Stories from Around the World: My International Film Festival Experience- Haderah Phillips (Attending cultural festivals or celebrations: 2 points)

  I attended the Spelman International Film Festival at the Center of Innovation & Arts Black Box Theater, where I watched Mississippi Masala. The film tells a powerful story about migration, family, and identity. One key point the film raised was the idea of forced migration. In the movie, Jay, a newspaper journalist, is expelled from Uganda and his family and him must leave their home in Kampala. His close friend Okelo, an Ugandan man stays behind. Jay and his family are forced to move to Mississippi and start over. This point is very important because it shows how quickly people can lose their homes due to political decisions. Migration is not always a choice. Sometimes families are pushed out and must rebuild their lives in new and unfamiliar places.

Another important point was the relationship between Black and Indian communities. In the film, Mina, Jay’s daughter, falls in love with Demetrius, a Black man from Mississippi. Their relationship shows the tension between different communities when neither Mina nor Demetruis family approved of their relationship. I found this important because it shows how race, culture, and family expectations can shape a person’s life.

The topic I found most interesting was when Mina mentioned in the film that the British colonial government brought over a lot of Indians to East Africa to build the Uganda Railway in the late 1890s. I found this interesting because it explains how Indian communities first settled in East Africa. It shows how colonial powers moved groups of people to benefit their empire. 

-Haderah Phillips