Have You Heard From Johannesburg

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Location(s)

Director Connie Field in person

Story Seven: Free At Last [1979 - 1990]

Have You Heard From Johannesburg is seven documentary stories, produced and directed by Connie Field, chronicling the history of the global anti-apartheid movement that took on South Africa’s entrenched apartheid regime and its international supporters who considered South Africa an ally in the Cold War. The first six stories were screened weekly in September and October at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia.

In the seventh and final story, Free At Last, screening at the International House on 11/16, South Africans tell the story of the most important effort in the anti-apartheid campaign of the 80’s: the alliance that brought together freedom fighters in South Africa as never before. A mass movement gains unprecedented momentum when three generations of resistance fighters band together as The United Democratic Front (UDF). Faced with growing international isolation, the apartheid government tries to win allies and convince the world of the merit of its piecemeal reforms even as it struggles to suppress open revolt, at times using savage secret tactics. The UDF protests climax in a fierce campaign of defiance, and internationally, Nelson Mandela becomes a household name as the campaign to free him ignites a worldwide crusade. Caught between an unstoppable internal mass movement and ongoing international pressure, the apartheid regime is finally forced to the negotiating table and at last lifts the decades-long bans on the ANC. PLEASE NOTE: Before the screening, director Connie Field will teach a Master Class at Scribe Video Center, Have You Heard from Johannesburg – A Case Study, from 5PM-7PM. Persons who register for the Master Class can attend the screening that evening at International House for free. READ MORE.

Connie Field has worked on numerous dramatic and documentary films as well as independently producing her own work. Her feature documentary, Freedom on My Mind (1994) is a history of the civil rights movement in Mississippi. It was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, among many other awards. It was broadcast on The American Experience. She was a co-director on Forever Activists (1990 Academy Award Nominee, produced & directed by Judy Montell), and she produced, directed and edited the feature documentary The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (1981). Rosie earned fifteen international awards for Best Documentary and is listed in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Her documentary, ¡Salud! (2007) on Cuba’s role in the struggle for global health equity won the Audience Award at the Pan African Film Festival. She is a recipient of the John Grierson Award as most outstanding social documentarian, and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. http://www.clarityfilms.org/

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Producers’ Forums are supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Independence Foundation.