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

Cutting Edge (The) (Videocassette : 10 min. )  [1996]
V. CASS. VHS 3804
Abstract: Documentary film, shot in the Kapchorway region of Uganda, looks at the success story of the REACH project in northern Uganda which replaces the dangerous practice of female genital mutilation with ceremonies for the exchange of cattle and gifts to welcome young girls into the adult community. Producer/director: Charlotte Metcalf. [See also Welcome to Womanhood, a follow up to this film].
Director: Charlotte Metcalf Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: Uganda, women, social conditions, initiation rites, development projects, female circumcision

Day I Will Never Forget (The) (Videocassette : 90 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 8108
Abstract: Examines the practice of female genital mutilation in Kenya and the pioneering African women who are bravely reversing the tradition.
Director: Kim Longinotto Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Kenya, women, female genital surgeries, circumcision

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

Dream Becomes a Reality (The) (Videocassette : 48 min. )  [1995]
V. CASS. VHS 4568
Abstract: Interviews with women who were treated as equals during the struggle for Eritrean independence about their current employment and social conditions. Most have continued to work in their professions or vocations although the traditional cultural forces make full sexual equality impossible.
Director: NA Distributor:University of California Extension Center for Media
Keywords: Eritrea, women, gender, social life, history, guerrillas, politics

Dreams of a Good Life (Videocassette : 15 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8258
Abstract: In Dreams of a Good Life, five South African women talk about life, love and how their dreams for the future have changed since they have found out they are HIV positive. The women now examine their relationships with men more openly than ever before. 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 19).
Director: Bridget Pickering Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, gender, HIV/AIDS, Steps for the Future

Educating Lucia (Videocassette : 24 min. )  [2000]
V.CASS. VHS 8926
Abstract: Part of a series on how the globalized world economy affects ordinary people. Across the African continent only 24 percent of girls actually complete primary school, compared to 65-70 percent for boys. This program focuses on the story of three African sisters who want to graduate to secondary school but are more likely to receive no formal education, working as seasonal laborers on one of Zimbabwe's large tobacco farms. They're being raised by their grandmother who can only afford school fees for one girl.
Director: Charlotte Metcalf Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: Africa, Zimbabwe, women, education

Eritrean Artists in War and Peace (Videocassette : 53 min. )  [1997]
V. CASS. VHS 3812
Abstract: International artist and art educator Betty LaDuke examines the relationship between art, war and peace as seen through the work of twelve Eritrean artist-fighters. Their contemporary art movement was initiated in a war zone by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front during the struggle for independence from Ethiopia. Producer: Betty LaDuke.
Director: Brian Varaday Distributor:Cinema Guild
Keywords: Eritrea, art, women, war

Everything Must Come to Light (Videocassette : 25 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 7489
Abstract: This documentary focuses on the lives of three dynamic lesbian women who are 'sangomas' (traditional healers) living in Soweto, South Africa. They are articulate, sympathetic women who are willing to share their stories. After leaving their husbands, two of the women were able to explore their sexuality in relation to other women as a result of their dominant male ancestors instructing them to take wives. The relationship with their ancestors and the roles that they play in their healing powers as well as their sexuality are focal points in this documentary. Narrated by Mpumi Njinge; featuring Jama Thobei, Lindi Mahlangu, Tshidi Machika.
Director: Mpumi Njinge, Paulo Alberton Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: South Africa, Soweto, sexuality, women, healing, marriage

Faat Kine (Videocassette : 121 min. )  [2000]
V. CASS. VHS 6352
Abstract: The deceptively light domestic drama of Faat Kine, a gas station operator born, significantly, the same year as Senegalese independence, 1960.
Director: Ousmane Sembène Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Senegal, women, motherhood, gender, labor, feature film

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

Farmers of Gaho, The (Videocassette : 21 min. )  [1998]
VHS 9331
Abstract: Over the generations, the farmers of the village of Gaho in southern Ethiopia have developed unique farming techniques that enable them successfully to grow crops in their arid environment. The preservation and enhancement of their soil is the villagers' most important priority. They accomplish this through constant weeding and composting. To trap water and prevent erosion, they build stone terraces on hilly terrain and earth embankments on level ground. Amongst the crops they grow successfully in this land of undependable rainfall are sorghum, sunflower, rapeseed, coffee, cassava, and yam. Farm Africa, an NGO promoting sustainable agriculture, has enabled the farmers of Gaho to experiment with new sorghum varieties resistant to pests, and requiring less moisture. It has also enabled Gaho's women to purchase livestock to be used for meat and sold in the region for supplemental income. Although each farmer has his own plot of land, cultivation and maintenance are communal endeavors. A common area is tilled and planted, and the yield of this area is stored for distribution during times of scarcity.
Director: Bill Locke Distributor:Bull Frog Films
Keywords: Ethiopia, arid regions, agriculture, sustainability, NGO, development

Femme taxi à Sidi Bel-Abbès (Une) (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [2000]
V. CASS. VHS 6465
Abstract: After the death of her husband, Soumicha becomes the only woman taxi driver in Sidi Bel-Abbès (Algeria). The film shows her working conditions in a job normally reserved for men, and a city where integrist violence rages.
Director: Belkacem Jadjadj Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: Algeria, women, gender roles, labor

Femmes aux yeux ouverts (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [1994]
V. CASS. VHS 4471
Abstract: Surveys social conditions faced by women in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Benin, including circumcision, forced marriage, AIDS, and economic repression. Examines grass-roots efforts toward education and improvement as Africa opens to democracy.
Director: Anne-Laure Folly Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, West Africa, HIV/AIDS, female circumcision, feminism, marriage, health, women

Femmes du Niger: entre integrisme et democratie (Videocassette : 26 min. )  [1993]
VHS 9416
Abstract: Niger is a traditionally Islamic country where authorized polygamy and Muslim fundamentalism clash with the country's struggle for democracy. In elections in 1993, men voted by proxy for their different wives and daughters. Women who speak out about their rights have been physically attacked and excommunicated by the ayatollahs. Working together, women are the most ardent defenders of democracy, which offers the best hope of winning the equal rights which are still denied them. Critical viewing for those interested in women's human rights and the impact of fundamentalism.
Director: Anne-Laure Folly Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Niger, women, Islam, human rights, government, religion

Finzan (Videocassette : 107 min. )  [1989]
V. CASS. VHS 1560
Abstract: Tells the story of two women's rebellion. Nanyuma, a young widow, refuses her brother-in-law, the village fool, when he asserts his traditional right to 'inherit' her. Fili, a young girl sent from the city by her conservative father, is brutally circumcised by the village women who are scandalized that she resists the age-old custom.
Director: Cheick Oumar Sissoku Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Mali, women, marriage, ritual, feature film

Fire Eyes (Videocassette : 60 min. )  [1994]
V.CASS.VHS 4107
Abstract: Fire Eyes explores the socio-economic, psychological and medical consequences of the ancient custom of female circumcision which is performed on more than 80 million women worldwide. In this film, several women who have experienced this rite of passage voice varying points of view on perpetuating the practice.
Director: Soraya Mire Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Female Circumcision, gender, ritual

Flame (Videocassette : 85 min. )  [1996]
V. CASS. VHS 3794
Abstract: Feature film depicting the role of women fighters in the Zimbabwean liberation struggle.
Director: Ingrid Sinclair Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Zimbabwe, women, national liberation movements, politics, feature film

Force d'art: Voix de Femmes en Afrique, La = The Power of Art: Women's Voices in Africa (DVD : 51 min. )  [2007]
DVD 8627
Abstract: The idea of culture is evolving, and is no longer simply a static collection of knowledge, values and practices, shared and transmitted by a community, but a dynamic reality. La Force d'art: Voix de Femmes en Afrique explores how contemporary women who choose to be professional artists reach their position and battle stereotypes associated with their African-ness and their identity as women. The film also explores the role an artist can play in addressing the problems that women face on the African continent. Artists interviewed include Aminata Diaw Cisse, Gabi Ngobo, Penny Siopis, Pelagie Gbaguidi, Marie-Blanche Ouedraogo, Zainab Toyosi Odunsi, Suzanne Ouedragog, Mawa Kone, Fatoumata Diabater and others.
Director: Claudine Pommier Distributor:Claudine Pommier
Keywords: women, art

Gaan Sharon Gaan: Gelyke Regte vir Vroue Plaaswerkers = Employment Equity for Women Farm Workers (Videocassette : 25 min. )  [2003]
V.CASS. VHS 8199
Abstract: An examination of the rights of women farm workers in South Africa, specifically in the Western Cape. In Afrikaans. Accompanied by a workbook entitled Employment Equity in the Workplace.
Director: NA Distributor:Shoot the Breeze Productions
Keywords: South Africa, women, agricultural labor

God Gave Her a Mercedes Benz: Mama Benz: An African Market Woman (DVD : 48 min. )  [1995]
DVD 8036
Abstract: The colorful markets of Africa are often dominated by strong older women. They control price and determine who can buy their goods. These imperious women rule the market and are treated with deference. Thanks to their business acumen, they have amassed a great deal of wealth. These women are affectionately referred to as Mama Benz. Why? Because each one has as her trademark a prized possession, a chauffeured Mercedes Benz. This film focuses on one woman who presides over the cloth market in Lomé, Togo. She is a lavishly dressed matron with a fully- staffed mansion who proudly travels the rutted dirt roads in her limousine. Despite her success, Mama Benz has not become too grand for the hurly burly of the marketplace. Everyday she takes her accustomed place in the stall, surrounded by gloriously colored textiles, and haggles with her customers. The other market women look up to her. Perhaps one day they too will attain her success and become a Mama Benz.
Director: Katia Petersen Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Togo, Lome, women, textiles, economy, trade

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

Goldwidows (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [1991]
V. CASS.VHS 3265
Abstract: Interviews with women in Lesotho, a small country surrounded by South Africa. The women live as virtual widows; most of their husbands work in South African gold mines. Written and produced: . Don Edkins, Ute Holl and Michael SchlomerSee also The Colour of Gold.
Director: Don Edkins, Ute Holl and Michael Schlomer Distributor:First Run/Icarus
Keywords: Lesotho, South Africa, women, economic conditions, social conditions

Gorée: Door of No Return (Videocassette : 30 min. )  [1992]
V. CASS. VHS 4423
Abstract: This documentary covers the arrival of the first Europeans in Africa, the origins of slavery in the Americas, the development of Gorée Island as the center of the expanding slave trade, and the wealthy merchant women who controlled the slave trade on the island. The program also visits the colonial buildings, the homes of the slave traders, the trading warehouse called the House of Slaves, and the infamous Door of No Return, the door through which most of America's enslaved people passed on their way to the New World.
Director: Ann E. Johnson and Robin Klein Distributor:Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Keywords: Senegal, slavery, diaspora, history

Gotta Give (Videocassette : 5 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8258
Abstract: Gotta Give is a music video for a song that encourages young women to take control of their sexual relationships. 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 19).
Director: Eddie Edwards Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, HIV/AIDS, popular culture, music, Steps for the Future

Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo (The) (DVD : 76 min. )  [2007]
DVD 9695
Abstract: Since 1998 a brutal war has ravaged the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing over 4 million people and resulting in many tens of thousands of women and girls being systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army. Until now, their stories have never been told to the world.
Director: Lisa F. Jackson Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Democratic Republic of Congo, war, rape, violence, gender

Hamar Trilogy (Videocassette : 3 V. min. )  [1994]
See Individual Titles
Abstract: Three films by Chris Curling focusing on the Hamar of Southwestern Ethiopia: The Women Who Smile' [1990], Two Girls go Hunting [1991], and Our Way of Loving [1994]. See individual titles. (3 videocassettes)
Director: Chris Curling Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Ethiopia, Hamar, women, marriage, rites and ceremonies

Heart of Soweto (The), Part 1: Everything I Never Had (Videocassette : 30 min. )  [1991]
ON-ORDER
Abstract: Rebecca Molete and Eugenia Twala are two of over one thousand mothers who gave birth in Soweto in October 1990. Eugenia wants her baby to have everything she never had, and visits an expensive private clinic. Rebecca is cared for by a local state clinic. The film documents the weeks leading up to her giving birth and provides a portrait of the two women's lifestyle, attitudes and hopes.
Director: NA Distributor:Video News Services Double Exposure
Keywords: South Africa, Soweto, social life, motherhood, politics, history, health, political movements

Hot Wax (Videocassette : 49 min. )  [2004]
V.CASS. VHS 8908
Abstract: Ivy is a big, bubbly black woman living in the poor township of Alexandra, who managed to surreptitiously run her own beauty salon during the apartheid years. Her loyal and considerably more privileged white clients live in the Johannesburg suburbs. In a personal way, this engaging documentary reveals how much has changed after the end of apartheid - and how much has not.
Director: Andy Spitz Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, Alexandra, Johannesburg, women, race, class, apartheid, beauty

House of Love (Videocassette : 26 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8255
Abstract: This film explores the lives of sex-workers in the small Namibian harbor of Walvis Bay. The women are dependent on the business from the brief visits of foreign shipping trawlers. They give insights into the choices they have made and why they have made them. Their conflicts center around notions of love, sex, sin, and redemption, while the threat of HIV/AIDS exists only in the background. 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 16).
Director: Cecil Moller Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Namibia, HIV/AIDS, prostitution, labor, Steps for the Future

I Have a Problem, Madam (Videocassette : 59 min. )  [1995]
V. CASS. VHS 3254
Abstract: Run by female lawyers, FIDA-Uganda has set up several legal aid centers for women in domestic trouble. With the help of a weekly radio show, the centers fill daily with women waiting to tell their stories. FIDA lawyers attempt to reconcile the women and their men in face to face meetings, even if it means traveling to isolated villages. The attitudes of both men and women are beginning to change, but this slow process sometimes leads to conflicts between official and traditional law. A film by Maarten Schmidt and Thomas Doebele.
Director: Maarten Scmidt, Thomas Doebele Distributor:First Run/Icarus
Keywords: Uganda, women, law, marriage, social conditions, development, family violence

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

In the Name of God: Changing attitudes Towards Mutilation (Videocassette : 29 min. )  [1997]
VHS 9189
Abstract: Ethiopian women who refuse to be circumcised are called 'filthy dog.' There is a whole mythology going back thousands of years that such women are repulsive and unmarriageable. Even today, over 115 million women's genitals are mutilated by razors, scissors or even more primitive and painful methods. Twenty-five nations in Africa, in parts of Asia, and in Arabic countries maintain this practice and through refugees it is being performed in Europe and the U.S. On the bright side, there are small inroads being made. This film takes us to the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, one of the few places giving medical care to victims of infibulation. Here, recovered patients are even trained to assist doctors in repairing the damages to other women. An increasing number of Ethiopian women have started to protest against these ancient traditions, even giving out information in schools. But change will not happen overnight.
Director: NA Distributor:Filmakers Library, NY
Keywords: Ethiopia, education, female circumcision, infibulation, social condition, women

Iron Ladies of Liberia (Video Disc/Laser Vision : 77 min. )  [2007]
DVD 9754
Abstract: After fourteen years of civil war, Liberia is a nation ready for change. On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugurated President, following a hotly contested election in which she won 59% of the vote. She is the first elected female head of state in Africa. Since taking office, she has appointed other women to leadership positions in all areas of government, including the Police Chief and the ministers of Justice, Commerce, Finance and Gender. Can the first female Liberian president, backed by other powerful women, bring sustainable democracy and peace to such a devastated country?
Director: Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott Johnson Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Liberia, Sirleaf, politics, government, women, gender, war

Kabala (Videocassette : 112 min. )  [2005]
V.CASS. VHS 9144
Abstract: 'Kabala is a small West African village suffering from a terrible drought. The only source of water is a holy well that shows signs of contamination. The village elders decide that a traditional dance of fire is needed to bring life back to the village. Hamalla (Modibo Traoré), one of the village's many youths, prepares to join this sacred dance until his torch doesn't light, and he is cast out of the ceremony as doubts begin to surface about his legitimacy. Humiliated, he leaves the village and the woman he loves, Sokona (Djénéba Koné ), to work as a dynamite blaster in a distant mine. Four years pass, and Hamalla hears news of tragic fatalities in his village due to the tainted well water. He decides to return home to provide assistance. There he is reunited with Sokona, who is now betrothed to Hamalla's brother, Sériba (Fily Traoré), who already has a pregnant wife. The men's father, Babji (Baba Dabo), attempts to reconcile a violent dispute between his sons, suffering a severe heart attack. On his deathbed, Babji reveals a secret to Hamalla that explains why he was originally cast out of the sacred fire dance ­ Hamalla's mother is the local witch, Bayassa (Nakani Koné). Their love was not allowed to exist; Babji was forced to raise Hamalla with a new wife. Hamalla tries to convince the village elders of the necessity to drill within the sacred well, but his entreaties are presumed to be a desecration of the village's spiritual symbol. Hamalla goes to Bayassa to tell her he knows she is his mother. He also confides his despair over Sokona's pending-marriage to his brother. Bayassa agrees to help Hamalla win back Sokona. Using her magical powers, Bayassa makes Sériba's marriage begin to sour. Sériba is unable to consummate the marriage, bringing much joy and laughter to Sokona and the local women. When Sériba learns of Bayassa's role in his impotence, he seeks the help of a male sorcerer who is unable to combat Bayassa's spell. A furious Sériba sets Bayassa's hut on fire. Hamalla comes to Bayassa's rescue, but his mother is severely burned. Before she dies, Bayassa manages to ensure that Sériba's first wife gives birth to a healthy baby. The sacred well has fallen into further disrepair, but when one of the staunchest objectors to Hamalla's plan falls deathly ill due to drinking the contaminated water, Hamalla makes a new case to the Kabalais of his ability to drill for cleaner water. In light of other recent deaths, the villagers agree to the plan if the Kabalais themselves can work on the project under Hamalla's guidance. When the whole village works on the well, fresh water springs forth --and Sokona is betrothed to Hamalla.' (Synopsis from http://www.globalfilm.org/library.htm) Originally released as a motion picture in 2002
Director: Assane Kouyaté Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: Mali, ritual, traditional religion, witchcraft, water, feature film

Karavanen (DVD : 28 min. )  [2006]
DVD 7837
Abstract: Every September a group of Toubou nomad women in Niger travel approximately 1300 miles by camel caravan across the desert. They go to sell livestock and also to collect dates that they will sell. Anthropologist Ingrid Poulsen joins the caravan, which is organized and led without men.
Director: Dam Sall Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Niger, Toubou, nomads, women, caravans, trade

Karmen Geei (DVD : 84 min. )  [2001]
DVD7547
Abstract: Like every Carmen, Karmen Gei is about the conflict between infinite desire for freedom and the laws, conventions, languages, the human limitations which constrain that desire. Since this is an African Carmen, freedom necessarily has a political dimension. The opening scene is set in a women's prison on Goree Island, site of the notorious slave castle. Karmen and the women in the prison use dance and music as a weapon of resistance against dehumanizing regimentation as has so often been the case throughout the African Diaspora.
Director: Joseph Gaï Ramaka Distributor:Kino Video
Keywords: Senegal, musical, opera, gender, lesbian and gay, feature film

Keepers of Memory (DVD : 52 min. )  [2005]
DVD7509
Abstract: Through eyewitness accounts and gripping footage, acclaimed director Eric Kabera takes the viewer on an emotional journey into the 1994 Rwandan genocide, its survivors, and the memorials created in the victims' honor. The film focuses on the personal accounts of men and women who watch over the sacred burial sites keeping the memories alive for future generations.
Director: Eric Kabera Distributor:Choices, Inc.
Keywords: Rwanda, genocide, history, memorials

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

Lines in the Dust (Videocassette : 28 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 7420
Abstract: In a small village in northern Ghana, a group of men and women discuss their daily chores with the help of a chart they've drawn in the dust. This village is part of a program called Reflect, which aims to reach the 900 million illiterate adults across the world. Reflect uses participants' own knowledge and experience as starting points for learning. Lines in the Dust looks at this program in Ghana and India, and how it not only teaches people to read, write, and work with numbers, but also encourages the participants to change their ideas about men's and women's separate workloads, stand up for their rights, earn more money for their families, and become more self-assured. Additional materials available at: http://www.tve.org/lifeonline/index.cfm?aid=1162
Director: Lucinda Broadbent Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: Ghana, development, literacy, gender, labor

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

Long Tears: an Ndebele Story (The) (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [1998]
V. CASS. VHS 5950
Abstract: This program, seen through the eyes of one family, documents five years in the life of a South African people, the Ndebele, exploring their art, culture and traditions. It shows the famous Ndebele wall art and dress traditions and puts them in the context of the new South Africa. Francina Ndimande is an internationally recognized mural artist, as is her daughter Angelina. The film explores the rituals and traditions associated with the rites of passage of both men and women. Also traces the history of the Ndebele defeat in war against the Boers and their subsequent enslavement and mistreatment at the hands of the Boer farmers.
Director: David Frost Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: South Africa, Ndebele, art, painting, ritual, history

Maids and Madams (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [1986]
V. CASS. VHS 2304
Abstract: Describes how apartheid affects the daily life of women in South Africa by focusing on the relationship between black household workers and white employers. Writer/Director: Mira Hamermesh.
Director: Mira Hamermesh Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: South Africa, apartheid, domestic labor, women

Mama Awethu! (Videocassette : 53 min. )  [1993]
VHS 9202
Abstract: Mama Awethu! follows the day-to-day lives of five black South African women in the townships around Cape Town, revealing the inhuman legacy of the apartheid system. Evelyn, once an African National Congress branch secretary, lives in a squatter location called Philippi and works as a cleaning woman. Iris, also from Philippi, is a member of the ANC Women's League who is involved in community politics. Sheila, a resident of Khayaletisha, is a committed activist; Dinah is new to politics; and Nopopi focuses on issues affecting women. As they share their lives with the camera, the film reveals how township life has necessitated their involvement in the struggle for better living conditions and equal rights. Although set in South Africa, the inspiring voices heard in Mama Awethu! are a call to empowerment for all women. They speak eloquently of hope in the midst of immense violence and killing. Much more than a record of South African women, Mama Awethu! is a song about life and the courage to live.
Director: Bethany Yarrow Distributor:First Run/Icarus Films
Keywords: South Africa, Cape Town, African National Congress, apartheid, social situation, women

Mama Benz and the Taste of Money (DVD : 52 min. )  [2002]
On Order
Abstract: In West Africa wealthy women enjoy wearing colorful clothing made of 'genuine African' textiles. Ironically, since the early 20th Century, this coveted cloth has been designed and manufactured not in Africa, but in the Netherlands by a company called Vlisco. Local market women who sell the Vlisco cloth and have become extraordinarily rich -they can afford to be driven around in a Mercedes Benz--and are thus called 'Mama Benz.' This film details the interplay between a young ambitious European, Henk Bremer, from the Vlisco company, and an equally ambitious African market woman, Alice Gouba, as they jockey for advantage in marketing the cloth into a new territory. The film shows the difference in business attitudes between Europe and Africa, as they both struggle for a dominant position yet realize they are mutually dependent. Vlisco has for years pursued the strategy of divide and rule, while the Mamas know their power lies in being united. Alice is treading a tightrope between the two factions. A subtle and witty film about the evolving global marketplace.
Director: Karin Junger Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: West Africa, women, economy, textiles, markets, trade

Mama Wahunzi: Women Blacksmiths (Videocassette : 57 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 8049
Abstract: A documentary on women and other citizens in Uganda and Kenya who face life with disabilities and without tools like wheelchairs, which would enable them to lead fuller lives. Through the efforts of some women, the wheelchair industry is now able to make the lives of citizens and in particular women more productive, by supplying these tools.
Director: Lawan Jirasuradej Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Uganda, Kenya, women, disability, economy

Man Who Stole My Mother's Face (The) (Videocassette : 58 min. )  [2003]
V.CASS. VHS 8881
Abstract: Two days before Christmas in 1988, Cathy Henkel's 59 year-old mother Laura was sexually and brutally attacked in her home in Johannesburg, South Africa by a local white teenager. Although Laura identified her attacker, the man was never charged and remained free. For fourteen years, unable to recover, Laura Henkel retreated from her family and rejected contact with the outside world. In an attempt to help her mother heal, Cathy Henkel took matters into her own hands, returned to Johannesburg and confronted her mother's attackers. What begins as an exploration about the unsolved case of Laura Henkel's rape becomes a revelation about the healing process.
Director: Cathy Henkel Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: South Africa, women, rape, violence

Masai Women (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [1990]
V. CASS. VHS 2083
Abstract: An ethnographic view of Maasai culture and society, focusing on the preparation of young Maasai girls for marriage and life in their society. Probes, through a candid interview with an older woman, the feelings of the Maasai women about polygamy and their inability to own property. Anthropologist: Melissa Llewellyn-Davies.
Director: Chris Curling Distributor:Films Inc.
Keywords: Kenya, Maasai, marriage, gender

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

Moment (The) (Videocassette : 8 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8257
Abstract: The Moment features men and women from different backgrounds who share their most personal thoughts about courtship and sexual behavior. They discuss the six stages of seduction: the moment you meet, the moment you connect, the moment you seduce, the moment you kiss, the moment you take your clothes off, and the moment before penetration. A caption asks us: at which moment do you decide to use a condom? 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 18).
Director: Siyabonga Makhatini Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, HIV/AIDS, sexual behavior, gender, Steps for the Future

Mon Coeur est Témoin = My Heart is My Witness (Videocassette : 56 min. )  [1996]
V.CASS. VHS 4980
Abstract: Dramatization of correspondence and interviews with women from Africa and the Middle East about the condition of women in their countries.
Director: Louise Carré Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Africa, Middle East, women, social life

Monday's Girls (Videocassette : 49 min. )  [1993]
V. CASS. VHS 2585
Abstract: A grandmother named Monday Moses in Ogoloma, Nigeria is responsible for taking the young girls of the village through the rites of passage into womanhood so that they will be ready for marriage. Producer: Lloyd Gardner.
Director: Ngozi Omwurah Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Nigeria, initiation, marriage, women

Moolaadé (Videocassette : 124 min. )  [2004]
VHS 9130/DVD 9615
Abstract: Moolaadé is set in a small African village, where four young girls facing ritual 'purification' flee to the household of Collé Ardo Gallo Sy, a strong-willed woman who has managed to shield her own teenaged daughter from the procedure. Collé invokes the time honored custom of moolaadé (sanctuary) to protect the fugitives. Tension mounts as the ensuing stand-off pits Collé against village traditionalists -- both male and female -- and endangers the prospective marriage of her daughter to the heir-apparent to the local throne. Also available in DVD format (DVD 9615). See also The Making of Moolade.
Director: Ousmane Sembène Distributor:New Yorker Films
Keywords: Burkina Faso, Senegal, Dyula, female genital cutting, gender, women, ritual marriage, feature film

Mortu Nega=Those Whom Death Refused (Videocassette : 93 min. )  [1997]
V. CASS. VHS 4630
Abstract: In 1973, independence was proclaimed in Guinea Bissau, ending five centuries of Portuguese colonization and a decade of armed struggle. This film, Gomes' first feature-length film, made in 1987, portrays this critical period in history through the story of one woman, Diminga, whose husband is fighting on the front lines. The camera captures Cabral's assassination, the ending of hostilities, and the reconstruction of the economically and spiritually devastated country. The term 'Mortu Nega' means those that death did not want, and Gomes films a ceremony using 3000 extras, in which survivors call upon the dead, asking them how they can go on living in such terrible conditions--From the Le Monde Cannes '96 Supplement, May 10.
Director: Flora Gomes Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Guinea Bissau, women, colonialism, history, feature film

My Mother Built This House (Videocassette : 28 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 7408
Abstract: There are four million homeless people in South Africa who live in shacks in slums or squatter settlements. Government programs are building houses for these homeless, but it is a slow process. This program looks at the difference the South African Homeless People's Federation is making. The federation members, most of whom are women, save up money to add to their government grants, allowing them to build larger houses, helping women and their families live in a home of their own. Additional materials available at: http://www.tve.org/lifeonline/index.cfm?aid=1114
Director: Toni Strasburg Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: South Africa, women, housing, homelessness, economy

N!ai, the Story of a !Kung Woman (Videocassette : 60 min. )  [1980]
V. CASS. 180 and VHS 3003
Abstract: Explores the life of N!ai, a native, who lives on a reservation in the Namibia/Botswana area of South Africa. Chronicles the changes in lifestyle with the coming of the white man. See also Guide to N!ai.
Director: NA Distributor:Documentary Educational Resources
Keywords: Namibia, San (Bushmen), women, biography

Ndebele Women and the Rituals of Rebellion (Videocassette : 60 min. )  [1995]
V. CASS. VHS 3320
Abstract: Ndebele men's and women's initiation rites and performance art are explored. Includes discussion of house structure and women's house painting.
Director: Peter Rich Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: South Africa, Ndebele, women, rites and ceremonies, art

Ndodii? = What shall I do? (Videocassette : 13 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8259
Abstract: Ndodii is set in a remote village in Zimbabwe; it dramatizes the impact of HIV/AIDS on the traditional practice of wife inheritance. Village elders instruct MaMoyo, an HIV-positive widow, to choose a new husband. Faced with being ostracized and blamed for her husband's death, she must decide whether or not to break the tradition. 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 20).
Director: Farai Matambidzanwa Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Zimbabwe, HIV/AIDS, women, kinship, widow inheritance, Steps for the Future

Neria (Videocassette : 100 min. )  [1992]
V. CASS. VHS 2851
Abstract: Patrick and Neria, through shared hard work and resourcefulness, built a comfortable home, a good life and family in the city. But when their loving and equal partnership suddenly ends with the tragic death of Patrick, Neria's nightmare begins. Utilizing a new Zimbabwean law protecting women, the widow fights back. A box office hit in Zimbabwe.
Director: NA Distributor:KJM3 Entertainment Group/Documentary Educational Resource
Keywords: Zimbabwe, gender, law, marriage, development, feature film

New Directions: Women of Zimbabwe, Guatemala, and Thailand (Videocassette : 78 min. )  [2000]
V. CASS. VHS 6844
Abstract: Three films examine the role of women in the economic and social life of Zimbabwe, Thailand and Guatemala.
Director: Joanne Burke Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Zimbabwe, women, labor, economics, social life

Night Stop (Videocassette : 50 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8244
Abstract: This documentary tells of the lives of eight prostitutes living in northern Mozambique. They reveal their individual stories of pregnancy, the search for a husband, unrequited love, violence and resignation. While the women are aware of the dangers of HIV and AIDS, they continue to have unprotected sex. The video also illustrates the world of the truck drivers as they talk among themselves. 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 5).
Director: Licinio Azavedo Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Mozambique, HIV/AIDS, prostitution, violence, labor, gender, 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

Nyamakuta (Videocassette : 32 min. )  [1989]
V. CASS. VHS 4554
Abstract: Mai Mafuta is a nyamakuta ( 'a traditional midwife') in Zimbabwe. Half of all births in the developing world are attended by women like her, without the help of modern medicine. People seek her out because she is skillful, compassionate, and because her grandmother was also a midwife. Five years ago, Mai Mafuta's skills were inadequate to save her own daughter's life, and she died in childbirth. In an attempt to prevent such deaths, over eighty countries have begun training traditional midwives in modern medical methods. Mai Mafuta enrolled in one such program. Now she tries to reconcile what she has learned at the clinic with traditional birth practices. We see her deliver a child on the dirt floor of a hut. Mai Mafuta narrates her own story, giving the audience an intimate view of the lives of Third World women.
Director: Chris Sheppard Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Zimbabwe, health, women, development

O Jardim do Outro Homem = Another Man's Garden (DVD : 80 min. )  [2006]
DVD 10219
Abstract: For a young girl who wants to study medicine in Mozambique, the obstacles extend far beyond the distractions of her boyfriend and her family. A moment of weakness or an error in judgment can cost her a place at the university, an irretrievable loss in a country with so few opportunities for women.
Director: Sol de Carvalho Distributor:Icarus Films
Keywords: Mozambique, gender, education, poverty, feature film

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

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

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

Pain, Passion and Profit (Videocassette : 49 min. )  [1992]
VHS 9402
Abstract: From the director of Bend it Like Beckham and Pride and Prejudice, the film Pain, Passion and Profit is an inspirational look at women entrepreneurs through the eyes of the Body Shop founder, Anita Roddick, who has always maintained a strong commitment to the idea of profits with principles. Several women in Africa who have successfully developed small-scale business enterprises in their own communities provide a focus for Roddick to pose questions about how the role and status of women affects their enterprises and how those enterprises provide a means of community and economic development for women. Pain, Passion and Profit gives an in-depth look at global feminism and economic development as well as a personal and spirited view of the connections between the experiences of women entrepreneurs in the First and Third Worlds.
Director: Gurinder Chadha Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: business, women, economy, development, feminism

Patience and Pinkie: Mother to Child (Videocassette : 44 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8247
Abstract: Follows the lives of two pregnant and HIV-positive women fortunate enough to be on a drug trial at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. The film charts the lives of Kholiwe (Patience) and Ntombekaya (Pinkie), who have made friends at the clinic's support group for HIV-positive mothers as they approach the delivery of their babies. It is about their expectations, hopes, and inevitable fears concerning not only the health of their babies, but the trauma around the disclosure of their status to their families and partners as well. It is also about the commitment of the people at the HIV perinatal clinic. 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 8).
Director: Jane Thandi Lipman Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, Soweto, HIV/AIDS, women, pregnancy, counseling, Steps for the Future

Population 6 Billion (Videocassette : 58 min. )  [2000]
V.CASS. VHS 6140
Abstract: Discusses problems created by the growing human population, which surpassed the six billion mark in 1999. Covers topics such as poverty, illiteracy, the toll on the environment, and water, food and other resource shortages. Addresses the grim realities of life in Third World nations while discussing population control initiatives in Vietnam, Uganda, and Mexico that include family planning, HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, sex education, and efforts to improve the economic status of women.
Director: Sam Shinn, Jonathan Silvers Distributor:Films for the Humanities
Keywords: Uganda, population, development, environment, poverty

Portrait of Altinè in the Dry Season (Motion Picture : 26 min. )  [2001]
V. CASS. VHS 6297
Abstract: Twenty seven year-old Altinè is a mother of two, living on the plains of Northern Senegal. As we watch her going about her daily chores, rhythmically threshing the millet, cooking over an open fire, she tells us of her aspirations. Her strongest wish is for adequate food, good health, and to remain close to her family. Images of Western life have not penetrated her village,which is three hours from a paved road.
Director: Marco Mensa and Elisa Mereghetti Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Senegal, Fula, women, drought, economics, labor, rural conditions, family

Quartier Mozart (Videocassette : 80 min. )  [1992]
V. CASS. VHS 2117
Abstract: Queen of the 'Hood is a proud young girl who doesn't want to be taken advantage of by men. She befriends a local sorceress who helps her enter the body of a young man, My Guy, so she can discover for herself the real 'sexual politics' of the quarter. Meanwhile, the sorceress assumes the shape of Panka, a familiar comic figure in Cameroonian folklore with sexual powers. In this sex farce, women's wisdom and 'witchcraft' help to temporarily regain the balance of power in a sexist world. Producer/Director: Jeanne-Pierre Bekolo.
Director: Jeanne-Pierre Bekolo Distributor:NA
Keywords: Cameroon, gender, popular culture, feature film

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

Reassemblage: From the Firelight to the Screen (Videocassette : 40 min. )  [1982]
V. CASS. VHS 4308
Abstract: A documentation of the daily activities of Senegalese village women in 1981.
Director: Trinh T. Minh-ha Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Senegal, women, labor, rural conditions

Red Ribbon Around my House (A) (Videocassette : 26 min. )  [2001]
V.CASS. VHS 8252
Abstract: A mother and daughter are in crisis because of their different responses to AIDS. The mother, Pinky, is flamboyant and open about the fact that she is HIV-positive. The daughter, Ntombi, battles to be just like everyone else. Her mother's refusal to be passive in the face of AIDS sets them both apart. 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 13).
Director: Portia Rankoane Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, HIV/AIDS, women, Steps for the Future

Return of Sara Baartman (The) (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [2003]
V.CASS.VHS 7702
Abstract: Chronicles the return of the remains of Sara Baartman, a Black woman who had been exhibited as a freak in early nineteenth-century Europe. Her remains were returned to South Africa from France, where they had been kept at the Museum of Man (Musée de l'Homme). On April 29, 2002, Sara's remains were officially handed back to the South African people at an emotionally charged ceremony at the country's embassy in Paris and, on August 9 (National Women's Day), she was ceremonially buried on the banks of the Gamtoos River. Sara's repatriation involved years of lobbying by people in South Africa, including Professor Phillip Tobias, South African poet Diana Ferrus, and French senator Nicolas About who, when told that only a law could force the country to give up Baartman, introduced one. Originally produced as a movie in 2002.
Director: Zola Maseko Distributor:First Run
Keywords: South Africa, France, Sara Baartman, science, history, popular culture, racism, anthropology

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

Rites (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [1991]
VHS 9191
Abstract: This program explores the custom of female circumcision which has been commonplace throughout history. Today it is still practiced in many cultures, particularly in Africa. This program shows the efforts of women throughout the world to stop the practice. It considers three major contexts in which 'female genital mutilation' (FGM) occurs. The first context is 'cosmetic,' while the second one is 'punitive.' Medical historian Dr. Ornella Moscurri describes how women in the late 19th and early 20th century were subjected to FGM if they stepped out of line. The third context is part of the cultural transition to adulthood and initiation into female life. Routine 'mutilation' has been fiercely attacked by Western observers, although such attacks have themselves been the subject of accusations of cultural imperialism.
Director: Penny Dedman Distributor:Filmakers Library, NY
Keywords: female circumcision, infibulation, rites of passage, women

Saints and Spirits (Motion Picture : 26 min. )  [1979]
MP-16MM 226
Abstract: Shows several religious observances in the Moroccan city of Marrakech. The dimensions of religious expression in Islam are viewed through the experiences of one woman. Producer/Director: Melissa Llewelyn-Davies; Writer/Associate Producer: Elizabeth Fernea.
Director: Melissa Llewellyn-Davies Distributor:Icarus Films
Keywords: Morocco, Marrakech, Islam, religion, women

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

Selbe: En tant d'autres (Videocassette : 30 min. )  [1982]
V. CASS. VHS 4972
Abstract: Due to economic constraints, women in Senegal are often left with the sole responsibility of raising their families. Depiction of one such woman's struggles under these trying circumstances. .
Director: Safi Faye Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Senegal, women, family, economics

Senegal: the Power to Change (Videocassette : 30 min. )  [2000]
V. CASS. VHS 6299
Abstract: The protest against female genital mutilation in Senegal started with an educational program set up by the United Nations in cooperation with a local NGO. News of the declarations spread through the media, inspiring women in other villages to demand education and to take similar decisions. This is a success story which shows that education makes all the difference.
Director: Gerd Inger Polden Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Senegal, female genital cutting, women's rights, gender, development

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

Si-Gueriki = The Queen Mother (Videocassette : 62 min. )  [2003]
V.CASS. VHS 8657
Abstract: This documentary film was intended as a tribute to the filmmaker's late father, a member of a royal family in northern Benin. But in the course of his investigations, the director discovers the lives of his mother and sisters, which had previously been invisible to him, and he decides to make a film about them instead. Si-Gueriki examines patriarchy and the role of women in a polygynous society...Mora Kpai's mother is the si-gueriki or 'queen mother' of the Borgu people. Yet her daily routine of grinding rice and potash show into what low estate this once noble position has fallen in many parts of Africa. The title of 'queen mother' is misleading to Westerners since the si-gueriki is most typically not the mother but the aunt, niece or cousin of the king. From Ghana to Swaziland, legendary noblewomen have been praised for their prowess as military leaders. They have had their own palaces, feudal land holdings, retinues and, like the king, even enjoyed sexual freedom. They characteristically resolved disputes especially in the marketplace and in agriculture, two arenas controlled by women in most of Africa. The 'queen mother' even could nominate the next king and serve as one of his counselors.The Borgu queen mother, like European monarchs today, fills largely a ritual function. In this film, for example, we witness the annual gaani festival over which the si-gueriki presides; she is announced by trumpeters, brightly caparisoned horses and riders pass in review and she accepts the tribute as her subjects prostrate themselves before her.
Director: Idrissou Mora Kpai Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Benin, Borgu, queen mother, kinship, history, government, festival

Sidet: Forced Exile (Videocassette : 60 min. )  [1991]
V. CASS. VHS 4104
Abstract: Presents the stories of three Ethiopian women who each sought refuge in the Sudan. Tells how they have managed to survive displacement and create lives for themselves in exile.
Director: Salem Mekuria Distributor:Mekuria Productions
Keywords: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, women, refugees, social life

Silent Killer: AIDS in South Africa, The (DVD : 52 min. )  [2005]
DVD 8142
Abstract: South Africa is hard hit by the HIV epidemic which is infecting more than 1500 people per day. At Johannesburg's biggest hospitals, forty to fifty percent of the beds are occupied by patients with AIDS-related infections It is estimated that one fourth of the population will be affected soon. The history of social and economic division that still continues in South Africa is reflected in the way the disease has spread. Poor black women in the townships get only inferior mixtures of AZT to prevent their babies from being born infected. They do not get the information necessary to prevent infection. The disease is not confined to the poor, for affluent whites are also affected by HIV. We hear from patients, social workers, medical experts and government policy makers on the magnitude of the problem.
Director: Marika Griehsel Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: South Africa, Johannesburg, HIV/AIDS, health, race, government

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

Sisters of the Screen (Videocassette : 73 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 8458
Abstract: Interviews of 35 women filmmakers from Africa and the African diaspora, interspersed with clips from their films. Featuring Safi Faye, Sarah Maldoror, Prudence Uriri, and others.
Director: Beti Ellerson Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: Africa, diaspora, women, film making

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

Some Women of Marrakech (Videocassette : 59 min. )  [1981]
V. CASS. VHS 6332
Abstract: An overall survey of the life and conditions of Muslim women in Marrakech, Morocco, especially in light of Islamic teachings.
Director: Melissa Llewellyn-Davies (with Elizabeth Fernea) Distributor:NA
Keywords: Morocco, Marrakech, women, Islam

South Africa Belongs to Us (Motion Picture : 35 min. )  [1980]
MP-16MM 261
Abstract: Five black women describe their lives under the South African system of apartheid.
Director: Chris Austin Distributor:First Run/Icarus
Keywords: South Africa, women, apartheid

Spares & Besties (Videocassette : 54 min. )  [1999]
V. CASS. VHS 6955
Abstract: A sexuality, HIV/AIDS video workshop for youth. Produced with the help of the students of Guguletu Comprehensive and Tafelsig Senior Secondary in Cape Town, young men and women discuss their experiences of sex with startling frankness. The programme is not a safer sex information tape. Rather, it seeks to place the basic facts about safer-sex in the context of the real world in which young people are expected to act on this information.
Director: NA Distributor:Idol Pictures
Keywords: South Africa, sexuality, health, HIV/AIDS, youth, education

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

Taafe Fanga = Pouvoir de Pagne = Skirt Power (Videocassette : 98 min. )  [1997]
V. CASS. VHS 3796
Abstract: A gender-bending farce set among the 18th century Dogon to make some serious points about the status of women in Africa today. Writer: Adama Drabo.
Director: NA Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Mali, Dogon, myth, gender, feature film

Talk Mogadishu: Media under Fire (Videocassette : 50 min. )  [2003]
V.CASS. VHS 8929
Abstract: Documents the operation of the independent, non-partisan radio and television station, HornAfrik, in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The station's very popular talk shows allow marginalized groups, such as human rights advocates and women's groups, to speak out and be heard. HornAfrik operates in a dangerous and volatile climate, and is sometimes attacked by warlords angered by a show's content. The station requires armed guards 24 hours a day, and reporters are often harassed and their cameras confiscated by militias. Despite the perils, the founders of HornAfrik continue their broadcasts, demonstrating a possible role for the media in times of conflict.
Director: Judy Jackson Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: Somalia, Mogadishu, radio, television, independent media, civil war, politics

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

These Girls Are Missing: The Gender Gap in Africa's Schools (DVD : 60 min. )  [1997]
DVD 8006
Abstract: Everybody knows this instinctively -- educate women and you will change society. Perhaps that's why in many African countries, fewer than 20% of girls ever enter a schoolroom, and across the continent, only one woman in three learns to read. It's not official policy. In fact, an international industry devoted to changing the status quo exists. Still the deck is stacked against African girls. How can a schoolgirl be such a threat to traditional concepts of appropriate gender roles and control of fertility? These Girls Are Missing offers small sets of stories, sharp glimpses into a few intimate relationships layered to mirror the complex reality: Nadouba and Bintu in their West African village, Taz and Patricia from elite St. Mary's Secondary School in Malawi, Ethel and her mother torn between village and the modern world, a relaxed and riotous conversation among a group of Malinke elders. Through knowing them, the audience grows to understand how deep cultural attitudes, more than economics, undermine the future of Africa's women. More provocative than prescriptive, this film aims to inspire reflection, argument and deeper understanding.
Director: Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Malawi, Malinke, women, education, gender

These Hands (Videocassette : 45 min. )  [1992]
V. CASS. VHS 2800
Abstract: Surveys a typical workday in the lives of impoverished women in Tanzania who manually mine gravel used for making concrete for urban building projects.
Director: Floar M'mbugu-Shelling Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Tanzania, labor, gender

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

To Be a Woman in Burkina Faso (Videocassette : 14 min. )  [1992]
V. CASS. VHS 2188
Abstract: The lot of women in Burkina Faso is not an easy one. A look into the lives of women who must work in the fields in addition to the duties of childcare, home care and cooking, and the women working in the city's factories who are hardly better off. The future, women feel, will be better only when women are better educated, have the same job opportunities as men and have their own reasonable source of income.
Director: Maurice Kabore Distributor:Films for the Humanities
Keywords: Burkina Faso, women, economy

Trokosi: Wife of the Gods (Videocassette : 25 min. )  [1994]
V. CASS. VHS 6445
Abstract: Documents a system of providing young girls as servants/slaves to priests among the Ewe people of southeastern Ghana. These 'inmates' (or wives of gods) must serve for an indefinite time as workers and wives to atone for family crimes that can date back to the 17th century.
Director: Kofi Boateng Distributor:Cinema Guild
Keywords: Ghana, Ewe, women, slaves, religion, history

Two Dollars With or Without A Condom (DVD : 40 min. )  [1997]
DVD 8758
Abstract: Ethiopia has become to the Arab world what Thailand is to European tourists. Prostitution in Ethiopia has increased incredibly in recent years. In one section of Addis Ababa, some 130,000 girls support themselves by selling their bodies. Most of them are under eighteen, and many even under fourteen. In this probing documentary, we meet the victims, girls that have been orphaned, or thrown out by their family, or are hoping to find a better life. They are compelled to turn to prostitution to survive. The young ones, like nine-year-old Yashwarek, don't even earn enough money to buy food. The older ones earn more, about $2 a night, but yearn to work the luxury hotels as high-class prostitutes. Virtually all the girls are HIV positive. Condoms are seldom used, even though they are distributed free in many places. Customers, believing the youngest girls are HIV-free, seek them out, which in turn keeps lowering the age of girls becoming HIV-infected. Some attempts by agencies are being made to help these girls, but they face heavy odds.
Director: Leyla Assaf-Tengroth Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Ethiopia, prostitution, orphans, HIV/AIDS, women, youth, economy, poverty

Two Girls Go Hunting (Videocassette : 50 min. )  [1991]
V. CASS. VHS 3282
Abstract: The second program in a trilogy focusing on the Hamar, an isolated people of Southwestern Ethiopia. This film shows Duka and her friend, Gardi, as they prepare to marry men they have never met. The film follows the build-up to the marriages, from the all night vigil with girlfriends, to farewells when the brides are taken away at dawn to the village of their husband's family, the arrival in the villages and the preparation of the prospective brides for the ceremony by the mother-in-law. Part of the Hamar Trilogy. Other titles include: The Women Who Smile and Our Way of Loving.
Director: Chris Curling Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Ethiopia, Hamar, women, social conditions, marriage, gender, rites and ceremonies

Uku hamba 'ze = To Walk Naked (Videocassette : 13 min. )  [1995]
V.CASS. VHS 5937
Abstract: In 1990 a group of South African women protested the destruction of their homes in the squatter camps of Dobsonville by the Afrikaaner National Government. Five years later the women reflect on their experiences and describe the social stigma of stripping themselves naked to protest their oppression.
Director: Jacqueline Maingard with Sheila Meintjes and Heather Thompson Distributor:Third World Newsreel
Keywords: South Africa, women, housing, politics, history

Unfolding of the Sky (The) (Videocassette : 26 min. )  [1999]
V. CASS. VHS 7479 Pt. 3 (PAL format)
Abstract: Features a dialogue between an Afrikaans woman who has reported on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, and an African woman who has been a victim of the apartheid system in South Africa. Part three of the series Landscape of Memory. See also From the Ashes, I Have Seen=Nda Mona, and Soul in Torment.
Director: Antjie Krog and Ronelle Loots Distributor:Film Resource Unit [www.fru.co.za]
Keywords: South Africa, women, apartheid, reconciliation, history, politics

Warrior Marks (Videocassette : 54 min. )  [1993]
V.CASS. VHS 2831
Abstract: Documentary, written and narrated by Alice Walker, about female genital mutilation in Africa. Includes interviews with victims, activists against female circumcision, and circumcizers.
Director: Pratibha Parmar Distributor:Women Make Movies
Keywords: women, ritual, social conditions, female genital surgeries, activism, politics

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

Way to Move On (A): Women's Savings Associations in Dakar (DVD : 23 min. )  [2000]
DVD 8048
Abstract: Senegal went through an economic crisis in the l980's, and cut off from government support, many women emerged from their domestic roles to become breadwinners for their families. They formed collectives, called Roscas, which act like credit unions with an emotional component. Participants contribute a predetermined sum which gets redistributed to members who need short term loans to run their business. The women are able to raise their families' standard of living by raising and selling food crops, or making handicrafts. They meet regularly, share problems and help one another out. It is a cooperative very much in keeping with the African sense of community. The Rosca movement may be a key out of poverty.
Director: Elisa Mereghetti and Francesca Lulli Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Senegal, Dakar, women, cooperative societies, credit unions, economy

Welcome to Womanhood (Videocassette : 14 min. )  [1998]
V.CASS. VHS 8935
Abstract: In a follow-up to the 1996 documentary The Cutting Edge, BBC-TV correspondent Donu Kogbara returns to the Kapchorwe region of Uganda to look at the success and failure of the REACH project in northern Uganda which tried to replace the dangerous practice of female genital mutilation with ceremonies for the exchange of cattle and gifts to welcome young girls into the adult community. [See also The Cutting Edge].
Director: Charlotte Metcalf Distributor:Bullfrog Films
Keywords: Uganda, women, female genital surgeries, ritual

Witches in Exile (Videocassette : 78 min. )  [2005]
V.CASS. VHS 9141
Abstract: From Tanzania and Zambia to Ivory Coast and Ghana, belief in witchcraft continues to terrorize women. In Northern Ghana alone, there are estimated to be more than 5000 witches confined to witches' villages--part sanctuaries, part prison camps. This film introduces us to five women who have taken refuge in the Kukuo witches' camp and who represent a cross section of the witch population of Northern Ghana today. It leads us on a step by step journey on how a woman becomes stigmatized as a witch. The film makes clear that one cannot successfully attack a phenomenon like witches' camps in isolation, but must see them as part of a wider set of beliefs designed to mark women as an expendable part of society (especially older women who have lost their economic usefulness). The film traces the complex intersection of anthropology, political science and economics, which must come together in any strategy for liberating women in Africa.
Director: Allison Berg Distributor:California Newsreel
Keywords: Ghana, Dagomba, gender relations, human rights, social conditions, traditional religion, witchcraft, women

With These Hands: How Women Feed Africa (Videocassette : 33 min. )  [1987]
V. CASS.VHS 2284
Abstract: Three women tell stories of the difficult lives in the farmlands of Burkina Faso, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Producer: Chris Sheppard.
Director: Chris Sheppard, Claude Sauvageot Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Burkina Faso, Kenya, Zimbabwe, women, farming

Wodaabe les Bergers du Soleil = Herdsmen of the Sun (Videocassette : 54 min. )  [1980]
V. CASS. VHS 2692
Abstract: Filming the Wodaabe in the drought stricken Sahara, Herzog focuses on one tribal ritual. Once a year in what amounts to a beauty pageant, the young men dress up and parade in front of the women. Each woman must then chose and spend the next few nights with the man she finds most beautiful.
Director: Werner Herzog Distributor:Interama Video Classics
Keywords: Niger, Wodaabe, pastoralists, ritual, dance, drought

Womanhood and Circumcision: Three Maasai Women Have Their Say (Videocassette : 30 min. )  [2002]
V. CASS VHS 7560
Abstract: This thought-provoking documentary sensitively explores the cultural context of female genital-cutting practices among the Maasai. It will stimulate discussion and reflection in a wide variety of courses in cultural anthropology, women's and gender studies, African studies, and development studies. A mother and her two daughters discuss their feelings about circumcision (excision) and its meaning in their lives. The three women discuss their experiences from the perspective of three different stages of the life cycle. Produced by Barbara G. Hoffman.
Director: NA Distributor:University of California Extension Center for Media
Keywords: Kenya, Maasai, female circumcision, women, gender, ritual

Women Who Smile (The) (Videocassette : 50 min. )  [1990]
V. CASS. VHS 3283
Abstract: The first program in a trilogy focusing on the Hamar, an isolated people of Southwestern Ethiopia. In this film Duka, a young unmarried Hamar girl learns what awaits her in life from the older women of her tribe. Their often humorous conversations range from pregnancy and growing old to relationships with men. Although the men are dominant, the women are not servile. Shows harvest celebrations and the blessing ceremony for a new baby. Part of the Hamar Trilogy. Other titles include: Two Girls Go Hunting and Our Way of Loving. Producer: Chris Curling.
Director: NA Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Ethiopia, Hamar, women, marriage, social conditions, gender, rites and ceremonies

Women and War (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [2002]
V.CASS. VHS 7966
Abstract: Interwoven with footage from recent conflicts in the Middle East, Bosnia, northern Uganda, and South Africa, this program captures women's personal experiences of military violence, explains how they survived, and reflects on their growing resistance to war. The women's feelings of loss, uncertainty, and anguish are expressed through stories of cruelty, degradation, and psychological trauma, while their attempts to achieve reconciliation and rebuild shattered communities demonstrate their positive efforts to create a more peaceful future for everyone. Narrated by Pamela Nomvete.
Director: Robyn Hofmeyr, Minky Schlesinger Distributor:Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Keywords: South Africa, Uganda, Bosnia, Middle East, women, war

Women of the Sahel (Videocassette : 52 min. )  [1995]
V. CASS. VHS 4557
Abstract: Documentary which records a visit with a number of women of Niger's informal sector as they make peanut oil, extract salt from earth, and turn gypsum into plaster. The film introduces the craftswomen who create marvelously decorated pottery, beautifully woven straw mats, and intricate leather work; all this is done in the hope of earning a few dollars per week.
Director: Paolo Quaregne, Mahane Souleymane Distributor:First Run/Icarus
Keywords: Niger, women, economy, art

Women's Olamal (The): The Organization of a Maasai Fertility Ceremony (Videocassette : 114 min. )  [1990]
V. CASS. VHS 3964
Abstract: Discusses a fertility ceremony of the Maasai women in East Africa.
Director: Melissa Llewellyn-Davies Distributor:Documentary Educational Resources
Keywords: Kenya, women, Maasai, gender, fertility, ritual

Yari Yari: Black Women Writers and the Future (Videocassette : 54 min. )  [1999]
V. CASS. VHS 5072
Abstract: An international conference on literature by women of African descent held at New York University in October 1997. Yari Yari means the future in the Kuranko language of Sierra Leone, West Africa. It was the first major international literary conference of its kind, featuring such renowned writers as Edwidge Danticat, Sonia Sanchez, Maya Angelou, Werewere Liking and Sapphire. The video documents selected scenes from panels, readings, and performances during the conference.
Director: NA Distributor:NA
Keywords: women, African Americans, literature, conference

Yesterday in Rwanda (DVD : 14 min. )  [2005]
DVD 8259
Abstract: Yesterday in Rwanda is a haunting film that focuses on one survivor of the genocide and her experience of trauma, displacement and hope. Claire Wihogora emigrated to Canada in 1998, four years after her father, brother and countless other family and friends were killed. The film portrays Claire carrying on with her life today in Toronto, while inevitably haunted by terrible memories of Rwanda. On film she recounts how she and her sister hid in the brush while all around her people were massacred. Nothing can help her forget the hundred days when 800,000 members of the Hutu and Tutsi tribes were slaughtered. Yet she finds comfort in telling her story in schools 'to share it to make sure it never happens again.' Also, she has founded Women in Rwanda, which links female genocide survivors now living in North America in a support system. The film achieves a fascinating interplay of past and present, as images from Claire's everyday life in Toronto (grey tones) are differentiated from the images of Kigali rendered in color.
Director: Davina Pardo Distributor:Filmakers Library
Keywords: Rwanda, Kigali, history, civil war, genocide, emigration, NGO

You Have Struck a Rock (Motion Picture : 28 min. )  [1981]
MP-16MM 353
Abstract: Examines the situation of women and political repression in southern Africa.
Director: NA Distributor:NA
Keywords: South Africa, women, politics

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