Mama Africa: Bintou
Against all odds and her husband's wishes, a downtrodden housewife in Burkina Faso sets out to earn enough money to educate her daughter.
Mama Africa: Growing Up Urban
In three richly imagined short dramas, three of Africa's most successful women filmmakers explore the modern African city through intimate stories about motherhood, ambition, and the search for identity.
- Series
- PBS Plus Presentation
- Premiere Date
- March 1, 2003
- Length
- 90 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Series and Special Projects
Producer
Larry Sapadin
- Other ITVS Films
- Mama Africa: An Evening in July
- Mama Africa: Bintou
- Mama Africa: Riches
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The Film
Bound together by unflinching visions of the modern African city and insightful introductions by Queen Latifah, Mama Africa: Growing Up Urban combines three short dramas by some of Africa's most successful women filmmakers. Uno's World, directed by Namibia's Bridget Pickering, charts a young mother's rite of passage in a world of conflicting responsibilities and intoxicating greed. Ngozi Onwurah's Hang Time tells the story of a talented young basketball player in Nigeria who risks everything and bets his future on a new pair of shoes. And in Raya, South African director Zulfa Otto-Sallies explores one woman's struggle both to rebel against her respectable Muslim upbringing and erase her criminal past.