Maangamizi (The Ancient One)

trinidad+tobago film festival 2010 screening

Year	2001
Duration	110 minutes
Type	Dramatic feature
Country	Tanzania / USA
Language	Swahili and English, with English subtitles
Director(s)	Martin Mhando, Ron Mulvihill
Rating	n/a
Contact	m.mhando@murdoch.edu.au

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In this ambitious allegory, an American woman medic, Dr Asira, comes to Tanzania to work at a hospital for the mentally disturbed. There she meets a sometimes-catatonic patient, Samahe, who seems to be in communication with another reality. In their confrontation with their individual and collective pasts, Dr Asira and Samahe are bound by fears and half-remembered images of unbearable pain.

It is only through the mentoring spirit of Maangamizi that the women can resume their lives with an understanding of the ancestors and their eternal presence in a world of cruelty, hatred and death. Maangamizi is a film that seeks to reclaim the connection between Africa and her Diaspora, and dares to represent the histories of two continents as it peels away layer upon layer of trauma to bring a healing of the soul.

Trinidad & Tobago premiere.

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