USA / 2007-2008 / 26mins / Documentary / English and French

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka introduces this pilot episode of an educational documentary series aimed at filling in the gaps in the history of the African slave trades. Through a mosaic composed of excerpts from interviews with world-renowned historians, readings from literary sources and archival images, this episode traces the earliest documented history of enslavement and deportation of people from the East Coast of Africa up the Red Sea and across the Indian Ocean. The film looks at the economic forces driving the development of this trade in human beings and the racial attitudes that existed in the medieval Arab world towards those of East African origin. Emphasis is put on one of the earliest known revolts of enslaved Africans, the Zanj Rebellion, which took place in what is currently Iraq during the 9th century CE.

Diane Seligsohn

Diane Seligsohn is an American journalist and university lecturer who has lived in Paris for over three decades and now divides her time between France and St Petersburg, Florida. Diane received her BA from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and her MA from NYU. She began her career in journalism at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's New York office, where she worked for five years before moving to France. As head of information for the international federation of newspaper publishers for two years, she gained knowledge of and insight into press freedom issues. She first visited Africa in 1997, when as Head of Media Relations for the French doctor's group Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), she led a press trip to visit the organization's AIDS prevention and care programs in Uganda and Tanzania. The pilot episode of her educational documentary film series, The African Slave Trades: Across the Indian Ocean, featuring Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, was shown at the New York African Film Festival. Learn More

Richard Rein

Richard Rein, director, journalist, television producer and actor, was born in 1941 in France. His first feature film was Apparence féminine (1980). His other works include Otototoï (1982) and Ciné regards (1978). He co-directed The African Slave Trades: Across the Indian Ocean (2007) with Diane Seligsohn. Learn More