African Studies

From the director of the acclaimed Al-Jazeera documentary Control Room, this extremely prescient and insightful film shows how three women activists used digital cameras and a website to expose widespread fraud and violence in the country's last presidential elections - in which Mubarak won with 88.6% of the vote.

Filmed inside a unique hospital for rape survivors in eastern Congo, Lumo follows a young woman after a brutal attack on her uncertain path to recovery. It is an intimate look at the widespread use of rape as a tool of political terror across central Africa.

Is the U.N. still relevant? This behind-the-scenes documentary follows the efforts of diplomats trying to pass a Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of a peacekeeping force to Darfur.

When a group of Moroccan street children faced with the choice of emigrating illegally to Europe take part in a treehouse building workshop, they find themselves unexpectedly transformed. This wonderful documentary offers a timely and intimate window into the world of Arab youth.

After the U.S. and India, the world's third largest producer of feature films is Nigeria. Welcome to Nollywood explores this burgeoning film industry, from its unique challenges to its diverse array of films that both mirror and comment upon the social ills of the continent.

An intimate look at the lives of South Africa's black lesbians who were raped because of their sexuality but refuse to become victims. This insightful and moving film shatters all preconceptions of homosexuality in Africa.

Re-released for 2020. Ever wonder why Jews and Rastafarians both use the Star of David and make references to Zion? This exuberant documentary explores the surprising connections between reggae culture and Judaism.

The AIDS pandemic in Africa as seen through the eyes of two young girls, an American and South African teenager, featuring the music of the Dave Matthews Band and U2.

Millions of people in Africa do not have enough food to eat. This video follows Dr. Florence Wambugu as she reveals the immediate needs of the African people to fight crop disease and pests, essential in saving their population from hunger and famine.

Archbishop Trevor Huddleston's name has become synonymous with the battle against racial tyranny in South Africa. This film intersperses interviews and rare archival footage to chronicle Archbishop Huddleston's life and work and his continuing commitment to the destruction of apartheid.

This video chronicles the recent political history of Sierra Leone, a small West African nation, rich in natural resources, which has been plagued by successive politically corrupt governments since its establishment as a republic in 1971.

In Haiti and many African countries today, voodoo is an integral part of daily life. Filmed in the Republic of Benin, this video examines the reality of voodoo as a polytheistic religion, including more than 260 gods, the beliefs of which include ancestral worship and direct dealing with supernatural forces.

Chronicles the efforts of international mediator Dr. Dudley Weeks to negotiate a peace process between warring factions of Indian (Sikh) and Pakistani (Muslim) youths in West London, showing how peacemaking skills utilized in South Africa and Bosnia can be applied at a community level.

Faced with widespread conditions of mass unemployment, poverty, urban crowding, and governmental crisis, more than a billion people in some 100 underdeveloped nations throughout the Third World have developed their own 'informal economy,' a parallel lifestyle operating on the margins of the society's formal economy and legal system, which provides them with a means of survival.

This series chronicles the history of colonialism and the struggle for independence in three African countries - Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.

This video examines a growing problem in Zimbabwe, where herds of elephants from national parks and wildlife preserves are invading farming villages, destroying crops and occasionally killing villagers.

Part of a series of documentaries on conflict resolution in the world's trouble spots, chronicles the evolution of South Africa from the tragic years of apartheid to the release of Nelson Mandela and the country's first free elections in 1994, and, finally, to the cautious hopes and efforts today to build a strong democracy.

Documents an African approach to treating mental-health issues by showing the communal healing process used by the Wolof in Senegal.

The human tragedy caused by the widespread use of land mines in warfare is a growing problem throughout the world today. Children are especially susceptible to being maimed or killed by stepping on anti-personnel weapons buried during military conflicts many years ago. This documentary is a case study of the problem.

This video, by comparing the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict with the previous struggle for liberation and democracy in South Africa, makes a universal statement about war and the effects of war on young people on both sides of the conflicts.