The Witch’s Flight with Zama Dube

In Search of the Black Fantastic: An Intimate Conversation with Cinematic Griot––Akin Omotoso


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In this intimate conversation with director/writer/producer, Akin Omotoso, I demonstrate a Black feminist consideration of the ways in which African filmmakers such as Omotoso contend with gendered and racialized visual histories in order to produce subversive images of Blackness. Omotoso was born to a Barbadian mother and a Nigerian father and had lived in both places before being uprooted go to South Africa. Thus, I contend that he embodies the practice of diaspora and collapses rigid understandings of “home”, “place” and “identity”­––these themes can be traced throughout his extensive filmography. Whilst Omotoso has captured the interest of Hollywood by directing Disney’s 2022 film: Rise  and contributing to Beyonce’s visual musical Black is King, he seems to maintain the edge of a griot, story-teller, and ultimately a filmmaker of decolonial makings.


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The Witch’s Flight with Zama DubeBy Dr. Zama Dube