BLACK PRESIDENT

Credits

Name: BLACK PRESIDENT

Country: Simbabwe

Year of publication: 2015

Format: DCP

Color: color

Language : OF m. engl. UT

Duration: 80 Minuten

Direction: Mcata, Mpumelelo

Screenplay: Mcata, Mpumelelo; Teeman, Anna

Camera: Modaguru Moeng, Motheo

Editing: Shamis, Khalid

Guest: AWA

Abstract

Are African artists condemned for all eternity to have to tackle the subject of their countries’ colonial pasts? Will they ever be free enough to express themselves as individuals without it being censored and free from economic constraints? Or is their longing for freedom irresponsible? Musician Mpumelelo Mcata asks these and many more questions in his first documentary BLACK PRESIDENT, using the example of internationally famous artist Kudzanai Chiurai who grew up in Zimbabwe and went to South Africa to be able to realise his artistic ambitions. These included painting murals on the walls of a hotel foyer in Johannesburg that featured poetic texts about his connection to his body, which were then swiftly whitewashed because management feared they may irritate guests.
The film questions the role and responsibility of African artists in an increasingly globalised world and their opportunity to go their own way instead of emulating the West.