USA / 2017 / 78mins / Documentary / English

The documentary ­­Footprints of Pan-Africanism revisits the era of Ghana’s emergence into independence, when Africans on the continent and in the diaspora participated in building a liberated territory. This movement, rooted in the determination to reassert black people’s humanity and recover from the impact of slavery and colonialism, constituted an essential, indispensable part of the global Pan-African vision for liberation, which in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s ushered in no less than a black political and cultural revolution. Footprints ultimately celebrates the challenges young generations continue to pose to those who have yet to pick up the baton of the great Pan-African dreamers.

Shirikiana Aina

Shirikiana Aina, born September 1955, is an American film director, cinematographer, producer, and writer. Shirikiana was born in Detroit, MI. She is a member of the LA Film Rebellion. Aina founded Mypheduh Films, Inc., a distribution company for independent Pan African Films. The company produced several features from the filmmakers of the LA Film Rebellion. Aina also co-founded Negod Gwad Productions, a nonprofit film company providing support to indie filmmakers. She has taught courses in script writing and film production at Howard University. Aina attended Howard University and earned her Bachelor's in Film. She later attended UCLA and received an MA in African Film Studies in 1982. That same year she made Brick by Brick, an acclaimed short documentary film that exposes the gentrification of poor Black neighborhoods in Washington D.C. In 1993 she co-produced the drama film Sankofa, which was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. Aina's work is mostly rooted within the world of documentary film. In 1997, she filmed Through the Door of No Return, which document's her journey to Ghana to retrace the footsteps of her ancestors. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival under the Planet Africa program created by artistic director Cameron Bailey. She has also worked as a cinematographer for various documentaries such as Politics of African Cinema and On Becoming a Woman. In 1998 she co-founded Sankofa Video, Books & Cafe in D.C. across the street from Howard University. Aina directed Footprints of Pan-Africanism in 2017 a documentary that explores the impact of the independence of Ghana on political movements around the world. Learn More