Nigeria and UK / 2008 / 47mins / Documentary / English

This Is My Africa is a project that seeks to change the public dialogue surrounding Africa. By answering an 18-point questionnaire, one hears about the Africa that sparks these people’s memories and personal perspectives. Through these interviewees, we learn about the Africa that has inspired, infuriated and delighted them. We will learn about their favorite food, songs, writers and artists. We will also learn about what they hope Africa will be like in 2060. There is a lot of unexpected passion in these testimonies and these views and ideas that are so passionately conveyed, come at an important time for the continent. The film features: Yinka Shonibare, John Akomfrah, Lupita Nyong'o, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Colin Firth and others.

Zina Saro-Wiwa

Zina Saro-Wiwa, video artist and filmmaker, was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria in 1976, the daughter of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the late Nigerian activist. She was raised in Surrey, England, and attended Bristol University. Zina has worked for the BBC as a presenter and program-maker and has written for a number of broadsheets and magazines in London including the Sunday Times and Marie Claire Magazine. Her first film, Bossa: The New Wave, was about the modern Bossa Nova music movement. She is the founding filmmaker of the alt-Nollywood movement which uses the narrative, stylistic and visual conventions of the Nollywood film industry but for subversive, politically challenging ends. In 2010, her career as an artist began in earnest in New York, when she was invited to curate her first ever contemporary art exhibition at SoHo’s, now disbanded, Location One Gallery. The group show – titled Sharon Stone in Abuja – was one that explored the narrative and visual conventions of the Nollywood film industry. In addition to curating the show, Saro-Wiwa created and contributed her first-ever installation pieces and experimental alt-Nollywood films. Since her New York debut she has been commissioned by the Menil Collection and Seattle Art Museum, has had work shown at the Pulitzer Foundation, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Stevenson Gallery, Goodman Gallery, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Tate Britain, Fowler Museum in LA, the Brooklyn Museum and many other institutions. Her first ever solo museum show Did You Know We Taught Them How To Dance? went up at Blaffer Art Museum in Houston in 2015 and opened at Krannert Art Museum in Illinois in November 2016. Saro-Wiwa’s work can be found in museums and private collections around the world. Learn More