The past, present, and future of African Americans and Black Americans is often a hard topic for so many in the modern US. From the issue of Black history and how it is (or is not) taught in schools to contemporary problems like biased police practices or street violence, there are a lot of subjects that impact and shape the future of everyone, but especially children, in the same communities. Sankofa Chicago is a documentary by director and producer Vanessa Page Wright that wants to tackle these issues in a single, unified cinematography work.
The documentary focuses on the idea of Sankofa, a concept that underlines the need to know history to be able to comprehend the current time. Set in Chicago, a huge US city that embodies many successes but also massive challenges of the Black community, the film shares very personal narratives of people like local leaders, scholars, and ordinary individuals who experienced the US Black history as a part of their everyday lives.
Thanks to the huge experience of Wright, who is a former Talent Agent who switched to filmmaking, Sankofa Chicago really offers a unique mixture of voices from the past and voices of the future. The first belongs to people who experienced so much Black history firsthand, while the children of the film present their honest views of the present and their aspirations for an uncertain future.
All of this combines into a potent mixture that showcases the concept of Black history, not only as an academic notion but as a very real and alive aspect of so many US communities. That makes Sankofa Chicago a powerful documentary that is more than needed in the present day and age. Follow it on its official website and go see it as soon as you can!
Thanks to the huge experience of Wright, who is a former Talent Agent who switched to filmmaking, Sankofa Chicago really offers a unique mixture of voices from the past and voices of the future. The first belongs to people who experienced so much Black history firsthand, while the children of the film present their honest views of the present and their aspirations for an uncertain future.
All of this combines into a potent mixture that showcases the concept of Black history, not only as an academic notion but as a very real and alive aspect of so many US communities. That makes Sankofa Chicago a powerful documentary that is more than needed in the present day and age. Follow it on its official website and go see it as soon as you can!
