UK / 2012 / 116mins / Documentary / English

To most in the West, the title question of Roy Agyemang’s provocative documentary hardly needs to be asked. Accused of inept leadership and human-rights abuses, former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, who ruled the country since its independence from Great Britain in 1980 until 2017, is also known for being the first African leader to seize white-controlled farms and redistribute them to the local population. British-born of Ghanaian parents, Agyemang set out to gain a fresh perspective on Mugabe by exploring the reality behind the headlines. And what was supposed to be a three-month project became a three-year all-access journey with Mugabe and his inner circle that revealed a charismatic, complicated man ruling a country at the intersection of international economics and postcolonial fallout. This personal film also raises wider serious issues about the relationship between African leaders and the West in the fight for the continent’s minerals and land.

Roy Agyemang

Born in 1974 in London, Roy was a child actor playing roles in Grange Hill and The Bill. He attended Ravensbourne School of Broadcasting gaining the technical skills behind the camera. Post completion of his studies, he began directing and presenting current affairs stories for a youth cable channel, Rapture TV in 1997. His one-hour television program entitled Generation X: Election Special produced by Kudos Productions for Anglia Television was screened in the buildup to the 1997 General election. Shortly after, Roy became the face of newly launched Fox Kids UK, presenting a variety of shows. He also went onto present a travel series for London Weekend Television as well as sports programs for IMG. He made the transition to go behind the camera full time in the mid-2000s. As a multi-skilled camera-op, director and producer, he built up his credits working on populist observational documentaries for British broadcasters. In between productions, he developed his own projects. In 2005 he covered the Liberian elections and gained access to George Weah, the former world footballer of the year, whose ambition at the time was to become President of Liberia. Mugabe: Villain or Hero? was Roy’s first feature length documentary. Learn More