Owen 'Alik Shahadah

Owen 'Alik Shahadah
Born	1973 Hanover, Germany
Occupation	Film director, producer, cultural historian and academic.
Website
http://www.owenshahadah.com

Owen 'Alik Shahadah (b. 1973) (Arabic: اليك شحادة) is a director, African writer, and scholar. He is best known for authoring works, which deal with African history, social justice, environmental issues, education and world peace. Born in Hanover, Germany and educated in both England and the Caribbean, Shahadah is of a new generation of African Diaspora filmmakers inspired by the likes of Malcolm X and Kwame Ture. He produces work that articulates a multidimensional African world perspective. Testimony to this is 500 Years Later and Motherland (film).^[1][2] As a cultural writer he is a leading critic of the terms black people and Sub-Saharan Africa, he states they are products of racism to undermine African history and cultural contributions.^[3] He argues for African agency and economic ownership of African culture by Africans.

Education & Personal

Shahadah studied Aeronautical Engineering (BEng) in London and zoology (Bsc) at the University of the West Indies.^[4] Despite a science background his writings focus on revisiting academic racism and African history within an African framework. Notable he is author of arabslavetrade.com, a leading website on the Arab slave trade in Africa.^[5] He spent his teenage years growing up in Brooklyn New York. He also professes to a keen interest in anthropology, natural history, linguistics and is a qualified PADI divemaster (scuba diver).^[4]

His former father-in-law was socialist St Lucian politician George Odlum. Odlum's daughter, now Shahadah's ex-wife, was also lead singer for Ocacia.^[6]

Published work

Shahadah publishes articles in a variety of African journals such as African Executive, AllAfrica, African Holocaust and Pambazuka, Zimbabwe Herald and AllAfrica.com.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} Shahadah maintains that progressive African history keeps Africans as the primary agents of African history within an African cultural paradigm while at the same time meeting the highest threshold of good scholarship. He asserts that the tradition of "tarzan" or the hunter writing the history of Africa is an ongoing colonial threat to self-determination and justice.^[12] Alik Shahadah however states that "History and culture are far too dynamic to exclusively be articulated through the narrow window of race and color." He has written audio productions such as Torn land: Palestine, African Holocaust: Dark Voyages and co-written Afrikan Kingdoms. He has written a paper titled Linguistics for a new African reality which was adapted by the African Code. The paper identifies how sociolinguistic apply to self-determination.^[13] He is a critic of the terms black people and Sub-Saharan Africa, he states they are products of racism to undermine African history and cultural contributions.^[3] He also writes on slavery in Africa, Arabia and the Americas.^[14] He lobbies for free movement in Africa and an economic empowerment of African people globally and especially in places where they are the majority in the population.^[15]

Film/Video List

• Motherland (film) (2010)
• Still My Home (2008)
• Our Story Our Voice (2007)
• The Idea (2006)
• 500 Years Later (2005)
• No Difference (Music Video) (2005)
• Tear for the World (Music Video) (2005)
• Like water running off my back (Music Video) (2004)

Films

Shahadah is best known for directing the documentary 500 Years Later, an influential film that explores the psycho-cultural effects of slavery and colonialism in the African Diaspora. The film won 5 international awards including: Breaking Chains Award 2007, UNESCO ^[16] (presented at ZIFF film festival in Zanzibar, Best Documentary at the Pan African (Los Angeles) and Bridgetown (Barbados) Film Festivals; Best Film at the International Black Cinema (Berlin) Film Festival; and Best International Documentary at the Harlem (New York) International Film Festival. It was nominated for 'Best of the Best' at FESPACO. In October 2005, 500 Years Later was screened at the Millions More Movement. Philadelphia Weekly wrote, "When participants gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the Millions More Movement rally last month, they also became one of the largest film audiences in history." He has also directed The Idea with (Tunde Jegede), a black comedy, as well as the political documentary Our Story Our Voice(2007) which was selected for Best Documentary at the Pan-African Film Festival. In 2004 he began working on the multi-award winning documentary Motherland (film)2010. Motherland is one of the first Pan-African documentaries on the continent of Africa.

Technique & African Aesthetic

Shahadah is seen as one of the next generation of African Diaspora filmmakers, who draws from the masters of African cinema. Shahadah believes that Africans must develop an authentic African aesthetic and bring this into film culture. He also stresses that all art in the traditional African senses is socially functional. As a filmmaker he is noted for emphasizing music to film synchronization. He stresses that African film, like African music (both of the continent and the Diaspora), has a rhythm which is the fundamental inner harmony that sets up a unique African sensibility. His documentaries never use narration and are driven my music, strong flashing images set to music and spoken word and rich color. Unique in documentary Shahadah uses heavy dramatic film scores, typical of epic movies. He says his films are a four part harmony of information produced by images, music, text and dialog. For the Motherland (film) Shahadah claims he created a new way of mixing music in Dolby 5.1 called split positioning.^[17]

He approaches cinema from a jazz paradigm and states: "If you want to understand the concept of a paradigm shift go and study jazz, it is the most perfect example of an African aesthetic. Because it has agency it can absorbs worldly influences but still expresses an African sensibility. Like a language jazz is grammatically Africa while its lexicon is varied."^[18]

Awards and nominations

• 2011 Motherland (film) | Nominated Best Diaspora Documentary African Movie Academy Award (2011)^[19]
• 2010 Motherland (film) | Best Documentary Zanzibar International Film Festival (2010)^[20]
• 2010 Motherland (film) | Best Board of directors award for Documentary Pan-African Film Festival (2010)^[21]
• 2007 500 Years Later | Winner, UNESCO/Zanzibar International Film Festival, "Breaking the Chains" award
• 2007 500 Years Later | Nominated, FESPACO, Paul Robeson award "Best of the Diaspora"
• 2007 Our Story Our Voice | Nominated, PAFF, Best Documentary
• 2005 500 Years Later | Winner, Pan-African Film Festival, Best Documentary PAFF
• 2005 500 Years Later | Winner, Bridgetown Film Festival, Best Documentary
• 2005 500 Years Later | Winner, Berlin Black Film Festival, Best Film
• 2005 500 Years Later | Winner, Harlem International Film Festival, Best International Documentary

Views on African Cinema

Shahadah sees film as an instrument of mass persuasion, which has been traditionally used to foster a negative image of African people globally, he therefore believes film is one of the most potent weapons to re-image African and solidify a Pan-African identity. Owen Shahadah is a critic of Nollywood and popular “African American cinema” which he believes cheapens the perception of African culture; “it re-emphasizes, by imitation, a culturally shallow notion of African people, it serves more for the entertainment of Europeans than anything else.” But he praised Nollywood for its economic impact and for offering an alternative African selection. "Economically Nollywood is a blessing but it must learn to be loyal to the art of the film industry and not capitalism."

Music career

Producers and pianist in the Jazz-Fusion band Ocacia, who have performed at numerous international jazz festivals, including the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival in 2000. The band has also played at many of the key London Jazz venues including Ronnie Scotts and WKD. As a composer, Shahadah has written over 400 songs including the hit Tear for the World and If I… (co-written by Sona Jobarteh).^[22] Shahadah also wrote the opening theme for 500 Years Later with African percussionist Mamedi Kamara.

Shahadah is involved in Pan-African and development and in the early to late 90’s trained and invested in renowned Tanzanian music producer Joachim Kimaryo of MJ Records. Shahadah and Kimaryo continued to exchange and develop what has today has blossomed into the largest urban music industry in Tanzania.

Interviews

• BBC radio Debate "Racism against Africa"
• Rice N Peas Interview
• SABC Morning Show
• Deconstructing the hurt

Notes

1. ^ 500 Years Later
2. ^ Motherland Film
3. ^ ^{a b} The Removal of Agency from Africa by Owen 'Alik Shahadah
4. ^ ^{a b} Education
5. ^ Google Rank of Arab Slave Trade
6. ^ [www.imdb.com/name/nm1823281/ IMDB Personal]
7. ^ http://newzimsituation.com/europe-africa-s-alpha-and-omega--19753.htm
8. ^ new reality.htm "Language and reality". Owen Alik Shahadah , African Holocaust Society. http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/language new reality.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-04. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ "Pambazuka Online". Pambazuka. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/42249. 
10. ^ "African Executive "The Politics of White Africans"". African Executive. http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=5333&magazine=292. 
11. ^ http://allafrica.com/stories/200706290757.html All Africa article
12. ^ "African Executive". African Executive. http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=4741. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
13. ^ Linguistics for a new African reality by Owen 'Alik Shahadah, first published at the Cheikh Anta Diop conference in 2005
14. ^ Arab Slave Trade
15. ^ Cultural Footprint of Africa by Owen 'Alik Shahadah, December 2007
16. ^ UNESCO AWARD
17. ^ "Split positioning 5.1". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1823281/. Retrieved 2010-01-04. 
18. ^ "The Removal of Agency from Africa". Owen Alik Shahadah , African Holocaust Society. http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/agencyandafrica.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
19. ^ [http://www.ama-awards.com/amaa-nominations-2011 AMMA Nominates Motherland by Owen 'Alik Shahadah
20. ^ Motherland wins Best Documentary at ZIFF 2010
21. ^ Motherland wins at PAFF 2010
22. ^ Soundtrack Listing by IMDB

Links

• Owen 'Alik Shahadah
• Owen 'Alik Shahadah at the Internet Movie Database
• What is the Idea
• 500 Years Later Film site
• British Films Catalog entry for 500 Years Later
• Owen Alik Shahadah's Photo site

Persondata
Name	Shahadah, Owen Alik
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1973
Place of birth	Hanover, Germany
Date of death
Place of death