Zimbabwe / 2001 / 26mins / Drama / English

Riches was inspired by the writer Bessie Head. It follows the flight of a coloured teacher, Molly McBride and her son Peter, from apartheid South Africa to an isolated school in Zimbabwe. She finds life tough and the villagers hostile and conservative. Molly’s clash with the hypocritical headmaster leaves her jobless and in despair, but a simple gesture of friendship from one of the poorest members of the community inspires her to fight back and claim her place within her new society.

Part of Mama Africa: Growing Up Urban - a selection of short films by African women

Ingrid Sinclair

Ingrid Sinclair is a director and screenwriter who moved from England to Zimbabwe and became involved in the liberation struggle. Her pivotal first feature Flame, received prizes and standing ovations world-wide. Flame was selected for Director’s Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival and won the Nestor Almendros Award at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in 1997. Sinclair is widely seen as part of the African Renaissance. In Flame and her previous prize winning documentary Bird From Another World, she deals with the day-to-day drama of politics, history, geography, culture and the way they affect people, turning them into both villains and heroes. In 2003, Sinclair and her partner, filmmaker and producer Simon Bright, left Zimbabwe and moved to Bristol, England where they established the Afrika Eye Film Festival and continue to work in film production. Learn More