Come back, Africa
Lionel Rogosin (Screenwriter, Film director, Film producer, Interviewee), Lewis Nkosi (Screenwriter, Actor), Bloke Modisane (Screenwriter, Actor), Michael Rogosin (Film producer, Film director, Editor of moving image work), Lloyd Ross (Film director, Editor of moving image work), Claudia Schadeberg (Film producer), Jurgen Schadeberg (Film director, Film producer), Richard Beynon (Screenwriter), Zacharia Mgabi (Actor), Vinah Bendile (Actor), Miriam Makeba (Actor), Can Themba (Actor), Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick (Actor), Florynce Kennedy (Actor), Jim Collier (Actor), Wende Smith (Performer), Larry Johnson (Actor), Gary Davis (Actor), General Duze (Narrator), Michael Richard (Narrator), Solly Kgamedi (Narrator), Marcel Van Heerden (Narrator), Martin Scorsese, Ernst Artaria, Emil Knebel, J. Robert Wagoner, Carl Lerner (Editor of moving image work), Ruth Schell (Editor of moving image work), Sharron Hawkes (Editor of moving image work), Alan Lomax (Contributor), Anna Lomax Wood (Contributor), Cineteca comunale (Bologna, Italy), Rogosin Heritage Inc (Production company), Rogosin Films (Presenter), Bailey's African Photo Archives (Presenter, Production company), Milestone Film & Video (Publisher), Oscilloscope Laboratories (Firm) (Film distributor)
In 1957, Rogosin travelled to South Africa and created a powerfully, moving drama exposing the harsh reality of life under the system apartheid. Filmed secretly under the noses of the feared South African police, Rogosin, his crew, and cast risked arrest and deportation. Miriam Makeba was banned from her country after travelling to Venice for the movie's premiere. The scenes shot in the vibrant black ghetto of Sophiatown are precious images of a lost world. Rogosin took the fight for equality to his homeland with Black roots, his documentary on African American life. The extraordinary cast, including Reverend Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, attorney and feminist activist Florynce "Flo" Kennedy, musicians Jim Collier, Wende [i.e. Wendy] Smith, Larry Johnson and Reverend Gary Davis, tell stories of heartbreak and despair while their songs blow the roof off the rafters. The film combines tales of oppression with hauntingly beautiful images of the faces of black men, women and children
DVD Video, English, 2014
The deluxe edition
Milestone Film & Video, [Harrington Park, New Jersey], 2014