Abdullah Ibrahim Movies

Lee Hirsch spent nine years putting together the ambitious documentary Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony. The film records the history of music being used as a form of social protest against Apartheid in South Africa. Interviews and archival footage help to tell the tales of figures like Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim, and Vuyisile Mini. Mini's songs became such a powerful social force that his remains were exhumed and reburied in order to show proper respect after the end of Apartheid. This look at political oppression and the courage required to fight it was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

The unbending nature of village law wreaks havoc upon an all-too human family in this unusual film from the tiny nation of Burkina Faso. In the story, a young man has fallen in love with and become affianced to a young woman, which is not too strange. But then his father swiftly exercises his customary parental prerogatives, and marries the girl instead. Now the boy's fiancee has officially become his mother, and his father's second wife. The distraught lovers run away together, but are actively sought by the otherwise easygoing village authorities for having (technically) committed the crime of incest. When the man's other son pretends to have carried out the father's decree that the boy be killed for having disgraced the family name, he, too, suffers. Finally, the father suffers from his bewilderment at how his being so clearly in the right can cause such disasters. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Set in French Colonial Africa, Chocolat is told from the viewpoint of 8-year-old Cecile Ducasse. With no other frame of reference, the innocent Ducasse accepts the subjugation of the black natives by the white colonists as the natural order of things. The girl grows gradually aware of the social iniquities about her, but only in retrospect (the film is related in flashback, narrated by the grown-up heroine) does she fully realize just how cruel and wrong-headed the entire colonial system had been. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This program presents a live performance by jazz artist Abdulah Ibraham. The pianist performs in a concert with his group, Ekaya, a band comprised of saxophones, brass, and a rhythm section. The elegant Ibraham intersperses his numbers with stories about himself and the music. The music ranges from classic to straight-ahead jazz, all performed with perfect timing. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, Rovi