual attitudes have to be tackled head on. See also Living with Hunger, Living with Refugees and Living with Illegals.
Director: Sorious Samura, Claudio von Planta Distributor:Insight News Television
Keywords: Zambia, children, HIV/AIDS, journalism, orphans, health, medicine

Lost Boys of Sudan (DVD : 170 min. )  [2003]
DVD 4505
Abstract: Follows two Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America. Orphaned as young boys in one of Africa's cruelest civil wars, Peter Dut and Santino Chuor survived lion attacks and militia gunfire to reach a refugee camp in Kenya along with thousands of other children. From there, remarkably, they were chosen to come to America. Safe at last from physical danger and hunger, a world away from home, they find themselves confronted with the abundance and alienation of contemporary American suburbia. Disc one includes an 87-minute version of this film, disc two has a 55-minute version of the film, special features and five additional video segments.
Director: Megan Mylan Distributor:Lost Boys of Sudan
Keywords: Sudan, United States, civil war, refugees

Make Believe (Videocassette : 26 min. )  [1993]
VHS 9200
Abstract: In August 1993, Ordinary People (a South African television series) visited the town of Schweizer-Reineke and its neighboring township, Ipelegeng, to observe two contrasting but simultaneous ceremonies - one held for the African National Congress, the other for the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB). When the conservative white town council decided to give the 'freedom of the city' to Eugene Terre Blanche and the Wenkommando, the AWB's paramilitary group, the neighboring black township chose to honor Joe Modise, commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the ANC's armed wing. As these two diametrically opposed events are witnessed through the eyes of three of the town's children, Make Believe reveals, through their hopes and their misgivings, the future of a country where children grow up entrenched in hatred and fear. Adri supports the AWB in what she sees as a God-ordained quest against communism. Kenny, a member of the ANC's Young Pioneers, hates AWB leader Eugene Terre Blanche, but is prepared to talk to his children about a non-racial future. Niels is not taking sides, but believes that God's will will prevail. Amidst the sharply contrasting festivities, the children demonstrate their innocence as they grapple with long standing prejudices and hatreds that they do not fully comprehend. As they speak, it becomes evident that the attitudes which children like them will develop toward each other may determine South Africa's future.
Director: Clifford Bestall Distributor:First Run/Icarus Film
Keywords: South Africa, Afrikaner Resistance Movement, apartheid, African National Congress, children, politics, race relations

Man Who Could Be King, The (DVD : 46 min. )  [2000]
DVD 8936
Abstract: This is the extraordinary story of a man torn between his obligation as a tribal leader and his duty to his family. Adongo Akway Cham is an Anyuak tribesman from Southern Sudan who escaped the civil war to live peacefully in Canada. No sooner had he settled in Canada when his father, the tribe's king, died, and Cham was chosen over all his brothers to be the successor. The camera follows Cham for three years as he struggles with his kingly duties and attempts to settle his family in Canada. His wife is in an Ethiopian refugee camp, burdened with caring for his eight children. She is waiting for Cham to release her from the camp and obtain entry to the safe haven that Canada represents. Cham is in conflict. 'From the beginning I have tried to say no. I don't want to take the responsibility, but who will go and take it if not me?'
Director: Edith Champagne and Nancy IngDuclos Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Sudan, Anyuak, emigration, government, refugees

Maragoli (Videocassette : 58 min. )  [1992]
V. CASS. VHS 1823
Abstract: A documentary in which the villagers of the Maragoli region in Kenya describe their reaction to 'development' by explaining their aspirations, why they have so many children and why they fear the destruction of their traditional ways. Portrays the interlocking problems of high fertility rates, land scarcity, lack of education and employment and migration.
Director: NA Distributor:Sandra Nichols Production
Keywords: Kenya, Luhya, development, fertility, migration

Mauritania: The Vanishing Oasis (DVD : 57 min. )  [1993]
DVD 9001
Abstract: Beautifully photographed, this film introduces us to a couple, Baba and his wife Fatou, and their two children who live in a tiny oasis at the outskirts of Chinguetti, once a holy city of Islam. Ninety percent of Mauritania is desert, which encroaches a little every day upon the remaining arable land. Barely twenty years ago, eighty percent of Mauritania's population was nomadic. Today, only twelve percent can maintain the nomadic life. Fatou had grown up in a nomadic family and struggles with her new sedentary life. The family lives as best it can by protecting their date trees, which are constantly threatened by the ravages of sand. Drinking sweet tea to assuage their own hunger, they aim to keep their baby daughter plump so she can be married off at age seven. This is a memorable portrait of human beings surviving despite the forces of nature that buffet them.
Director: Louise Racicot Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Mauritania, economy, family, environment

Miner's Tale (A) (Videocassette : 40 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8246
Abstract: Joaquim is a migrant laborer with a junior wife in urban South Africa and a senior wife and family in rural Mozambique. He is torn between his responsibilities for both. He is also torn between his understanding of his HIV infection when visiting his home village after being absent for four years and what traditional society expects of him. Joaquim must make a choice since the elders are adamant that it is his traditional duty to father more children with his wife, but Joachim does not want to infect her. Part of Steps for the Future, a unique collection of documentaries and short films from Southern Africa about life in the time of HIV/AIDS (Volume 7).
Director: Gabriel Mondlane Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, Mozambique, HIV/AIDS, sexual behavior, migrant labor, kinship, family, Steps for the Future

Missing Out: Anemia Threatens the Populations of Niger and Tanzania (Videocassette : 28 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 7417
Abstract: In Niger, malnutrition remains the main cause of maternal and infant mortality, and well over half of all pregnant women suffer from iron deficiency anemia. In Tanzania, malaria is blamed for the increase in anemia. In some areas, 93 percent of children suffer from the condition. UNICEF believes that micromultinutrient pills that contain iron folate and other vitamins are the way forward. But is this a sustainable solution for these countries? This program follows two traditional birth attendants as they try to persuade women to take iron folate supplements and visit hospitals, which are often prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, the possibility that donors may pull out of distribution programs is high. Additional material at: http://www.tve.org/lifeonline/index.cfm?aid=1150
Director: Di Tatham Distributor:Bullfrogs Films
Keywords: Niger, Tanzania, women, health, pregnancy, nutrition, poverty, malaria, anemia

Mseyas (The) (Video Disc/Laser Vision : 53 min. )  [2007]
DVD 9607
Abstract: AIDS kills more than two million people every year in Africa. As a result of this epidemic, there are more than 11 million orphans. This documentary is the story of the Mseyas, AIDS orphans from Iringa, Tanzania. Alberina, Maria, Amos and Orsolina live on their own and face a life of struggle without resources.
Director: Gustavo Vizoso Distributor:Third World Newsreel
Keywords: Tanzania, HIV/AIDS, orphans, street children, poverty

Na cidade vazia = Hollow city (Videocassette : 88 min. )  [2005]
V.CASS. VHS 9143
Abstract: N'dala is an orphan from the Angolan province of Bie, a flashpoint in the rebellion that incited Angola's brutal civil war. In 1991, N'dala is airlifted by missionaries to the port city of Luanda, Angola's capital. He slips away from the nuns at the airport, choosing the solitude of the streets of the old city, but he is not prepared for living by his wits. His wandering leads N'dala to the beach where he takes shelter in an old fisherman's shack, but he is haunted by nightmares of the assault that left his family dead, and he soon disappears into the shanty-town neighborhoods of the city. N'dala meets Zé, an older boy who shares the epic story of a young warrior. Zé and his friends, who drift amongst the Luanda homeless, fascinate N'dala and he is tragically pulled into their existence of survival. Each step N'dala takes into the dark streets of the city leads him farther from his home.
Director: Maria Joao Ganga Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: Angola, Luanda, children, civil war, homelessness, orphans, trauma, feature film

Not Afraid (Videocassette : 7 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8256
Abstract: Not Afraid tells the story of Cathy from Namibia, who is 36 and has four children. During her second marriage, she got pregnant four times but lost the baby on each occasion. During her fourth pregnancy she took an HIV test, and was told that she was HIV-positive as she was going into labor. Not only was she informed insensitively at an inappropriate moment with no counseling, she also received no special care for the delivery of her child. Born prematurely, her baby had to remain in hospital but did not survive. Cathy now counsels HIV-positive people. Part of Steps for the Future, a unique collection of documentaries and short films from Southern Africa about life in the time of HIV/AIDS (Volume 17).
Director: Carla Hoffmann Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Namibia, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, counseling, Steps for the Future

Nuba Conversations (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [2001]
V. CASS. VHS 7171
Abstract: Ten years after filming Kafi's Story, British filmmaker Arthur Howes re-entered the Sudan clandestinely to find out what had happened to the Nuba of Torogi. Everywhere he encountered the jihad or holy war. The fundamentalist Sudanese regime is pursuing its policy of forced assimilation through a systematic disruption of the Nuba people, by killing their cattle and burning their villages. While Nuban women hide in caves 60,000 Nuba children have been abducted to camps where they are forcibly converted to Islam. Howes estimates that 40% of the Sudanese Army is now composed of Nuba men. See also Kafi's Story.
Director: Arthur Howes Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Sudan, Nuba, jihad, civil war, Islam, politics, history

Ocre People: Nomads of Namibia, The (DVD : 32 min. )  [1993]
In Process
Abstract: In the desert of Namibia, life has always been a harsh struggle enriched by a feeling of oneness with the land. The people of Ova Himba were cattle herders who followed the rains and knew where to find water and vegetation. They migrated between their encampments, the women repairing the huts with cow dung. Chief Kamasuthu, his mother, children and three wives always lived in the manner prescribed by their ancestors. They ground ocre with butterfat and herbs and decorated their bodies with this deep-hued mixture. This honored the fine cattle of their ancient gods. The drought and the war in Angola forced them into shanty towns and took away their dignity. Their children grew scornful of the old ways. This ancient, nomadic tribe, which had been untouched by the 20th century, now faces an uncertain future.
Director: Tracer Films Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Namibia, Ova Himba, economy, herding, war

On the Frontlines: Child Soldiers in DRC (Videocassette : 15 min. )  [2004]
VHS 9139
Abstract: This film features footage of the military training of children in several camps in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as testimony from demobilized child soldiers recounting their horrifying memories. Militia groups the Democratic Republic of Congo use children, both boys and girls, as soldiers. The majority of these children are between the ages of eight and sixteen and are often supported in their endeavors by their parents and the community at large. They are led by a sense of patriotism and promises of prosperity and a better life. On the Frontlines features footage of several militia camps, as well as testimony from demobilized child soldiers recounting their horrifying memories of life in the militias.
Director: Bukeni Beck Distributor:Witness
Keywords: Democratic Republic of Congo, civil war, children, violence

Operation Fine Girl: Rape used as a Weapon of War in Sierra Leone (Videocassette : 46 min. )  [2001]
VHS 9207
Abstract: Operation Fine Girl documents the brutal use of rape as a weapon of war in Sierra Leone. The story is told through the eyes the survivors - women and girls, as well as the child soldiers and perpetrators.
Director: Lilibet Foster Distributor:Witness
Keywords: Sierra Leone, civil war, sexual violence, rape, women, children

Ordinary People: Following On (Videocassette : 27 min. )  [1996]
On Order
Abstract: The first chapters of Ordinary People, created in 1993, were produced in a starkly different South Africa. Amidst social and political turmoil and strife, leaders were deep in negotiations for a new order and the ramifications were being felt throughout the country's social structure. In this, the final episode of the 1995 season, Following On revisits a number of the men, women, and children featured in the inaugural series. Intercut with scenes from the first shows more than two years after they were assembled, this program reveals the repercussions that the events chronicled in five of those programs (The Peacemakers; The Lawyer, The Farmer, and The Clerk; The Tooth of the Times; The Penalty Area; and Make Believe -- see individual titles in catalogue) have had on the their subjects as they share the personal tolls the new South Africa has taken on their lives. The end result is a film which presents far more than just nostalgia and reflection as it bears witness to perhaps the most enormously tumultuous period of change in South Africa's history.
Director: Harriet Gavshon Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: South Africa, apartheid, human rights, sociology, politics, history

Orphans of Mathare (Videocassette : 62 min. )  [2003]
V.CASS. VHS 7911
Abstract: Documents the lives of former street children, many orphaned by HIV/AIDS, now living at the Good Samaritan Children's Home, an orphanage and school run by Mercy Thuo in the Mathare Slum of Nairobi, Kenya. By following the lives of several orphans, the film lays bare the complicated relationship between poverty, violence, disease, Christianity, tradition and the orphan crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. Reveals that global AIDS is not simply a medical crisis but a socio-cultural one as well that threatens to create a generation of children without parents.
Director: Randy Bell Distributor:University of California Extension Center for Media
Keywords: Kenya, HIV/AIDS, orphans, poverty

Our Way of Loving (Videocassette : 50 min. )  [1994]
V. CASS. VHS 3281
Abstract: The third program in a trilogy focusing on the Hamar, an isolated people of Southwestern Ethiopia. This film shows Duka, now a mother with two young children. Her life is dominated by caring for them and her husband, Sago. Although Sago and Duka seem to have an affectionate marriage, he beats her when provoked. She accepts this behavior for she believes it is a man's way of loving. Film also shows the ceremony of Sago's cousin's initiation into manhood. Producer: Chris Curling. (Part of the Hamar Trilogy. Other titles include: The Women Who Smile and Two Girls Go Hunting.)
Director: NA Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Ethiopia, Hamar, women, social conditions, family, marriage, gender, rites and ceremonies

Race Against Time: The AIDS Crisis in Africa (DVD : 48 min. )  [2002]
DVD 8057
Abstract: The AIDS crisis in Africa is an epidemic of staggering proportions. Thirty-six million people are infected with the HIV virus worldwide, with over 25 million of them in Africa, and a staggering number of Africans -- 17 million -- have died. This film is about the inspiring work of Canadian Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa as he searches for solutions to the pandemic ravaging the continent. Lewis describes the 'Herculean effort' that has begun to relieve the suffering. A global trust fund has been set up through the United Nations, which has grown to $1.5 billion. Drug companies have slashed their prices for anti-viral drugs for Africans, and there is now hope for the dying. After years of denial, there is now a new willingness on the part of African leaders to confront the disease. Lewis travels to Zambia and Kenya witnessing the challenges first hand as he talks to widows of AIDS victims, who are often infected themselves. In many instances, these ill women must care for their deceased relatives' children as well as their own, despite their desperate financial situation. On the plus side, he finds many creative, community-based educational programs that feature preventive 'safe sex' songs, dances and dramas.
Director: Stephen Lewis Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Kenya, Zambia, HIV/AIDS, United Nations, politics, health, performance

Returning Dreams (DVD : 23 min. )  [2005]
DVD 7910
Abstract: Fourteen-year old Jemoh fled from Liberia when she was 11 and has been living in a refugee camp in Sierra Leone for the last three years. Now she is about to join one of the first and biggest UNHCR convoys to return to Liberia for three years. This Life program follows Jemoh's long journey home and the mixed picture she finds when she gets there. Jemoh's just one of the millions of children caught up in the world's conflicts. Some are forced to fight and kill; others are used as slaves and 'wives.' Those that survive are left brutalized and traumatized. How, the program asks, do you rehabilitate children who have gone through these kinds of experiences? To mark the 15th anniversary of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, Life returns to Sierra Leone and Liberia, to assess the fate of children caught up in their recent civil war.
Director: Emily Marlow Distributor:NA
Keywords: Sierra Leone, Liberia, refugees, children's rights, civil war, youth

Right to Choose (The) (Videocassette : 24 min. )  [2000]
V.CASS. VHS 8928
Abstract: Part of a series on how the globalized world economy affects ordinary people. Nibret is eleven -- and they're marrying her off to a man she's never met. Forced marriage isn't unusual in northern Ethiopia -- it helps to cement ties between families and establish land rights. Some Islamic leaders in northern Nigeria also advocate child-marriage. They believe women's role is to comfort men, and see nothing wrong with marrying girls as young as seven, often in polygamous marriages. This program reports on the dissonant voices arguing for change in local cultures -- and calls for reproductive health care and primary education for women and looks at widespread discrimination and violence against women.
Director: Charlotte Metcalf Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: Ethiopia, Nigeria, women, children, marriage, human rights, land, education

Sankara (Videocassette : 20 min. )  [1991]
VHS 9318
Abstract: Thomas Sankara, the late President of Burkina Faso, emerged as an idealist in a generation of young African leaders more concerned with material wealth. In office, he engineered drastic improvements, from the symbolic change of the country's name from the colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso ('The Country of Free and Dignified People'), to providing real health care for the country's children. On October 15, 1987, Sankara fell prey to violent African politics when he was assassinated by troops loyal to Blaise Campaore, his second in command - and life long friend.
Director: Balufa Bakupa-Kanyinda Distributor:First Run Icarus Films
Keywords: Burkina Faso, Upper Volta, history, government, politics

Searching for Hawa's Secret (Videocassette : 47 min. )  [1999]
VHS 9227
Abstract: Hawa Chelangat is a 37-year old prostitute who supports her five children through commercial sex. She met Frank Plummer, a Canadian microbiologist from the University of Manitoba, in a grim shanty town outside Nairobi. He had come to Kenya in 1981, before AIDS. The AIDS epidemic did not bring him to Africa, but it kept him there, searching for a vaccine. Since 1983 the center of Plummer's research has taken place at a clinic for female sex workers in the Nairobi slum where Hawa lives. In 1993 Plummer discovered that among the hundreds of women who came to his clinic, a small percentage of them, like Hawa, did not become infected with HIV. He became convinced that this apparent immunity was more than luck, that something in the immune women's bodies was preventing infection. A vaccine for the dreaded disease might emerge by duplicating whatever it was that seemed to make this small group of women immune. As this startling observation began to attract international attention, Plummer decided to study not the sick, but those women who stayed well, the women whose bodies held the secret. Searching for Hawa's Secret tells the remarkable story of the scientific quest to prevent rather than cure: a difficult endeavor when vaccine research gets only 1% of AIDS research funding globally. Despite funding inequities the work in Nairobi has shifted the paradigm of AIDS research, and has scientists across the globe seeking and finding similar groups with the natural immunity. It is also the human story of an unlikely partnership between a Canadian doctor and a Kenyan prostitute.
Director: Larry Krotz Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: Kenya, HIV/AIDS, prostitution, medical research, vaccine

Shake Hands with the Devil: the Journey of Roméo Dallaire (DVD : 91 min. )  [2005]
DVD 5120
Abstract: While many Americans were distracted by the OJ Simpson case, over 800,000 men, women and children were massacred in the small African country of Rwanda. The victims were mainly Tutsis, murdered by their Hutu neighbors. Canadian General Roméo Dallaire was charged with an impossible task: to head the UN peacekeeping mission with a handful of soldiers ordered not to use force to protect Rwandans from the mass slaughter. Based on Dallaire's best-selling book, Peter Raymont's documentary follows the General's return to the region 10 years later, as he comes to grips with the events that have haunted him --his struggles with top UN officials, expedient Belgian policy-makers and Clinton administration officials who ignored his pleas for reinforcements. The experience led to Dallaire's own life tragedy as he dealt with the psychological fallout of witnessing a genocide he was powerless to stop. Special features include: a reading by Roméo Dallaire of an excerpt of his book Shake hands with the Devil (6 min.); an interview with director Peter Raymont (8 min.); optional audio commentary by Peter Raymont or Geoff Pevere; a 56 min. classroom version of the film; photo gallery; reading list.
Director: Peter Raymont Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Rwanda, Hutu, Tutsi, civil war, ethnic violence, genocide, post-traumatic syndrome, United Nations

Shouting Silent (Videocassette : 50 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 7761
Abstract: Explores the South African AIDS epidemic through the eyes of Xoliswa Sithole, an adult orphan who lost her mother to AIDS in 1996. The devastation wrought on the orphaned children of South Africa by the HIV/AIDS pandemic shows how entire generations of young people are growing up without parents.
Director: Renée Rosen Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: South Africa, HIV/AIDS, youth, health, orphans

Silent Killer. The Unfinished Campaign Against Hunger (DVD : 57 min. )  [2005]
DVD 7636
Abstract: There are still a billion hungry people in the world. Fifteen thousand children -- the equivalent of five times the victims of the World Trade Center bombings -- die each day of hunger. Yet it doesn't have to be this way. We can end hunger -- if we make a commitment to doing so. Silent Killer shows how it can be done. Hosted by National Public Radio's Scott Simon, the film begins in South Africa's Kalahari Desert, where razor-thin Bushmen use the Hoodia cactus to fend off hunger. But now, a drug firm has patented the Hoodia's appetite-suppressant properties and is using it to make a diet product for obese Americans and Europeans. Hoodia is a metaphor for a world where some people die from too much food, but millions more die from too little. We discover how serious the problem is in Kenya as we meet Jane Ininda, a scientist who is trying to make agriculture more productive in her country, while her own brother, Salesio, barely survives the drought, poor soils and pests that constantly threaten his crops. Through powerful stories, we come to understand the dimensions of the hunger crisis. At the World Food Summit in Rome, we learn how activists have been working to end hunger since President John Kennedy declared war on it in 1963. But today, America's commitment to food security is less clear. In fact, world financial commitments to hunger research have been declining in recent years. But Silent Killer does not leave viewers feeling helpless. A visit to Brazil finds a nation energized by a new campaign called 'Fome Zero' -- Zero Hunger. In the huge city of Belo Horizonte, we meet a remarkable leader and see how, under the programs she supervises, the right to food is guaranteed to all. In the countryside, we are introduced to the Landless Peasants' Movement, which is giving hope to millions of hungry Brazilians.
Director: Hana Jindrova and John de Graaf Distributor:Bull Frog Films
Keywords: South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Kalahari, Bushmen, hunger, drought, food, agriculture, development

Sisters in Law (DVD : 104 min. )  [2005]
DVD 5952
Abstract: In the little town of Kumba, Cameroon, there have been no convictions in spousal abuse cases for 17 years. But two women determined to change their community are making progress that could change the world. This fascinating, often hilarious documentary follows the work of State Prosecutor Vera Ngassa and Court President Beatrice Ntuba as they help women fight often-difficult cases of abuse, despite pressures from family and their community to remain silent. Six-year-old Manka is covered in scars and has run away from an abusive aunt, Amina is seeking a divorce to put an end to brutal beatings by her husband, the pre-teen Sonita has daringly accused her neighbor of rape. With fierce compassion, the two feisty and progressive-minded women dispense wisdom, wisecracks and justice in fair measure, handing down stiff sentences to those convicted.
Director: Florence Ayisi, Kim Longinotto Distributor:Women Make Movies [www.wmm.com]
Keywords: Cameroon, children, domestic abuse, gender relations, justice system, law, rape, women, gender, family

Sky in her Eyes (The) (Videocassette : 11 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 8263
Abstract: The Sky in her Eyes tells the story of a young girl in Kwazulu-Natal struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother from AIDS. A young boy befriends her and allows her to attach a drawing of her mother to his kite. Part of Steps for the Future, a unique collection of documentaries and short films from Southern Africa about life in the time of HIV/AIDS (Volume 24).
Director: Ouida Smit. Madoda Ncayiyana Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Kwazulu-Natal, HIV/AIDS, children, Steps for the Future

Slavery and the Making of America. Volume 3: Seeds of Destruction (DVD : 60 min. )  [2005]
DVD 5288 PT. 3
Abstract: The series' third program looks at the period from 1800 through the start of the Civil War, during which slavery saw an enormous expansion and entered its final decades. As the nation expanded west, the question of slavery became the overriding political issue of the time. These years saw an increasingly militant abolitionist movement and a widening rift between the North --which had largely outlawed slavery but continued to reap the vast economic benefits of the system -- and the South, now home to millions of enslaved black men, women and children. This is the period of slavery most commonly depicted in history books and captured by dramas. Leading Southerners such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had been convinced slavery was nearing its end. But the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War brought vast new territories into the United States, and the battle between those for and against slavery intensified. By 1860, every attempt at striking an agreement --the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, a draconian federal fugitive slave law-- had failed, splitting apart the Union. Men and women featured in the series' third episode are: Harriet Jacobs, Solomon Northup, Louis and Matilda Hughes. This volume is part of the Slavery and the making of America series.
Director: Ghana Gazit Distributor:Ambrose Video Publishing
Keywords: America, Africa, overview, history, slavery, abolitionism, emancipation

Sorious Samura Collection (The): Cry Freetown, Exodus, Return to Freetown. (DVD : 134 min. )  [2005]
DVD 8476
Abstract: Compilation DVD of three films about Sierra Leone by Sierra Leonean filmmaker Sorious Samura. In Cry Freetown, Samura documents the civil war in Freetown, Sierra Leone. In Exodus, he follows the story of one migrant, Osas, whose absolute determination to achieve his mission reveals that he is willing to sacrifice everything to get out of Africa. In Return to Freetown, Samura returns to Sierra Leone and talks with three of the children who were abducted and forced to become soldiers in the civil war. Thousands were taken from their families by a ruthless rebel leader and turned into killers.
Director: Sorious Samura Distributor:Insight News Television
Keywords: Sierra Leone, immigration, war, children, violence, family

South African Chronicles (Videocassette : 105 min. )  [1988]
VHS 9346
Abstract: The nine short documentaries comprising South African Chronicles were produced by twelve young filmmakers at the racially integrated Varan Workshop. Focused on such subjects as a meeting of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, an election campaign in a small mining town, a homeless children's shelter in the racially mixed Hillbrow section of Johannesburg, and the distribution of pension checks to senior citizens in Soweto, these films show the realities of South African life behind the sensationalism and rhetoric of most reports out of South Africa. In this way, South African Chronicles tells the story of apartheid all the more vividly.
Director: Varan Workshop of Johannesburg Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: South Africa, apartheid, human rights, sociology

Sowing seeds of Hunger (Videocassette : 27 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 8140
Abstract: Part of a series examining the issue of globalization and its effect on ordinary people around the world. This segment looks at the AIDS epidemic in Zambia and other sub-Saharan African nations which has crippled the agricultural community, forcing children to undertake the responsibilities of farming.
Director: James Heer Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: Zambia, HIV/AIDS, farming, economic development, globalization

Speaking Out: Women, AIDS, and Hope in Mali (Videocassette : 56 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 7703
Abstract: Profiles a remarkable HIV and AIDS support project in Bamako, Mali, and three brave women who work tirelessly on behalf of the infected community. Through their work they offer inspiration and support to persons afflicted with AIDS but especially to widows and children. They hope that through their work the government of Mali will become more active at all levels in helping to combat this disease in their country.
Director: Joanne Burke Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Mali, HIV/AIDS, women, activism, politics

Sudan: Slipping Back in Time (Videocassette : 44 min. )  [1999]
V. CASS VHS 7547
Abstract: Describes the suffering and cruelty of the civil war in Sudan, focusing on how Dinka woman and children are being abducted by militiamen in the south and sold as slaves to their Arabic enemies in northern Sudan.
Director: NA Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Sudan, Dinka, war, gender, slavery

Sultan's Burden, The (DVD : 50 min. )  [1994]
DVD 9086
Abstract: Sultan Issa Maigari is the ruler of the northern Cameroon province of Adamawa, an area the size of England. Served by a liveried bodyguard of servants and slaves, he lives in an extraordinary thatched palace with his harem of wives and concubines and his thirty children. We are in a world of heraldry and magic, an ancient world fast disintegrating under the pressures of contempory political forces. In 1992, the Sultan allowed anthropologist Lisbet Holtedahl and award-winning director Jon Jerstad to film his life. Never before had a traditional Islamic leader granted such access to a world that seems straight out of the Arabian Nights. We see the many problems besetting the Sultan, ranging from the threat of an armed rebellion among the peasant farmers, to his impossible task of justifying support for the national Christian government to his local Moslem subjects. His courtiers criticize his rule. His own praisesinger (surely the worst praisesinger in Africa) contributes a bitter diatribe against the Sultan for his lack of generosity. The intrigues of the court are reminiscent of Shakespearean drama. Filmed as the first democratic elections in Cameroon were about to be held, The Sultan's Burden captures the myriad political and ethnic rivalries which occur all over Africa as it emerges from a colonial past.
Director: Jon Jerstad Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Cameroon, government, religion, elections, politics

Sweet Sorghum: an Ethnographer's Daughter Remembers Life in Hamar, Southern Ethiopia (Videocassette : 32 min. )  [1997]
V. CASS. VHS 4357
Abstract: The intimacy of shared family life and childhood relationships between the Hamar people of Ethiopia and an anthropologist's children is revealed as we also learn about the important role sorghum plays in the Hamar diet.
Director: NA Distributor:Documentary Educational Resources
Keywords: Ethiopia, Hamar, family, youth, anthropology

T-Shirt Travels (DVD : 57 min. )  [2001]
DVD 8789
Abstract: What happens to all those old clothes you bring to the Salvation Army or Goodwill Industries? This comprehensive program is about Third World debt and secondhand clothes. The filmmaker travelled to Zambia and was amazed to find almost everyone wearing Calvin Klein, MTV and James Dean t-shirts! Huge bales of American secondhand clothing are sold to African importers, putting the African manufacturers out of business. We see a secondhand clothing dealer in Zambia carefully select a bale among dozens, bundled and shipped from abroad. He pays for the used clothing and then transports it by bus ten hours to a market. His meager profits support his entire extended family who subsist in shanty towns miles from the market. Their lives exemplify the poverty plaguing Africa today. They have virtually no possibility of advancing themselves and their children. Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard University Center for International Studies and other experts discuss the history of colonialism, slavery and the depletion of Africa's natural resources. They draw the connection between this shameful legacy and the current huge debt. As the African governments service their debts according to an IMF/World Bank policy known as 'structural adjustment lending,' people's benefits are slashed drastically, resulting in terrible suffering from malnutrition, poor healthcare, inadequate schools and a crumbling infra-structure. Our old t-shirts come with a high price-tag.
Director: Shantha Bloemen Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Zambia, trade, economy, clothing, poverty, history, government, development

TemeTTeme (Videocassette : 30 min. )  [1998]
VHS 9348
Abstract: Set in the beautiful drylands region of northern Ethiopia, TemeTTeme is a moving parable about progress and the values of family life. TemeTTeme tells the story of 12-year-old Belete who runs away from his father's desertified farm to pursue an education in the city of Addis Ababa. The story illustrates the African proverb, 'begezza rasu 'bab TemeTTeme', which means, 'by his own doing, he wrapped a snake around himself.' It reveals hope and resourcefulness in the midst of social and economic problems in rural and urban Ethiopia. The young actors in this film and many of the production team are street children in Addis Ababa. This film is dedicated to them and to the thousands of children whose talent and potential lies wasting and unseen on the streets of towns and cities throughout the world.
Director: Richard Duplock Distributor:Bull Frog Films
Keywords: Ethiopia, youth, desertification, rural-urban migration, street children, poverty, family

Thapelo: A Prayer for Africa (DVD : 53 min. )  [2003]
DVD 3114
Abstract: In post-apartheid South Africa, one in two children die of AIDS, one in two women are raped, and 20,000 homicides occur annually, the world's highest murder rate. Against these appalling statistics and a disintegrating social fabric, this program presents examples of South Africa's greatest hope, the spirit of its people.
Director: Jo Willesee Distributor:Films for the Humanities & Sciences
Keywords: South Africa, HIV/AIDS, social life, violence, children

Their Brothers' Keepers: Orphaned by AIDS (Videocassette : 56 min. )  [2005]
V.CASS. VHS 8942
Abstract: Examines the lives and struggles of Zambian children orphaned by AIDS, who must now act as parents for their siblings and peers. Filmed over a seven-month period, Their Brothers' Keepers goes inside Chazanga Compound, a shantytown in Lusaka, Zambia, and follows the day-to-day struggles of two child-headed families. We see how Benny, Dorris and Paul cope with a lack of food, water, health care, and schooling. They scramble for piecework to buy mealie-meal for their younger siblings. Local aid and community workers give support but lack the necessary resources. Foreign aid is too thin to trickle down. The film alternates between the broader view and the personal detail, between tragedy and hope. Stunning photography and an exquisite musical score contrast with the surreal lives of these heroic kids.
Director: Catherine Mullins Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: Zambia, Lusaka, children, youth, poverty, HIV/AIDS, orphans, economy

They Carry Their Families: A Village in Mauritania (DVD : 14 min. )  [1999]
DVD 8972
Abstract: Life in a rural village in Mauritania is hard on women. Tradition and Islamic religion are intertwined to reinforce strict gender roles. The husband is the protector and keeper; his word is law. While the men take their ease, the girls and women are off to the fields during the peanut planting and harvest season, walking five miles each way, and coming home with heavy burdens from the fields to prepare the family dinner. They carry the water, sweep the yard, wash the clothes, and care for the children. This short, beautifully filmed video captures succinctly the subservience of women, while at the same time remaining respectful of tradition and culture. There are no drugs, alcohol or loneliness in this kind of community, where family bonds are very strong. We hear from several young Peace Corps workers in the village who are hopeful that by educating and thereby widening the horizons of young women, eventually women will have more choices. From a Western perspective, the future of Africa depends on education and family planning.
Director: Ingo A. Zamperoni Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Mauritania, women, gender, religion, family, work, education

True Friends (Videocassette : 20 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8264
Abstract: A trilogy of short films (each 7 minutes long) using hand-made animal puppets to dramatize different issues around HIV/AIDS, making them easily accessible to young children aged 5 to 8 years old. Part of Steps for the Future, a unique collection of documentaries and short films from Southern Africa about life in the time of HIV/AIDS (Volume 25).
Director: Bert Sonneschein Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Mozambique, HIV/AIDS, children, Steps for the Future

Tsoga = Wake Up (Videocassette : 8 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8260
Abstract: Tsoga presents the story of a community confronting a terrible dilemma after 70% of the students of a highly productive community school test positive for HIV. Joyce, who has been positive since she was raped as a school girl seven years ago, talks about discrimination at schools which leads to students dropping out. Part of Steps for the Future, a unique collection of documentaries and short films from Southern Africa about life in the time of HIV/AIDS (Volume 21).
Director: Sechaba Ramotoai Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, Soweto, HIV/AIDS, rape, children, school, Steps for the Future

War Dance (Video Disc/Laser Vision : 107 min. )  [2008]
DVD 9959
Abstract: Dominic, Rose, and Nancy are three children whose families have been torn apart, their homes destroyed, their innocence lost, and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo, Uganda. These children attend a school where they can momentarily forget the brutal realities of their lives, as they participate in music, song and dance. When they are invited to compete in an annual music and dance festival in their nation's capital, their historic journey is also an opportunity to regain a part of their childhood and to taste victory for the first time.
Director: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine Distributor:Thinkfilm LLC
Keywords: Uganda, dance, music, performance, children, war, displacement, feature film

Water for Tonoumassaé (DVD : 28 min. )  [1987]
DVD 7931
Abstract: During the long, dry season in the south of Togo, in West Africa, a woman's day began at 1:00 a.m. with an eight-hour trek for water. Unbeknownst to her, the water so arduously collected was contaminated. Water for Tonoumassé shows the efforts of a group of villagers to get clean water by drilling a well nearby. It chronicles the success of this project in which women played a key role. To the surprise of the village men, the women were capable of making decisions, handling money, and learning the mechanics of keeping the pump in working order. We share their joy as they celebrate when water pours forth. By taking responsibility, these women have transformed daily life, both for themselves and their families. They are able to care for their children better and have more time to grow food. This vivid example of a development project that works is an excellent resource for exploring issues relating to women's roles in developing countries.
Director: Gary Beitel Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Togo, water, technology, development, women

Welcome to the Human Race (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [1995]
V. CASS. VHS 4541
Abstract: In Wolpert's earlier film, Mama I'm Crying, she documented the grassroots suffering and anger during the apartheid years. Now Wolpert follows up on some of the people from the earlier film, several of whom are now in positions of power in the new South Africa. This film shows the extraordinary meeting between two families: the eighteen-year-old son of the Zondos who was executed for planting a bomb which killed the seven-year-old son of the Smits. As the two families mourn together the loss of their children, a poignant and moving reconciliation takes place.
Director: Betty Wolpert, Matthew Wolpert Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: South Africa, politics, history, social life, apartheid

World through Children's Eyes (The) (Videocassette : 67 min. )  [1996]
V.CASS. VHS 8275
Abstract: These six short programs provide an intimate and unique insight into the reality and dreams of children from all over the world with a candor that can only be achieved by self-documentation. While the rights of the child have been the subject of many documentaries, this is the first time children have been given the opportunity to create one themselves. Each story reflects one of the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but from the uncensored and sometimes unsparing viewpoint of children themselves. Contents: Philipines: sexual exploitation (15 min.); Peru: child workers (12 min.); Brazil: street kids (11 min.); USA: inner city kids and police brutality (7 min.); India: girls and education (12 min.); South Africa: political violence (11 min.). Accompanied by discussion guide.
Director: Ilan Ziv Distributor:Maryknoll World Productions
Keywords: Philipines, Peru, Brazil, United States, India, South Africa, children, human rights, U.N.

Zulu Love Affairs (DVD : 52 min. )  [2005]
DVD 8049
Abstract: Set in the verdant hills of Kwa-Zulu Natal, this is an intimate and spontaneous depiction of the lives of women left behind while their husbands, migrant laborers, work in the mines far away. By turns sad, touching or amusing, this film bears eloquent testimony to the ravages of an economic system which tears families apart to feed South Africa's insatiable mines. These women raise huge families, tend the fields, herd the cattle, and generally run village affairs. One says defiantly 'I'm the man of the house.' As they talk with each other and the filmmaker one hears many of the same joys and sorrows, angers and hopes as one would anywhere in the world. But here life is shaped by the absence of men, who seem to come home only to make children and contribute paltry pay to the subsistence of their families. Some women treasure their rare nights of passion with their husbands, while others resent their being left to languish in loneliness and sexual frustration. The filmmaker, a Western woman married to a Zulu musician has lived in the society. Her film captures the warmth and humor of the Zulu women, which they retain despite the challenges of their lives.
Director: Emmanuelle Bidou Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: South Africa, Zulu, women, poverty, marriage, gender, migrant labor, economy, work

Zulu Love Letter (Videocassette : 100 min. )  [2005]
V.CASS. VHS 9142
Abstract: It is ten years since the last vestiges of apartheid's political regime were dismantled. For the average South African, the notion of struggle has been all too quickly relegated to the question of which cellular network is better than the next. But for Thandi, a journalist suffering from writer's block, a more profound struggle continues to rage within. Living in a nation that seems too eager to forget its past, Thandi cannot shake the gnawing sense of guilt that continues to alienate her from her own family.
Director: Ramadan Suleman Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, apartheid, children, terrorism, trauma, women, feature film