Country:United States of America

Director:Magee McIlvaine, Ben Herson, and Chris Moore

Program:Contemporary World Cinema

Summary:

This film explores the transformative role of hip-hop on politics in Senegal during the February 2007 presidential election campaign. Looking at the election through the eyes of the hip-hop artists around Dakar, this documentary mixes interviews, freestyles and commentaries from journalists, artists and politicians. Senegalese society is seen on the brink of democratic change where hip-hop artists are one of the few groups unafraid of speaking out, despite real attempts at intimidation. This film was originally shot for a series of shorts on the internet but has been greatly expanded into a full scale exploration of the boundaries of guerrilla style film production and distribution.