In film theatre Lab111, the IISH organizes on Wednesday October 21st the Dutch premiere of the documentary 'Ghosts of Amistad: In the footsteps of the rebels’.
Time 20.30 |Location: Lab111, Arie Biemondstraat 111, Amsterdam. The event is English spoken.
In the documentary the famous American historian Marcus Rediker and filmmaker Tony Buba, search in West Africa for the (contemporary) traces of the Amistad, the slave ship on which in 1839 illegally transported Africans revolted. The uprising was soon regarded as an iconic event and plays also nowadays an important role in the debate on slavery and racism.
The film chronicles the visit of the documentary makers to the home villages in Sierra Leone of the people who seized the slave schoonen. The story of the Amistad is being reconstructed, based on the narratives of ancient villagers, fishermen and truck drivers.
Marcus Rediker will be present at the premiere and will subsequently participate in a brief interview about the documentary.
The premiere is being organized by the International Institute of Social History (IISH) on the occasion of the international conference ‘Runaways: Desertion and Mobility in Global Labor History, c. 1650-1850’ that will take place on 22 and 23 October 2015 at the IISH, Amsterdam.
Reviews of Ghosts of Amistad
"An ambitious and imaginative attempt to explore the impact of the Amistad Mutiny and the repatriation of the brave Africans to their homes in Sierra Leone. It is of great interest to any student of slavery and the slave trade.” --Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University
“a remarkable document of historical research in action.. By approaching African history with evident respect for people’s knowledge -- and an appreciation for their willingness to share it --Rediker and his team greatly expand our common living memory of resistance to enslavement.”--Vincent Brown, author of The Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery
The makers of Ghosts of Amistad
Tony Buba (Director) has made over thirty films including four feature films exploring working-class issues in and around his hometown since 1974. Buba's work has been showcased in amongst others one-person shows at The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His awards include fellowships from the NEA, AFI, and the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations. Buba’s many awards include Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award and Pennsylvania Media Artist of the Year.
Marcus Rediker (Producer and Writer) is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. He has written or edited nine books, including The Many-Headed Hydra (2000, with Peter Linebaugh); Villains of All Nations (2004) and most recently Outlaws of the Atlantic (2014). He is currently writing a biography of the radical abolitionist dwarf, Benjamin Lay (1682-1759). Over the years he has been active in a variety of social justice and peace movements, especially the worldwide campaign to abolish the death penalty. Ghosts of Amistad is his first film.