The Human Bondage Project, a series of feature films, documentaries and TV series about slavery told from the African perspective, to be produced over a period of five years, was launched on 8 May during Input, the global screening conference held at Johannesburg’s Sandton Convention Centre.

South African High Commissioner in London, Lindiwe Mabuza, is the patron of the project and was present at the launch, as was famed American actor, civil rights activist and UN Goodwill Ambassador, Harry Belafonte, Jamaica’s High Commissioner, Joan Thomas and UNESCO’s Ali Moussa.

The Human Bondage Project is being done in collaboration with the UNESCO Slavery Project, the Thomson Foundation, the Amsterdam-based Binger Institute and South African public broadcaster SABC, the host of Input 2008.

Said executive producer of the Human Bondage Project and South African National Co-ordinator for Input Sylvia Vollenhoven : “Prior to issuing a commissioning brief for the series, we will draw up a concept paper. The stories in this project are big and should be told on a massive scale, all from the perspectives of the slaves. This is a world first. One of the goals of this project is to inspire global interest in slavery and human bondage.”

Sabelo Silinga of SABC Content Enterprises talked about how this cross-genre global initiative would concentrate on how slavery shaped the world. “Millions of Africans were vulnerable to the scourge of slavery. They have been forgotten and their stories told from a western perspective. With this series we will break the chains of silent souls.”

SABC Content Hub head Yvonne Kgame expressed the view that the series would contribute to the healing of Africa. “Let us see where we have come from so that we can see where we are and where we are going.”

High Commissioner Mabuza thrilled the Input delegates with an emotive reading of her poem on slavery, Goree Island.

Keynote speaker Harry Belafonte paid tribute to Mabuza, a friend for many years, saying she had always been a strong voice in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He made reference to the SABC saying that before democracy its primary function was to sustain apartheid and conquer Africa. “Now, 14 years later I’m listening to complaints about how the SABC is not making us see clearly.”

Belafonte spoke at length about how the black race had systematically been brainwashed throughout the centuries to think it was inferior to the white race. “The Human Bondage Project will certainly work when it taps into where we are today,” concluded Belafonte, emphasizing the power of culture in the liberation struggle.

The first step in the Human Bondage Project was the Input seminar entitled Slavery, Memory & Story, which focused on how mainstream cinema and TV programmes across regions of the world have not treated the African slave trade, the greatest human tragedy of all time, with the same moral commitment, talent and perceptiveness that they have given to other human tragedies.

See full story in June issue of Screen Africa.