AFRICAN AMERICA plays as part of the Pan African Film Festival 2021, taking place 28th February – 14th March 2021.
Tickets available at: https://www.paff.org
A young woman facing up to the realities of tradition in her Johannesburg life suddenly has an overwhelming desire to relocate to the bright lights of New York to pursue her dream as a performer in the new drama AFRICAN AMERICA.
Nompumeleto (Phumelele Mthembu) is on the cusp of a marriage with a local man, Tumelo (Thami Buti), when she discovers that nine years before she was accepted into Julliard in New York, a letter that was withheld from her by her aunt who raised her in the absence of her dead father. Working for a local business and resentful of the fact that the marriage, which isn’t technically legal, could bind her to a life she doesn’t want, she embezzles 60,000 rand from the business account of her workplace and shuns any communication to fly across the Atlantic to New York.
Trying to make it on Broadway when you are an immigrant is just as hard, if not more impossible, than if you are a native American on the crest of a dream – and for Nompumeleto, the reality of the showbiz lifestyle kicks in, with money frozen and a nanny job saving her (seemingly), she meets a man, Jaquan (Anthony Goss), who takes her under his wing and helps her try and realize her dream. However, her actions that got her to America are waiting in the wings to sneak up….
Co-written and co-produced by Mthembu with Muzi Mthembu, who also directs, AFRICAN AMERICA is an honest and sensitive portrayal of multi-cultural and continental conflicts, outlining the misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the experience of both locals and immigrants in the Big Apple, set against the backdrop of the underbelly of New York entertainment and lifestyles that go with it.
Although some dialogue places the film in the context of African-themed success like COMING TO AMERICA and THE LION KING, the film attempts to at least downplay those elements to get to the emotional heart of diversity and under-representation, with a solid story and good ensemble casting celebrating the emotion and feeling that the culture aspires and rises to and a film that recalls Peter Weir’s GREEN CARD in terms of underlying theme.
The film on balance is a very involving and watchable tale – and director Mthembu shows his skill on all fronts.
