The Have You Heard From Johannesburg Series

The Have You Heard From Johannesburg series is produced and directed by acclaimed American filmmaker Connie Field, whose previous work includes the multi-award winning The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter and the Academy Award®-nominated Freedom On My Mind. The series is the first attempt in any medium to pull together the many threads of global anti-apartheid action that formed the international movement. Ten years in the making and with interviews that span 12 countries and three decades, the dramatic series will be broadcast around the world in 2010 and will form the basis of a global campaign Field hopes will inspire audiences to think about the legacies of the movement today.

Have You Heard From Johannesburg begins with the story of freedom fighters in South Africa who are systemically killed, jailed or exiled for resisting their political oppression. Embattled South Africans call on the global community to take action, laying the groundwork for a decades-long international campaign. People around the world take up the anti-apartheid cause, challenging their governments, powerful corporations and other institutions to face up to the immorality of their collaboration with apartheid.

The Stories

Road to Resistance: As the U.N. adopts the Declaration of Human Rights, South Africa heads in the opposite direction and implements apartheid. A mass movement is born, then crushed, and Nelson Mandela is jailed for life.

Hell of a Job: The future of the movement is on the shoulders of Oliver Tambo, who escapes into exile and begins a 30-year journey to engage the world in the struggle to bring democracy to South Africa.

The New Generation: Youth in South Africa and around the world are next to join the growing movement against apartheid, and the brutal suppression of a youth uprising in Soweto galvanizes public support for sanctions against South Africa.

Fair Play: Athletes and activists around the world hit white South Africa where it hurts: on the playing field. The sports boycott pushes apartheid South Africa out of international sporting competitions, isolating it in an area of passionate importance.

From Selma to Soweto: African Americans alter U.S. foreign policy for the first time in history, successfully pressuring the U.S. to impose sanctions and politically isolate Pretoria.

The Bottom Line: International grassroots campaigns against Polaroid, Shell, Barclay’s, General Motors and others doing business in South Africa economically isolate the apartheid regime and become the first successful effort to use economic pressure to help bring down a government.

Free At Last: An uprising in South Africa becomes the final blow in the cumulative world effort to topple apartheid. Nelson Mandela becomes a household name as the campaign to free him ignites a worldwide crusade.

Visit the filmmaker’s webpage for trailers and full descriptions of the episodes.

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