Motherland | Encounters Mega Archive/Library

Awards

New York Festivals (2003) – Winner: Gold Medal: Documentary

Royal Television Society (2004) – Winner: Best Science & Natural History

One World Media Award (2003) – Winner: Best TV Documentary

Feature
International

2003

2003-film-poster Poster
Film Poster

Three black Britons taking part in a groundbreaking genetic study into the ancestry of the UK’s African Caribbean community embark on an epic journey to the Motherland. Beaula is a youth worker from Bristol who traces her ancestry to a tiny island off Equatorial Guinea. She becomes an instant local celebrity when her reunion with living relatives is televised. Mark is a music industry PR in London. He travels to Niger to meet the Kanuri people and reclaim a Kanuri name. Jacqueline explores her roots in Jamaica and confirms her suspicions that much of her ancestry is European. This fascinating and informative film tells their moving stories, which form part of a larger analysis of hundreds of volunteers that will reveal the genetic impact of the transatlantic slave trade.

Courtesy of Archie Baron, who is a guest of the Festival courtesy of the British Council.

Guests

Director: Archie Baron


Previous Festivals

New York Festivals, USA (2003)