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The Professor
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Filmmaker Name:
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Jason Price
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Film Length:
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25 min
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Film Year:
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2007
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Duration:
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21-45 min
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Decade:
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2000s
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Color:
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color
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Region:
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North America
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In a meager apartment on the outskirts of New York City lives a quiet, old man who was once President of an African country.
Former law professor and Supreme Court justice David Kpormakpor served as Interim President of Liberia between 1994-95, during its disastrous civil war. He now lives alone, on welfare, among thousands of Liberian refugees, many of whom question why he did not simply take the money and run when he had the chance.
The Professor takes us into Kpormakpor's everyday life in New York City's "Little Liberia." We accompany him to a Liberian church, the local pharmacy, and to a community center where he drafts a letter to Liberia's newly elected President. Yet the film is structured around a single event set within the confines of Kpormakpor's small apartment.
In an unforgettable scene that explores his elusive personality, Kpormakpor assists his home health aide, Fanta Fofana, as she studies for her upcoming citizenship exam. The endearing Fanta is a widowed refugee from Sierra Leone who is looking to bring her three children to America.
Not only does this event offer an intimate and light-hearted window into the lives of African asylum seekers in America, but it also acts as a central metaphor for the complex dilemma inherent in Kpormakpor's situation.
When a mysterious knock at the door interrupts the scene, the intrusion sparks a humorous debate that articulates the central philosophical problem posed by the film. At this moment, we realize the deep ramifications that extend beyond Kpormakpor's dilemma and affect us all.
SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS
EASA Film, Video & New Media Festival, Slovenia, 2008
Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, New York, 2008
Montreal Ethnographic Film Festival, 2007
New York Underground Film Festival, 2007
Oxford International Film Festival, 2007
SCREENINGS & AWARDSIowa City Documentary Film Festival, 2007
K'a -Yelema Real Life Documentary Film Festival, 2007
Twin River Multimedia Festival, 2007
SouthSide Film Festival, 2007
Staten Island Film Festival, 2007
River's Edge Film Festival, 2007
Rome International Film Festival, 2007
African Studies Association Conference, Rutgers University, NJ, 2007
Red Bank International Film Festival, 2007
Africa World Festival of Documentary Films, 2007
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