500 Years Later (Documentary)

independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah, written by M. K. Asante, Jr. released in 2005. It won five international film festival awards (including UNESCO 'Breaking the Chains Award'[1]) in the category of Best Documentary. 500 Years Later has received praise as well as controversy, both for the genre of the film (creative documentary), and the social-political impact of the film as it relates to race study. The film opened on February 28, 2005, at the Pan-African Awards (PAFF) and won Best Documentary at its premiere. The film made its American television premiere on August 23, 2008 on TV One (Radio One), and Ethiopian Television premiere on October 27, 2007, and Bounce TV February 08,2012. In 2010, the sequel Motherland was released. Read more




SLAVERY- 500 Years Later The film is a compelling compilation of testimonies, voices and opinions gathered around five continents The centrepiece of the event is the screening of a newly released DVD on the African slavery trade, the shameful human trade officially abolished in 1772 in the UK and its empire. Winner already of the best documentary prize at the Pan-African film festival and Bridgetown film festival and with testimonies ranging among others, from Dr M. Karenga, Amira Baraka, Desmond Tutu, Dr Helena Woodward, Shaykh Muhammad Shareef and Trevor Marshall. The film, is a compelling compilation of testimonies, voices and opinions gathered around five continents and more than 20 countries on the subject. 'We went to universities as well as into the neighbourhoods to talk to the common folk, says Asante Jr, the talented scriptwriter and poet, who was a first year media graduate at the time when he started working on the project. --cenuk

Owen Alik Shahadah is most know 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 4 international awards including; 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. In October of 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." Owen 'Alik Shahadah is also a social-historical writer who writes on the subjects such as African Kingdoms, humanity, linguistics and the Arab, African and European slave systems.