Video Library
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Also see:
Ivan Suzman's commentary on the videos in the collection.
Biographical
information given by Ivan Mfowethu Suzman
| A |
Angola: The Struggle Continues
20 minutes.
Produced by the Washington Office on Africa, 1989
Interviews with Angolan leaders and people fourteen years after Independence from Portugal in 1975. Shows the devastation caused by the reactionary military organization, UNITA, covertly funded by your American taxes.
| C |
Citibank Vigil
23 minutes.
Produced by the University of Southern Maine TV and Ivan Suzman
Directed by Jeffrey Phillips, 1989
Documentary of the Maine Project on Southern Africa's 1987-1989 18-month vigil at Citibank in Portland, Maine. Featuring MPOSA members and friends. The vigil caused at least $90,000.00 in withdrawals from citibank, which continues its banking services for South Africa.
Crisis in Southern Africa: Maine's Response
31 minutes.
Produced by Randy Visser, 1987
Ivan Suzman's interview of anti-apartheid activist and African National Congress Representative, Victor Mashebela, during his 1987 tour of Maine. Filmed at Southern Maine Vocational and Technical College studio in South Portland.
2 hours 37 minutes.
Produced and Directed by Richard Attenborough, 1988
The story of the friendship between Steve Biko and Donald Woods. Biko's death in prison, and Woods' escape through Lesotho to England. Kevin Kline, Denzel Washington.
57 minutes.
Music by Abdullah Ibrahim
Produced by Robert Bilheimer and Ron Mix, 1988
The transformation of Beyers Naude, the Dutch Reformed Church leader, from trusted elite pastor to staunch supporter fo the struggle for freedom. naude is jailed, defrocked, harrassed, and banned. Academy Award nominee.
| D |
The Discarded People
29 minutes.
Produced by Grenada TV
Directed by Caveat Briton, 1981
The tearful story of the forced relocation of four million black South Africans out of the so-called "Black Spots" and into the "Homelands" of Bantustans. Filmed clandestinely in the Ciskei and in Capetown and smuggled out. Includes an interview of anti-apartheid resistance leaders, and features many people forced into the Bantustans.
120 minutes.
Produced and Directed by Spike Lee, 1989
Lee's drama about predominantly black Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York. Includes a powerful closing scene comparing the messages of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King.
107 minutes.
Produced by Paula Weinstein
Directed by Euzhan Palcy, 1987
Thriller about the transformation of a white South African schoolteacher and his family, their harrassment by the South African police, the murder of his gardener's son. Starring Zakes Mokae, Donald Sutherland, Susan Sarandon, and Marlon Brando.
| E |
Ethnic Notions
56 minutes.
Narrated by Ester Rolle
Produced and Directed by Marlon Riggs, 1987
A still-frame sequence demonstrating the pervasive racial sterotypes in American advertizing, consumer packaging, and books and newspapers, from the 1820s to the present.
| F |
Forget Not Our Sisters
39 minutes.
Produced and Directed by Barbara Brown, 1982
A slide and cassette show by Boston University African Studies specialist, Barbara Brown, about the lives of black women inSouth Africa. With special emphasis on the role of American companies in oppressing South African women.
| G |
Girls Apart
39 minutes.
Produced by Chris Shepard
Directed by Claude Sauvageot, 1987
Contrasting stories of a 16-year-old black girl in Soweto and a 16-year-old white girlin suburban Johannesburg. Scenes of their homes, families and separate worlds are dramatically contrasted.
Graceland: The African Concert
90 minutes.
Produced by Ian Hoblyn
Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1987
Paul Simon's Graceland concert to 45,000 fans in Harare, Zimbabwe. Includes Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and many more.
| I |
Interview with Bishop Tutu
55 minutes.
1984
Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu is interviewed by church and standard media at the World Council of Churches assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, after being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Powerful and rare footage.
Isitwalandwe (The Courage of the Leopard)
51 minutes.
1980
The story of the adoption of the Freedom Charter at Kliptown, South Africa, 26 June 1955. Includes rare historical footage of the Congress of the People. Black and white color sequences.
| J |
Jesse Jackson Live at USM
90 minutes.
February 11, 1988
Jesse Jackson's presidential race address at the University of Southern Maine, Portland, to a packed gymnasium.
| L |
The Long Walk Home
98 minutes.
Produced by Howard Koch, Jr. and Dave Bell
Directed by Richard Pearce, 1991
The story of the 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott and the friendship that developed between a housekeeper (Whoopi Goldberg) and her employer (Sissy Spacek).
| M |
Mandela: Free At Last
79 minutes.
Produced by Globalvision
Directed by Rory O'Connor and Danny Schecter, 1990
Superb footage of the1990 release of Nelson Mandela and of his 27 years in prison.
Mandela: The Man and His Country
50 minutes.
An ABC News production, 1990
A chronicle of the life of Nelson Mandela from his early years through his 1990 release from prison.
104 minutes.
Produced by Max Montocchio, with Oliver Schmitz
The first ever black South African feature film. Tells the story of a Soweto pickpocket, Panic, who becomes swept up in the resistance movement. In English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans with English subtitles. Banned in South Africa and filmed in Soweto.
115 minutes.
1988
A stirring collection of all of Dr. Martin Luther King's great public speeches, including "I Have a Dream" and "I've Been to the Mountaintop." Includes Jimmy Carter, Andrew Young, Coretta Scott King, Bill Cosby, Ted Kennedy, and many more.
| R |
The Road to Brown
47 minutes.
Produced by William A. Elwood
Directed by mykola Kulish, 1990
The story of the desegregation of the American South, highlighted by a historical review of the 1954 Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Also gives the great black lawyer, Charles Hamilton Houston, the credit he deserves.
| S |
She Came With the Rain
59 minutes.
Produced by University of Southern Maine TV and Ivan Suzman
Directed by Jeffrey Phillips, 1989
Compelling interview of South African exile and women's movement leader Rev. Motlapula Chabaku by Ivan Suzman. Tells the story of her early life, and of her dramatic three day escape from South Africa in 1979.
30 minutes.
Produced by Gerhard Schmidt, Chris Austin, and Ruth Weiss, 1980
Clandestine interviews with nine great South African women. Emphasizes the destruction of the black family under apartheid. Includes the first fimed interview with Winnie Mandela since 1960, and interviews Black Consciousness leader Numisi Khuzwayo and others.
29 minutes.
Produced by Afravision, 1986
The British filmmakers Afravision assembled this powerful footage about South Africa's townships from film smuggled out of Soweto and elsewhere. Documents police torture against township residents.
45 minutes.
Produced by Hart Perry
Directed by Godley & Creme, 1985
benefit film made by Artists United Against Apartheid. Features over 40 great musicians from Miles Davis to Bonnie Raitt singing and explaining their refusal to perform in South Africa's Sun City casino in Bophuphatswana.
| T |
A Time For Candor
29 minutes.
Produced by the South African Government, 1987
Propaganda film attacking the African National Congress, and associating it with communism.
| W |
We Shall Overcome
58 minutes.
Narrated by Harry Belafonte
Produced by Jim Brown, Ginger Brown, Harold Leventhal, and George Stoney
Directed by Jim Brown, 1989
The inspiring true story of "We Shall Overcome," emphasizing the song's develoopment into the worldwide anthem of freedom. Includes historic and comtemporary footage. Starring Pete Seeger, Sweet Honey in teh Rock, Joan Baez, and many more. Emmy award winner for best documentary.
55 minutes.
Produced and directed by Sharon Sopher, with Kevin Harris, 1986
A painful documentary of the police terrorism and brutality directed against those who speak out against apartheid in South Africa. Includes an interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
114 minutes.
Produced by Sarah Radclyffe
Directed by Chris Menges, 1988
Electrifying thriller about the tension between the South African heroine, Ruth First, and her daughter. Starring Barbara Hershey. A multiple award winner at the Cannes Film Festival.
55 minutes.
Produced and Directed by David Thompson, 1982
A fim adaptation of teh famous international hit satire about the return of Morena (Jesus Christ) to modern South Africa. Written by and starring Percy Mtwa and Mbongeni Ngena.
| Y |
You Have Struck a Rock
28 minutes.
Produced by Deborah May, 1981
The powerful story of the South African Women's Resistance Movement that developed after the 1952 attempt to extend the pass system to women. Features Lillian Ngoy, Helen Joseph, Frances Baard and other leading women.
Maintained by George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives Staff
Bowdoin College Library, 3000 College Station, Brunswick, Maine 04011-8421
email: scaref@bowdoin.edu / telephone: (207) 725-3288
©Bowdoin College 2004
Bowdoin College Library, 3000 College Station, Brunswick, Maine 04011-8421
email: scaref@bowdoin.edu / telephone: (207) 725-3288
©Bowdoin College 2004