PROMO COVER TEXT

A New Look at South Africa Through the Eyes of Five Los Angeles Youth
USA ,1994, 16mm, color, 6o minutes
Distributor: New Day Films 1-800-343-5540

In the late 1980’s, the eyes of the world were on South Africa. An emerging nation, facing enormous challenges, South Africa has the potential to teach us all. Many who monitor South Africa do not immediately look to its young people. Yet South Africa’s youth have been the driving force for change, leading the fight against apartheid and attracting world attention for their heroic resistance.

YOUTH IN THE UNITED STATES, though they face different socio-political problems, are waging similar battles against drugs, racism, poverty, and violence.

UNCOMMON GROUND is a film that explores the critical voice of youth across two different and complex cultures: South Africa and the United States. The film looks at young people coming of age in two different areas of the world, and the mutual discovery that takes place as they come together to raise consciousness, share real life traumas, and reaffirm their humanity.

SERENA, YOANN, KAMAU, CHRISTA, and MARTIN are five multi-ethnic Los Angeles high school students who travel together to South Africa to meet and live with five South African students during the summer of 1991, just after the release of Nelson Mandela. The film chronicles their journey, both geographical and personal, into a world of separatism, contradiction,
and unexpected beauty. In a South Africa under transition, the shifting ground between race, culture and identity is exposed in unique and unexpected ways, made even more immediate by the video footage (interspersed in the film) that the students shoot themselves.

UNCOMMON GROUND is not about political victims or the tragedy of apartheid. It is about the hope and persistent dreams of youth, faced with the challenges of a new South Africa. It is as much a film about how we “re-member” ourselves through cultural difference, as it is about young people empowering each other through a common interest in questioning the world they live in.

Amie Williams, Producer/Director Marco Williams, Co-Producer
USA ,1994, 16mm, color, 6o minutes