AMA ATA AIDOO
Documentary: The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo
Ama Ata Aidoo was the first African woman playwright, publishing The Dilemma of a Ghost(1965) at the age of 25. She is a poet, a novelist and a feminist.
The documentary follows Aidoo over a course of a year during which she travels to her ancestral village in the Central Region of Ghana.
Aidoo’s writing is rich in historical and cultural context, dealing with slavery, drawing inspiration from colonial Ghana and the post-independence period to present day Africa where support for women’s creative talent remains lacking.
Award-winning director Yaba Badoe (The Witches of Gambaga, 2010) and her producer Amina Mama, a leading feminist scholar, are crowd-funding $45,000 on Indiegogo to cover post-production costs. One-third of the project budget is being covered by donors such as the African Women’s Development Fund and the Global Fund for Women but you can be a donor too.
“When I was growing up, I definitely remember my mother told us folktales. Once I became aware of myself, I occurred to me that I should add to life’s stories.”
“Ghanaians have always been nervous about the presence of people of diaspora here. And I think that was in part, due to the fact that they remind us of what we don’t want to deal with. And if fact, in the wake of the slave trade, we were colonized, conquered and again, we have not really dealt with the implications of colonization. What is colonization?
So the relationship between us and the African diaspora is charged”
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Short Summary
The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo explores the artistic contributions of one of Africa’s foremost woman writers, a trailblazer for an entire generation of exciting new talent, including internationally acclaimed Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie. The publication of The Dilemma of a Ghost in 1965 at the age of 25 made Aidoo the first published African woman playwright. In Anowa (1970), she demonstrated her courage by addressing slavery, a very sensitive topic even today in Ghana. Her most recent work is Diplomatic Pounds and Other Stories.
The film follows Aidoo over a course of a year during which she travels to her ancestral village in the Central Region of Ghana and is feted at a Festschrift orqanized by friends and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She then attends the premier of her seminal play about the local African experiences of the slave trade, Anowa, performed by UCSB Theater.
This hour-long documentary locates the multi-textured variety of Aidoo’s writing in an historical and cultural context, and charts her pivotal journey through moments of inspiration in a life that spans seven decades, from colonial Ghana through the tumultuous era of independence, to a more sober present day Africa where nurturing women’s creative talent remains as difficult as ever.
This documentary celebrates Aidoo and her work and brings it to new audiences in a way that will inspire future generations.
Who we are: We are a team. Director/Producer is Yaba Badoe an award-winning documentary filmmaker and writer based in the UK. Her latest film, The Witches of Gambaga, won the 2010 Best Documentary Award at the Black International Film Festival 2010 and the 2nd Prize, Documentaries at FESPACO 2011, and was nominated for the One World Media Award, Best Documentary in 2012.Producer is Amina Mama, one of Africa’s leading activist feminist scholars. She founded the journalFeminist Africa, has taught courses in African cinema, co-produced The Witches of Gambaga, and is currently on the faculty of Women and Gender Studies at University of California, Davis. Margo Okazawa-Rey, a feminist scholar activist, is Associate Producer and leading this campaign.
What We Need & What You Get
Courageous. Controversial. Compelling. Truth-teller. Ama Ata Aidoo is a poet, novelist, and feminist. Women make up fewer than 10% of the world’s film directors, so it’s a struggle to tell the story of any woman, especially an African woman. So we are asking you to help us raise $45,000 to tell Aidoo’s story, the fascinating tale of an iconic writer whose work both captures the specificities of history, culture, and geography and transcends them.
The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo is almost there. After two years of fundraising, excitement, negotiation, and filming on location in Ghana and California, the good news is that we’re half-way through the journey and we need your help. We are trying to raise $45,000 (two-thirds of the budget) here on Indiegogo. The money you help us raise will pay post-production costs: editing, music clearances, colour grading, and a sound dub. We are confident that the final 1/3 of the budget will be raised from organizational donors like the African Women’s Development Fund and the Global Fund for Women.
When you donate, you will be acknowledged on the Donor Wall of our website and receive project updates. In addition, you can receive a signed postcard, t-shirt, limited edition DVD, Aidoo’s books, and other memorable perks.