Zajota and the boogie spirit

Duration: 20

Year Published: 1989

Creator: Filmakers Library inc.

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: Incorporates African rhythms and dance in recapitulating the saga of Black people from their African origins to their present life in America., An innovative mix of film, video, and computer graphics enhances this animated African American contemporary folktale that recapitulates the saga of the Zajota people from their ancestral home in Africa to their tragic exile in America. The Zajota were the first people in Africa where the Boogie Spirit resided for thousands of years and was celebrated in dance gatherings. With the arrival of the slave traders, the world was turned upside down; no one paid homage to the Boogie Spirit. Forever imprinted on the face of the moon, the Boogie Spirit watched as the Zajota were imprisoned in forts and loaded onto ships. The spirit witnessed the dispersal of her people, their Language , beliefs, and customs denied, until four old women looked to the sky and the power of memory returned. The Zajota in the U.S., the Caribbean and South America began to dance and re-establish the elements of their identity. Though granted freedom through the Civil War, they continued to fight for freedom through Reconstruction, the northern migration and the Civil Rights Movement. From the lunar orb, the Boogie Spirit monitors the actions of her far-flung people and lends her force to contemporary modes of expression.