Sankofa is an Akan (Ghanaian) word meaning "one must return to the past in order to move forward." Written and directed by Ethiopian-born filmmaker and Howard University professor Haile Gerima, Sankofa is the story of the psychospiritual journey of Mona, a self-possessed African American woman who faces an identity crisis. From the African continent through the Middle Passage and the Americas, Mona relives her past and is transformed.
A seductive model in the United States, Mona is posing near a former slaveholding fortress in West Africa for a photo shoot. Far from the exotic setting her photographer hoped for, Mona is possessed by lingering spirits and is transfixed by a self-appointed cultural guardian and griot (storyteller) who won't let her forget her past.
In a flashback, Mona is taken into slavery. She lives out her life as Shola, a house servant on a Southern plantation. There she meets Nunu, an African-born matriarch and field hand, and Shango, a field servant......
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Approximate Word Count: 306
Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |