Production

Vaughan-Rogosin Films / D. Knight, London / Michael Raeburn.

Additional funding Vincent Prache, Etienne Levy-Lambert.

Written and directed by Michael Raeburn

Camera – Michael Raeburn

Sound – Etienne Levy-Lambert

Editor – Eduardo Guedes

Stars – Dominic Kanaventi – Lionel Ngakane reads Nelson Mandela’s Rivonia trial speech.        

Music – ANC Choir Of South Africa recorded in London March 1969

A hard-hitting satire on Rhodesian attitudes advocating people’s war leading to liberation.

The first genuine Zimbabwean film supported by ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union) and the ANC South Africa.      Raeburn was expelled from Rhodesia after making the movie.

Festivals:

OFFICIAL ZAPU PRESENTATION AT MOSCOW FILM FESTIVAL 1970

DIRECTOR’S FORTNIGHT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL1969

Five festival awards including: 

MANNHEIM PEACE PRIZE, GERMANY

PRIX REALISATION, HYERES FILM FESTIVAL, FRANCE

Selection of press:

« A moving statement about racialism »   Montreal Star

« Excellent example of the political film »   Les Lettres Francaises

« Mixture of drama and documentary that makes a strong impact » Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden                                       « An excellent document »   Cinema Magazine, Paris

Distribution:

TV -BBC and throughout Europe, USA, Africa.

Cinema -Fédération Jean Vigo; Studio Republique, Paris; Bleaker Street Cinema, New York.

Shown in ZAPU and ZANU (ZIPRA) guerrilla training camps in Zambia and Tanzania.

Synopsis:

Some one has stolen the boss’ car. The year is 1968. The boss is Mr Carlton-ffrench – die-hard colonist and supporter of Ian Smith whose recent UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence), snatched from the toothless British PM, Harold Wilson, has left the rebel leader triumphantly cocky. Carlton-ffrench puts away his rugger ball to hunt for the thief – factory worker, John Mambo. But after Mambo’s wife has sex with the whiteman for money, the thief goes on the run, taking their young son with him. And he’s very angry. In this Godardesque road movie, Mambo’s anger echoes the feelings of the African majority who realise that there will never be democracy or racial freedom in Rhodesia under Ian Smith. When a stranger offers him a gun, Mambo joins the new guerrilla forces. For the cause, he is prepared to sacrifice all – including his son. He takes part in the shooting of a Rhodesian farmer and his wife. But he is soon caught and hanged. Carlton-ffrench gets his car back. But now, nothing can stop the liberation war until independence is gained in 1980;

Brief synopsis

John Mambo can’t find a job. His wife supports the family as a nurse. Rhodesia is becoming increasingly oppressive under the rule of Ian Smith and his white minority government. John is falsely accused of stealing a car. This pushes him over the edge. He decides to sacrifice family responsibilities and join the liberation movement that is about to launch guerrilla war. After a raid on a white farm, John is captured and hanged.

Writer-director Michael Raeburn’s career in Africa

Michael made his first film “RHODESIA COUNTDOWN” in 1969 advocating guerrilla war to overthrow the minority racist regimes in Rhodesia and South Africa (ref. www.michaelraeburn.com). The film ends with Nelson Mandela’s Rivonia trial address advocating force as the only solution to the stranglehold of repression. This debut film was shown in guerrilla training camps in the “Front Line States” of Zambia and Tanzania. It also had an international release. In the USA it was picked up by The Filmmakers Cooperative and showcased at Lionel Rogosin’s Bleeker Street Cinema. It was selected for the Cannes Film Festival Director’s Fortnight.

At the end of the shoot, Michael had to flee into exile where he collaborated for the next 20 years in the liberation war of southern Africa through the black nationalist party “ZANU” led by Robert Mugabe, and also through the ANC of South Africa.

In 1978 Michael wrote the book “BLACK FIRE” from the point of view of the guerrillas fighting to decolonize Southern Africa (JF Publications, UK).  James Baldwin wrote its Foreword and personally launched the book in London in 1978. After the fall of Ian Smith’s regime in Rhodesia in 1980, the Deputy Prime Minister of newly-named Zimbabwe added an Introduction to the book. The USA edition, renamed “WE ARE EVERYWHERE”, was published by Toni Morrison, then editorial chief at Random House. Michael’s collaboration with James Baldwin continued with the co-writing of the script adaptation of Baldwin’s novel “GIOVANNI’S ROOM”: Ref:

In 1981 for his first feature film Michael adapted Doris Lessing’s novel “THE GRASS IS SINGING. The script is set in South Africa where it was impossible to make such a film. As the ANC was accepted in black Africa as the South African Government in Exile, the movie was shot in Zambia where it was helmed and edited by Thabo Mbeki who became Mandela’s successor as the President of South Africa in 1999. Trainee guerrillas in the ANC’s armed wing “uMkhonto we Sizwe” became actors in the movie, and the ANC Choir did the music (as it did for several the director’s films).

In 1988 under the aegis of Barbara Masekela of the ANC, the Nigeria Government under President Ibrahim Babangida supported Michael’s film “SOWETO” – a $10m movie set in South Africa, but filmed in Plateau State and in Zimbabwe. ANC cadres featured as themselves in the film. Hugh Masekela wrote and played the music.

After universal suffrage was attained in South Africa in 1994 Michael continued his writing and film career in the region, always with a political edge. His films have gained many festival awards, and there have been retrospectives in France at the Musée Jeu de Paume, the Musée Dapper and the Douarnenez Film Festival; in Germany at the Munich Cinémathèque; and in the UK at the London/BFI Film Festival. “ZIMBABWE COUNTDOWN” about Robert Mugabe’s fall from grace won First Prize at the African Film Festival of Milan in 2003. “TRIOMF”, shot in Johannesburg, won “Best South African Movie” at the 2008 Durban Film Festival:  www.triomfmovie.com

Place this link in your browser :

https://vimeo.com/channels/michaelraeburnfilms

FULL MOVIES FROM MICHAEL RAEBURN AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE :

«THE GRASS IS SINGING» Based on Doris Lessing’s novel, scripted by Michael Raeburn :
https://youtu.be/6iiEhNHdSMw  

«TRIOMF» Based on Marlene Van Niekerk’s novel, scripted by Michael Raeburn :      https://youtu.be/rYcqm8otnGU  

«VENT DE COLERE // WINDS OF RAGE» Original script by Michael Raeburn

www.michaelraeburn.com