Maangamizi: The ancient one goes digital after 20yrs

As part of 20 years anniversary celebrations since its release, the Tanzanian film ‘Maangamizi; the ancient’ is now available in all digital platforms and movie shops in most of the streets in Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Coastal Region.
The story of three women - a doctor, her patient, and the mysterious ancestor who unites them, displays a powerful meditation on the toll of displaced history and an essential work of Tanzanian cinema.
Inside ‘Maangamizi: The Ancient one’ an African- American female doctor, Asira comes to work in Tanzania at a hospital for the mentally disturbed, with her Tanzanian lover.
There, she meets a sometimes catatonic patient, Samehe, who seems to be in communication with another reality. In their confrontation with their individual and collective pasts, Dr Asira and Samehe are bound by fears and half remembered images of unbearable pain.
Only through the spirit of Maangamizi, can the women resume their lives with an understanding of the ancestors and their eternal presence in a world of cruelty, hatred and death.
“It is a story that seeks to reclaim the connection between Africa and her Diaspora, and one that dares to represent the history of two continents as it peels away layers upon layers of pain to bring healing of the soul,” says Professor Martin Mhando, co-director of the film.
The film was released 20 years ago, in February 2001 and in the same year, Maangamizi: The Ancient One was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film at Oscars.
It also won the Golden Dhow Award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) in 1998.

Maangamizi: The Ancient One will be screened Saturday  in Bagamoyo on November 20, 2021 as part of ZIFF goes Mainland  European Union Film Festival program.