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Copyright 2008 The ChinaFilm Project Comments/Questions? Email us at projectinfo@chinafilmproject.org |
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The ChinaFilm Project
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Jury Statement – ‘Breaking The Chains’ Prize Zanzibar International Film Festival, July 5, 2007
General Introduction
The slave trade represents one of the most tragic and dehumanising events in human history. This tragedy, which East Africans describe as Maafa, is a catastrophe of immense proportions. It is a crime against humanity that wreaked havoc on Africa and dispersed its people across a wide geographic area encompassing the great oceans and the continents of our planet. In order to bring this tragedy to the conscience of humanity, UNESCO launched the Slave Route Project in 1994. This ‘Breaking The Chains’ Prize embodies the spirit of the Slave Route Project. The prize awards $10,000 to the makers of a recent film on slavery; a film that breaks the silence and speaks to the social, historical, economic, and psychological impact of the slave trade; a film that raises public awareness of slavery’s historical and contemporary manifestations; a film that gives voice to the dispossessed, reflects their perspectives and articulates their resistance to this dehumanisation. Film and cinematic-based media represent a powerful means of education, socialisation, information and entertainment in the contemporary world. The ‘Breaking The Chains’ Prize is the first international initiative to recognise audio-visual and media professionals whose work addresses the topic of slavery in honest and creative ways. The award seeks to encourage this work and contribute to the process of healing by sensitising and informing audiences, invoking the cultural memory and voice of dispersed communities, and revealing the full scope of this human tragedy by exploring repressed aspects of slavery in Europe and the Americas as well as in regions that have received little attention, such as the Arab world, Asia and Andean America.
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
1. Dr. Hal Weaver offered a presentation, “Black Filmmakers on Slavery and the Slave Trade: Setting the Cinematic Record Straight”, for the “ Journée Nationale Pour la Mémoire de L’esclavage in Musée Dapper, Paris on 10 May 2007.
2. Weekend Course at Pendle Hill Spring 2007: “Lift Every Voice and Sing ”: Paul Robeson and Bayard Rustin. A weekend with Hal Weaver. March 30-April 1 2007.
3. Dr. Weaver’s presentation, “BLACK FILMMAKERS ON SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE: SETTING THE CINEMATIC RECORD STRAIGHT,” at a UNESCO-sponsored one-day conference, “IMAGES AND MEMORY OF SLAVERY: CAN CINEMA FATHOM THE TRAGEDY OF SLAVE TRADE” on 20 July 2006 at Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF).
4. Dr. Weaver’s presentation, “ The Hollywood Dream Factory and American Realities”, at Beijing University on 17 May 2002.
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The BlackFilm Project is an independent, international, non-profit cultural and educational organization dedicated to using film and other visual media and moving images to foster understanding, respect, and appreciation of the people, cultures, and societies of Africa and the African Diaspora, past and present. To carry out our mission, we are committed to developing and implementing programs at film festivals, universities, schools, museums, libraries, and other non-theatrical venues in the Americas, in Europe, in Asia, and in Africa. We are interested in improving the quality of Film, African American, African, African-Diasporic, and Educational Studies throughout the world.
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