Date Published: 05/09/11
In America: The Story of the Soul Sisters wins big at the 2011 African Movie Academy Award (AMAA) "Best Film by An African Abroad"
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Jimmy and Rahman |
Boston, MA - What makes an African immigrant in the United States lament that “in the past they were forcing us into slavery, but today we’re voluntarily selling ourselves into it”? This is a question posed by Sade George, a Nigerian immigrant in Boston Massachusetts, in Rahman Oladigbolu’s first feature narrative IN AMERICA: THE STORY OF THE SOUL SISTERS, the winner of the "Best Film by an African Abroad" at the just concluded 2011 African Movie Academy Award.
IN AMERICA, starring Jimmy Jean-Louis, famous for “Phat Girlz” and “Heroes”, tells the story of the inspiring friendship between two young women, Sade George and Sonya Muhammad. Sade, a Nigerian medical student seeking better professional opportunity in the United States finds herself caught up in the American immigration war. With the political heat mounting on illegal immigrants, she faces a dilemma: she either continues to live on the fringes of the society, where there's no hope for her career goal, or give up all hope on the American dream. Sonya, a young African American puts her life on hold to restore the glory of her parents’ estranged marriage. After years of painful sacrifice, and amid the storm of her adolescent crises, she has to make a last shot for their reconciliation, or give up forever on her parents as she goes away to college. What happens when the lives of these two young women cross? The result is a soul-touching friendship that tests the limits of political laws and redefines human dedication.
"It feels great to win the award, I must confess,"Rahman says about the award, "But I see the award more as a challenge to carry the Nigerian/African in me to a greater cinematic heights in the world." In the on-going evolution of global economy and culture, people of African descents have a lot to prove and contribute, and Rahman insists that “we're not letting others do it for us.” With IN AMERICA, he intends to be a voice that tells the African immigrant story, and of reconciliation in the complex relationship between African immigrants and African-Americans. “In America is a movie that speaks to two worlds at the same time: Africa and America”, says Rudolf Okonkwo, a New York based syndicated columnist and an actor in the movie, “and it does this by unfolding the iconic experience of a Nigerian immigrant, a character that all African immigrants in the United States easily recognize.”
The movie just screened officially at the Cannes Pan African Film Festival, France, and the movie has also been featured at many festivals across the United States, Canada, Europe and Africa, and has won accolades and awards, among which is “2010 Best Emerging Filmmaker” at the Roxbury International Film Festival. IN AMERICA is coming to cinemas across Nigeria and Ghana in July 2011.
WHAT: IN AMERICA: THE STORY OF THE SOUL SISTERS , staring Jimmy Jean-Louis of Heroes and Phat Girlz, wins the 2011African Movie Academy Award (AMAA) and is coming soon to cinemas in Nigeria and Ghana.
When: July, 2011
Where: All Silverbird, Genesis, Ozone, and other cinemas located across Nigeria and Accra.
For more information on IN AMERICA and to watch trailer, please visit the film’s official website, http://soulsistersthemovie.com/.
For interview opportunities please contact:
Rudolf Okonkwo
Phone: (617) 697-1733
Email: rudolfokonkwo@aol.com |
