South African documentaries Plot for Peace, directed by Carlos Agullo
and Mandy Jacobson; and Tribute to the Frontline States, directed by
Jacobson and Barbara King; will screen locally in a number of towns during May. In
addition, Plot for Peace will screen on 7 May at the 22nd New York
African Film Festival, and will be followed by a Q&A with Jacobson and the film’s
subject Jean-Yves Ollivier. Both films form part of the African Oral History Archive
(AOHA), a non-profit initiative dedicated to African story-telling.
Plot for Peace, is a character-driven historical thriller about the
demise of apartheid. It tells the story of Jean-Yves Ollivier, alias “Monsieur Jacques’,
whose behind-the-scenes bargaining was instrumental in bringing about regional
peace and the end of racial discrimination in South Africa. The National Film and
Video foundation will screen Plot for Peace in Mafikeng on 22 May.
A Tribute to the Frontline States, part of AOHA’s Rainbow Makers
series, is presented by the Shaka Sisulu, a child of exile himself, and grandson of
renowned freedom fighters Walter and Albertina Sisulu. The film tracks three
generations of Sisulu’s through to their return from exile and recognises the
extraordinary alliance known as “The Frontline States’, whose generosity and
bravery provided a home in exile to one of the longest-lived revolutionary
movements on the African Continent.
The National Film and Video foundation will screen Tribute to the Frontline
States in Mafikeng on 23 May and in Kimberly on 29 May.
Visit the AOHA website for more
information.
