$9.95
“Masizakhe: Building Each Other” follows a group of dynamic young artists from the Eastern Cape city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, who are dedicated to the empowerment of their community through cultural activism.
1994 saw political liberation for South Africa, but now there is a need for cultural liberation. The role of today's cultural activists is to liberate the minds of a people who have been oppressed for centuries under colonialism and its most recent form of apartheid. Author and poet Sindiwe Magona says that the African people "have been left with no tongue of their own... no tongue to call their own." This documentary follows everyday heroes who are reclaiming their history and actively participating in building a future of inclusion. Their tools are spoken word, music, poetry, Hip-Hop culture, and the arts.
Interviews with teachers and principals who were political activists in the 1980s and early 1990s reveal the similarities between the political struggle of the apartheid years and the cultural struggle of today. Some of these teachers are working with cultural activist groups by bringing them into the classroom to help educate people about themselves.
- Directed by Angelica and Scott Macklin
- Written by Scott and Angelica Macklin
- Produced by Angelica Macklin
- Running Time 76 min
- Release Date 2008
- Content Rating Intended Audience: mature
- Website Masizakhe: Building Each Other
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Written by Scott and Angelica Macklin
Produced by Angelica Macklin
Cast Thabang Queench:
Rushay Booysen:
Dumza - Imotep:
Ghetto Youth Uprising:
Abantu:
Fokofpolisiekar:
Sindiwe Magona:
Spoken Word and Artist Movement:
Ritangl:
Malibongwe:
Kipchoge Kirkland:
Tuleka:
Aviwe:
Thulani:
Nolitha:
Scott Macklin:
Atlanta Independent Black Film Festival
San Francisco Black Film Festival
Globians World & Cultures Festival (Potsdam)
Eugene Film Festival
"Masizakhe is a captivating, compelling, and notable work of art and a must see for anyone interested in the enduring power of art and the potential it offers for post-conflict societies to forge a new way forward. As such, it can inspire youths of other post-conflict societies of Africa and elsewhere to find tools in their history and culture to understand themselves, deal with challenges of their time, and contribute to a better future." – Aimable Twagilimana Professor, State University of New York College at Buffalo – Chair, Association of African Studies Programs
"What a breath of fresh air! Scott and Angelica Macklin's remarkable film strips off the perilously thin veneer of the so-called post-apartheid 'miracle' to reveal not only immense social degradation of black townships, in many ways untouched by shifts in political power since 1994; but it also shows a new generation of courageous young voices fighting back against the ‘internalization of hopelessness’, reclaiming social spaces and indeed memory, in telling their own stories of hope, solidarity, and social emancipation with such breathtaking eloquence. It would be hard not to be both moved and disturbed by this film." – Derrick Swartz , Vice-Chancellor & CEO of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
"Masizakhe: Building Each Other is an exciting, penetrating, and poignant analysis of how the future of South Africa is being shaped by cultural activism on a wide variety of fronts. This film is about how to build democracy in a land that is seeped in traditions of racism and oppression. As a teacher educator, I will use this film to help students explore the ways in which the complex histories of oppression continue to impact the lives of South Africans today, and to understand the many forms in which hope can be put into action. This film is quite simply superb." – Diana Hess Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Masizakhe: Building Each Other captures the cultural dimension of a country caught between the ashes of apartheid and what they say is coming. It is a film of warmth, passion, and tremendous energy. On one level it shows how, through spoken word, music, visual arts, and poetry the spirit of liberation lives on in South Africa even though the struggle for liberation has been demobilized. On another level, it shows how, without a liberation movement the analytic framework of the artists can suffer and fall back on platitudes that could as easily become cultural accompaniments for a populist movement as they could accompany a revolutionary movement. This is the essence of South Africa at the political crossroads; and Masizakhe: Building Each Other provides us with an image of the arts at that crossing." – Frank B. Wilderson, III Assistant Professor of Drama and African American Studies, UC Irvine
