Police brutality. Anti Blackness. Being South African in America. Immigration. Racial injustice. Being African-American in America. Living your dreams despite many obstacles.
African America explores these topics and many more when Nompumelelo, the lead character, escapes to America from Johannesburg, South Africa to live her childhood dream of starring on Broadway in New York City.
However Nompumelelo soon realizes that all that glitters isn’t gold and the American dream that she seeks may not apply to African-Americans or Africans in America.
Upon discovering her acceptance into Julliard, Nompumelelo, a cynical South African, embezzles funds from her workplace and abandons her fiancé to live out her Broadway dream in New York City only to discover that 2017 U.S.A. is not as welcoming as she had dreamed. There she learns about true love, true happiness, and true citizenship.
“MVP Productions and Azuspeak Productions are very excited that our little film that could finds itself on a huge international platform. We hope that a big brand like Netflix will help African America find itself an audience keen on a transnational tale of self-determination, socio-political commentary, and black girl magic.”—Muzi Mthembu, Writer and Director of African America; Phumelele “Phumi” Mthembu, Lead Actress, Co-Writer, and Producer of African America; and Avril Z. Speaks, Producer of African America.
“My film asks the question, where do we go with our dreams, and this is particularly poignant to ask given the year that we have all just left behind, a year beset by a pandemic that has devastated the medical and economic wellbeing of many, but more tragically to communities of colour around the world. We see our leaders exploiting the pandemic to corrupt ends; and we have also seen the gross racial injustices that plague the diaspora living in the world’s most affluent and prosperous country on the planet. As a black man living in today’s times, I have found myself ever more frequently asking myself what do I do with my dreams now?”– Muzi Mthembu, Writer & Director of African America.
African America had its world festival premiere at the 2021 Pan African Film & Arts Festival that took place February 28, 2021-March 14, 2021, and will now have its worldwide exclusive streaming premiere on Netflix on Friday, July 23, 2021.
African America is directed by Muzi Mthembu and stars Phumelele “Phumi” Mthembu and Anthony Goss.
