Foreign Policy Blogs

Airing tonight: “Mugabe and the White African”

Airing tonight as part of the POV series on PBS is the stirring documentary film “Mugabe and the White African.” The film follows the story of Michael Campbell, one of the few White farmers to stay in Zimbabwe following the introduction of Robert Mugabe’s controversial Land Reform program in 2000. Fed up with intimidation and the brutality around them, Campbell and his family took Mugabe before the Southern African Development Community Tribunal to challenge the discriminatory effects and human rights abuses that have become synonymous with the Land Reform policy and Mugabe’s rule of Zimbabwe.

Most of the film was shot covertly over the course of a year as open filming would have put its participants in grave danger. Nonetheless the film received numerous awards on the film festival circuit and was shortlisted for the 2010 Academy Awards. Tonight marks the film’s television debut in the US and is definitely worth tuning in for.

Check here for local listing.

 

Author

Kimberly J. Curtis

Kimberly Curtis has a Master's degree in International Affairs and a Juris Doctor from American University in Washington, DC. She is a co-founder of The Women's Empowerment Institute of Cameroon and has worked for human rights organizations in Rwanda and the United States. You can follow her on Twitter at @curtiskj

Areas of Focus: Transitional justice; Women's rights; Africa