This 2002 animated film by Haitian Canadian filmmaker Martine Chartrand takes us through Black history as a young boy hears stories from his grandmother. The gorgeous and bold images show scenes of village life, history of cultures on the African continent, the corruption and evil of slavery, work in the cotton fields, Emancipation, Industrial Revolution, fighting in world wars and the civil rights movement. It’s a beautiful, moving and graceful piece of art that tells history with a simple directness that gives the film immense power. It seems to have been animated by using a paint on glass technique in which certain parts of the image are erased and repainted to create frame by frame motion.
