Diaspora Diaries

As part of the Njoya Foundation’s series of events during Black History Month in October, they hosted the screening of young up and coming director, Beyonder’s Diaspora Diaries at the Wimbledon Film Club in south London. The film was the first for Beyonder although it will definitely not be the last as the audience was also treated to some spoken poetry by the director as well as a second short-film telling the story of the world’s reliance on the digital domain. This second short film was an excellent prelude to the main showing of Diaspora Diaries.

According to Beyonder, this film started out as a vox pop project for the Africa 05 (season of arts and African culture) turned into an hour long examination of what it is to be in the African Diaspora. It was absolutely riveting to watch, not least because as an African living in the Diaspora myself, I felt an instant connection with the stories and experiences being shared. Stories about what it is to move to Europe as a child and be confronted with a culture that is alien to you. Stories about being bilingual, about trying to embrace pop culture while struggling not to hate who you are and where you came from. Stories about becoming distant from ‘home’, about being set aside as different by your own family members and eventually recognising who you are and finding a place for yourself in the world you have chosen, or that your parents choose for you.

People from Rwanda, Madagascar, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Congo, Brazil, each telling their own story, none of them unique, but all different at the same time. In this film Beyonder takes great care to make sure you hear the voices of each person, some have a factual perspective, some have an emotional perspective and others, such as Mr Derek Reece from Barbados combine facts, emotion and comedy in a uniquely Caribbean way. What resonates with you is the fact that you hear their voices, their English accents, their French rolls, their African lilts, the Caribbean twang and other accents that themselves tell a story about an international lifestyle.

This film deals with all the subtle things that people forget about 1st and 2nd generation Africans living away from home; we didn’t all necessarily run from war, we didn’t all necessarily run from poverty, we are educated, driven, ambitious and funny and once in a while it’s nice to hear what we have to say above and beyond the images of war and destitution in Africa on our TVs and the ghetto stereotypes perpetuated across the Diaspora.

Beyonder’s narrative through the film was distinctive; he has one of those voices you don’t mistake for anyone else. As the child of Ghanaian parents, this was his story as well. But it showed a lot of skill that he was able to run interviews with people that provided such a wealth of information and insight without following what must have been a strong temptation to be very political about the negative experiences people have surely had.

The Wimbledon Film Club was an excellent venue to show the film. It made me proud to know that the regulars there (predominantly white and English) not only saw something which was representative of the passion and skill which we as a community do not often get to demonstrate at a grass roots level, but also that in the film, they were exposed to proud Africans who knew their history and were educated and eloquent.

Diaspora Diaries is one of those amazing works that you wish you knew about before. One of those you want to be the first to tell your friends about. It doesn’t have that overly shiny, big budget production packaging, but that just adds to its character. This film is about a project, a passion project that leads to discoveries and affirmations and it is an important work. Sometimes we need other people to record our voices so that we can look back and remember what we said and how we felt. Diaspora Diaries is exactly that kind of record and I for one hope it grows in popularity and exposure. This young director is clearly one to watch out for in the future; Diaspora Diaries was clearly the work of an individual with a talent for examination and story-telling which time and experience will surely grow.