The Filmmakers’ statement
This is a film about ghosts. Ghosts of the past that even while they slumbered have continued to influence our present. Ghosts that appear on the verge of re-awakening. We must face these ghosts now if we don’t want them to determine our future.
For over 20 years I have made films about empire and colonialism (specifically British). In the past, it was important to reveal the workings of imperialism to understand how we reached the present. But although these films had impact, I never really felt I put my finger on the problem.
Now a younger generation is maturing which sees colonialism anew – as an insidious and pervasive presence in our world, both within European societies and globally. History is important, but the future is even more important…
ROB LEMKIN

Rob Lemkin, Writer and Director
Rob Lemkin has produced and directed over 50 documentaries for BBC, C4 and other broadcasters in UK and US. His last feature film, ‘Enemies of the People’ (2010) was a ground-breaking account of the Killing Fields of Cambodia which he wrote, directed, photographed and produced. One of the most lauded documentary features of recent years it won around 30 international awards including Special Jury Prize at Sundance, Best Documentary BIFA and Emmy for Best Investigative Documentary. The film and its sequel ‘One Day at Po Chrey’ (2012) were at the heart of the United Nations trial of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Femi Nylander, featured narrator and co-writer
Femi Nylander is an activist, poet and actor of African descent hailing from Manchester in the UK. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 2016.
He wrote and performed two critically-acclaimed TED talk poems, on migration and decolonial public health. He joined the “Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford” movement and appeared on the BBC’s Big Questions, Daily Politics and ‘The One Show’ to discuss decolonial history.
Amina Weira, featured guide
Amina Weira, was born in Niger and grew up in the northern city of Arlit. Her first short, made in 2011, was La Musique de Film. Other shorts include: Des études au miel (2012). Her documentary short “C’EST POSSIBLE” (2013) was selected for Cinéma d’Afrique in Lausanne, Caméra des. (2013) and Un geste, un cœur (2018); Une scolarité confinée (2020). Amina gained an international reputation with her whistle-blower documentary about her father and his colleagues in Niger’s uranium mines, La colère dans le vent released in 2016. The film has received over a dozen international awards. She graduated in Video Editing from the Institute for Training in Information and Communication Techniques (IFTIC) in Niamey and holds a master’s degree in creative documentary film making from the Gaston Berger University of Saint-Louis in Senegal.
Assan Ag Midal Boubacar, featured guide
Assan is Touareg from Tassara in the north-west of Niger close to the border with Mali. Like all Touareg children he attended nomadic primary school. After a year at university in Niamey, he was exiled to Libya during the Touareg rebellions of the early 2000s.He took a degree in Political Science & Human Rights at the University of Libya. For 14 years he worked as a tourist guide, fixer and photographer in the Sahara of Libya, Algeria and Niger. For two years he was an official at Niger’s Foreign Ministry and he spent four years at the Ministry of Agriculture. Currently, he runs a business specialising in making furniture from recycled tyres and pallets. He speaks 5 languages, and a little English.
Tunde Jegede, Composer
Tunde Jegede is a world-renowned composer, producer, cellist and kora virtuoso bringing a new vision to contemporary African and Western classical music. He studied Western classical music and the Griot Tradition of West Africa from a very early age, attending the Purcell School of Music in London with a Master of the Kora in the Gambia, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh.
Sunara Begum, Composer
Sunara Begum is a a visual-anthro-mythologist who uses sound, video, performance and printmaking to question how cultures inform identities and notions of self. Her layered art-forms are studies for exploring personal cultural histories that stitch together personally relevant imagery sourced from her dreams, the natural world, historical texts, ancient manuscripts, digital space, music and art history.

David Upshal, Producer
David is a British-Nigerian producer and director. He has produced over 200 hours of television across all the UK terrestrial channels plus broadcasters in the USA, Canada, Germany and France.

Geoff Arbourne, Producer
Geoff Arbourne is an Emmy award-winning producer and founder of Inside Out Films.
Directed & Produced By ROB LEMKIN
Written by ROB LEMKIN, FEMI NYLANDER, MATT McCONAGHY
Produced by GEOFF ARBOURNE, DAVID UPSHAL
Executive Producers MARK BELL , LISA MARIE RUSSO
Film Editor DAVID CHARAP
Composers TUNDE JEGEDE & SUNARA BEGUM
Directors of Photography CLAUDE GARNIER AFC, SHAUN HARLEY LEE
Sound ABDOULAYE ADAMOU MATO, FREYA CLARKE
Co-producers SANI ELHADJ MAGORI, JOLIJN GEELS
