$5 Movie Night at Sankofa / Through the Door of No Return

About Through the Door of No Return

In a personal quest, filmmaker Shirikiana Aina made this documentary capturing her efforts to learn more about her father, who died when she was a child. A Michigan man descended from slaves, he was labeled a radical by the FBI. Aina traveled to Ghana, documenting an oral history of slavery in Elmina, a port where Africans were warehoused before shipping to the New World

About Shirikiana Aina 

After obtaining her B.A. in Film from Howard University, she earned an M.A. in African Film Studies from UCLA in 1982.

That same year, she directed the documentary Brick By Brick, a rare look at the issues of displacement and urban gentrification in the poor, black neighborhoods of Washington, D.C.

Later, she co-produced Sankofa (1993), directed by her husband, Haile Gerima, which received critical praise and prizes for its representation of the horrors of slavery in the West Indies and the pursuit of freedom. Her latest work includes Through the Door of No Return (1997), which documents Aina’s journey to Ghana and the experience of her ancestors. This feature was shown at the Toronto Film Festival in 1997. She has also worked as a cinematographer for various documentaries such as Politics of African Cinema and On Becoming a Woman.

In 1984, Aina and her husband established Mypheduh Films, Inc., a distribution company for low-budget, independent, African and African American films. She is also a founder of Positive Productions, Inc., a non-profit film company. Aina has taught courses at her alma mater in scriptwriting and film production.