Director
Kenneth Gyang
Development support
From the suburbs of Lagos, Accra, Cairo, Nairobi and Johannesburg, 5 African youths undertake a visual odyssey of the 13 Nobel prize laureates Africa has produced from 1960 to 2010. They relive the quest for a safe and peaceful world in a creative juxtaposition between merit, excellence and diverse continental and global realities.
What answers, lessons and inspirations do their experiences offer to today's questions regarding peace, safety and cohesion? How much relevance do they infuse into holistic global creative experiences?
Long Synopsis
South African Zulu chief Albert Luthuli, won the Nobel prize for peace in 1960. From then till date, twelve other eminent Africans have won the coveted global prize for merit and excellence. From Anwar Sadat in Egypt who won for peace to Desmond Tutu and back to an Egyptian as recent as 2005, Ahmed Elbaradei.
Five young Africans retell the story of the laureates, offering fresh and in-depth perspective into their experiences drawing contemporary images and lessons. The film provides a vivid pictorial juxtaposition between merit and contemporary global quest for peace, safety and cutting edge creativity.
The oeuvre and writing dexterity of Wole Soyinka, Moufouz Naguib, Nadine Gordimer and JM Coetzee greatly and creatively enhanced the literature of the world and offers a profound insight into diverse contemporary themes. The principle and value of selflessness, equity, justice, pursuit for peace and human rights were obvious in the ideas of Nelson Mandela, FW De Klerk, Desmond Tutu, Anwar Sadat, Kofi Annan and Ahmed Elbaradei. They all stood for non-violence, disarmament, anti terrorism and peaceful co-habitation as a global dictum among divides for all people.
Wangari Maathai projected a unique angle to peace through promotion of tranquil environment, democracy and sustainable development. The narrators employ gritty wit and subtle cynicism as they journey across African cities, slums and suburbs to the boardrooms and streets of Europe. They get under the skin of the subject and characters as they pitch relevant scenarios against the back drop of tropical issues.
They also creatively re-enact the achievement of the laureates first from the contemporary worldview of ordinary African people whose candid opinion about the prize to audiences in African societies range from apathy to mere personal celebration and self-actualization rather than holistic societal impact.
Laureates is a cutting edge documentary that features interviews with laureates, their environment , their subjects, their humble beginnings, their challenges and issues of global relationships. What answers, lessons and inspirations do their experiences offer to today’s question regarding peace, safety and cohesion?