Sorious Samura Collection - Powerful human stories from Africa
2000-6
Ref: 0509
Sorious Samura shocked the world and changed his country's destiny with
his award winning film "Cry Freetown" (Emmy & Bafta awards). We can offer
you his full collection of powerful award-winning films. You are able
to view short excerpts of some of the films OnLine.
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Living with Illegals
52-mins, 2006
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In "Living with Illegals", award-winning journalist Sorious Samura becomes an illegal immigrant. His journey is epic as he travels from Morocco into Europe through Spain and France, finally crossing the English Channel to Britain. Samura wants to understand the reality of being an illegal immigrant, so he lives in the exact same conditions and experiences the same gruelling hardships as his companions.
The story begins in Northern Morocco, where hundreds of illegal immigrants live in forests waiting for their chance to break into the enclave of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Africa. For them, Europe means work: "I am ready to do any kind of job. If I have to I'll wash the toilets, bathrooms or train stations and I'll be very happy. Forget I am a graduate".
All that separates them from Ceuta and Europe is a 50 km, 6 m fence, around which they camp. Huddled together in cold, flimsy tents and hounded by daily police raids, the immigrants struggle to survive with no food, money or peace of mind, but their determination to reach the promised land is unyielding.
Samura meets Gus and Theo who have decided to swim around the fence and thus into Europe, an extremely dangerous method of entry which many have paid for with their lives. The next day news arrives that only Theo made it to other side. Gus was captured. Samura leaves the Moroccan forest and meets with Theo in Ceuta. Together they try to earn some money parking cars. Samura soon discovers a derelict factory known as the "Longhouse" where those on the run from immigration authorities live. The conditions are horrifying. For these people, the dream of Europe has already turned into a nightmare.
Samura travels through several cities of mainland Spain where he begs, sleeps rough, performs odd jobs and learns inside tricks to survive as an immigrant. He encounters Thommy, a stranger of amazing generosity, who helps him raise money to continue his journey. He also meets people who try to con him out of his earnings. The world of the newly arrived immigrant, Samura soon learns, has at least as many pitfalls as ladders.
Through a "connection man", Samura crosses the Spanish/ French border, and onwards by train he reaches Calais. This is the hub for all immigrants trying to enter the UK. Samura is surprised to find living conditions and scenes of desperation as bad as those in Morocco. Arick, a Sudanese immigrant, explains: "Every second, every minute I am trying to get to England. At least in London they treat you like a human being". That night, Samura and Arick break into a lorry heading for the UK. Once inside they must stay completely still, but after an hour of waiting they are caught and arrested.
In the end, through astonishing circumstances, both Sorious and Arick do reach their final destination. It has been an incredible journey, but was all the suffering really worth it?
'Living with Illegals' is one of this year's most extraordinary documentaries. Offering unprecedented access and unique insights into the world of African illegal immigration, it raises important questions about the rights of individuals to seek a better life free of poverty and war.
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Living with AIDS
52-mins, 2005
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In the third of the 'Living with' series, Sorious Samura works as an orderly in hospital in Zambia, where the majority of the patients are HIV positive. Confronted daily with death, he describes his workplace as being like a frontline in a war zone. The staff work under horrendous conditions where protective gloves are a luxury and shrouds for the dead are stained with the blood of previous corpses.
In this film, Samura exposes the untold story of AIDS - how poverty and the complex nature of African culture and sexuality are hampering efforts to eradicate this horrifying disease.
He meets characters like Joshua and Lawson who continue to practice unprotected sex despite their HIV positive status, and Precious and Nancy, AIDS orphans who fend for themselves in a world where sex "flesh to flesh" pays well and offers an easy short term solution.
Samura also meets heroines such as Bitonda, who at sixteen is in sole charge of her dying 14 year old brother, an AIDS orphaned cousin as well as her own child.
After one month, Samura is left with the realisation that for the war against HIV in Africa to be won, poverty, ignorance and African sexual attitudes have to be tackled head on.
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Living with Refugees
52-mins, 2004
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Award-winning journalist Sorious Samura is increasingly gaining a reputation
for a new kind of journalism which not many others can do. It's 'real'
reality TV – stories that offer a unique perspective into the lives of
people facing terrible situations. On this journey he set out to become,
for all intents and purposes, a refugee. He traveled to Chad to live with
a family in a refugee camp for one month. He lived under exactly the same
conditions, eating what they ate, drinking what they drank. Sorious built
close intimate relationships with the people in this situation sharing
their hopes and fears. This film provides a unique insight into what life
is really like for a refugee. Adam has 2 wives, 8 children, no money and
all his friends have been murdered. Sorious meets Adam at the Chad/Sudan
border where he has been living on handouts - but he's outstayed his welcome.
Even though he doesn't know how far it is, he's heading for a UN refugee
camp further to the west in Chad. He agrees Sorious can follow his family
on this journey. "You have come all this way to tell our story, you are
our brother." Never before has someone filmed an exodus of people in this
way. As the journey progresses more refugees join the group – there's
safety in numbers. Sorious is exhausted and cannot keep up. He follows
their methods of survival, digging dry riverbeds for water and eating
only once. Sorious speaks to Adam about what happened in Darfur, he breaks
down "Please don't make me remember what happened, it's just too much."
After an epic 3 day journey the family finally reaches the camp, however
it isn't what they were expecting. With no food or shelter they are forced
to fend for themselves. Staggeringly, even amongst this group of desperate
people, Sorious learns there are the "haves" and "have nots". The only
aid and assistance they receive comes from other refugees. We follow the
family as they try to make some sort of home for themselves. Fatima, Adam
and their six kids sleep under a small piece of tarpaulin. Fatima, Adams's
wife, is a strong, elegant, tough woman who is holding the family together.
For Adam, although tough and resolute, the situation is almost too much
to bear: "There's no respect for us in our own country and here they treat
us like animals." For Sorious, the time he is spending in the camp is
starting to have an effect: "Refugee – I hate the word. I hate the word
now more than ever because it robs a man of his identity his status his
respect – everything." As we see with Adam and his family the bureaucracy
of the aid business sometimes leaves those most vulnerable behind. The
UNHCR tell Sorious that "The situation here is a mess." As the film draws
to a close Sorious points out that, yet again, situations like this are
a damming indictment on all of us. "Too often, too little is done too
late." Through Sorious video diaries and the filming of the crew who shadowed
him throughout his experiences with Adam and his family we see the life
of a refugee as it's never been seen before. It's a first, an exclusive
and a must-see film for anyone wishing to truly understand what it is
like to be a refugee. Undoubtedly this is one of the most important documentaries
of the year.
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Living with Hunger
52-mins, 2004
Ref: 503
Watch Video
In an unprecedented mission, Sorious Samura set out to understand the
real stories of people living on the edge of starvation. He moved into
a remote village in Ethiopia far away from the range of the UN and most
NGO's. Between August and September Sorious lived in a hut and survived
on the same meagre diet as the rest of the villagers. As he arrived in
the village Sorious got an unpleasant surprise. The villagers made it
clear he was not welcome. 'They think you are the Devil' he is told. In
the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition the devil indeed is usually depicted
as a very black being, blacker than most villagers. It takes Sorious much
persuasion to convince the villagers that he will not eat their babies
and hasn't come to rape their wives. Very soon Sorious settles into the
routine of the village. He is amazed and exhausted by the hard work he
must do to keep up with the villagers as they climb steep slopes to plough
and till their fields every day. Despite the weather failing them on so
many previous occasions the villagers always have hope that their next
harvest will bring the food they so desperately need. There is food aid,
but never enough. Sorious is living with a family where the meagre supplies
supposed to last for two months have run out in two weeks. Now Mum and
Dad, five children and Sorious must survive on a local weed called wild
cabbage. A grown man would need to eat a room full of wild cabbage to
satisfy a day's nutritional requirement, but the plant, even though it
makes the villagers sick, fills stomachs and at least gives the sense
of food. Sorious has made friends with the deacons. Young boys who receive
religious education but must beg for their school fees and for the food
that they eat. Together they travel to other remote villages and eventually
to the town of Lalibela to beg or to find work if they can. It is an awful
journey, which brings us painfully close to the real lives of the poor.
Away from the headline making famine, award-winning filmmaker Sorious
Samura discovers that the daily reality for more than 40 million Africans
is a diet ranging from nothing to a handful of weeds. In his unique style
of filmmaking he questions how we can expect Africa to develop when so
many Africans are engaged in a daily struggle to survive. |
Cry Freetown
52-mins, 1999
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Sorious Samura's "Cry Freetown" has become a phenomenon. A brutal portrayal of what happened in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone in January 1999, the film has succeeded in making the horror of this country's civil war a matter of international outrage. Sorious Samura shot the film at great risk for his own life, keenly aware of the fact that the strong images he recorded were the only thing that could shake the world from its indifference to the plight of his countrymen, women and children.
If you want to make a difference in Sierra Leone, this web site provides you with all you need to start. It gives you an overview of the history and current situation in Sierra Leone and, should you wish to take action, it helps you to focus your efforts towards the areas that will make the greatest impact.
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Return to Freetown
52-mins, 2001
Ref: 512
Watch Video
Sorious Samura shocked the world and changed his country's destiny with his award winning film "Cry Freetown" (Emmy & Bafta awards). Now Samura returns to Sierra Leone to show how a rebel leader, driven by greed for diamonds and power, turned thousands of abducted children into killers.
Samura finds three children in rebel controlled Makene. For the two boys, Sasko and Tamba, and the girl, Mariama, their years of enforced support for the rebels are over but now Samura takes them on a troubled journey back to the families they were taken from.
On their way home they share their experiences with Samura and through their stories we discover the scale of abuse that thousands of children in Sierra Leone have suffered in the last ten years of war.
This film shows the role that children have played in Sierra Leone's recent history, not just as soldiers during the fighting, but as the victims of injustice whose frustrations sparked off one of Africa's most brutal civil wars.
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Exodus
52-mins, 2000
Ref: 504
Watch Video
Sorious Samura follows migrants from West African countries as they set out to breach the walls of Fortress Europe. They face death in a desert journey across the Sahara, before an equally hazardous voyage across the sea to Spain. The refugees willingly risk death to build a new future for themselves, because they don't see one in Africa. Sorious attempts to understand why they feel there is no hope for them in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria. He asks why they think Europe, if they survive their perilous journey, will have more to offer them.
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