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About two friends who want to change their nation with an epic work of theatre. It is directed by Clive Patterson. The film has its premiere in Freetown on Sunday 15 May 2022 at the Bintumani conference Centre.
Two friends from one of the world’s poorest countries go on a journey to the stage the most ambitious play in the nation’s history. It doesn’t go as planned. Starring: Sorious Samura and Charlie Haffner.
Emmy winning filmmaker from Sierra Leone, Sorious Samura, has grown tired of telling negative stories about Africa. He embarks on a journey with his friend, Sierra Leone’s most famous playwright, Charlie Haffner, to create an epic work of national theatre – a play to reclaim their country from negative media narratives and the damaging legacy of colonial rule.
These two friends embark on a journey to create an inspiring work of national theatre – to restore pride to a nation with a rich and amazing history, yet known today mostly for conflict, poverty and corruption
Two cultures collide and tensions flare, as Sierra Leone itself teeters on the brink of civil unrest. For both men, the play becomes a matter of personal and national salvation.
Sing, Freetown is a film with a big heart, following two men with herculean goals, fiercely dedicated to their country. It’s shot beautifully, exploring the natural treasures that Sierra Leone has to offer and the generosity of its people. It manages to hold an extremely positive attitude despite discussing the gravity of the country’s past and their frustration and desperation to reach their goal. The film is a wonderful example of what you can achieve when you truly give everything you have to a project.
One of the elements that so well helps to keep the balance between its positive, motivated attitude and the seriousness of the history of their nation is the men who guide this story. Both Samura and Haffner give the film such a natural charisma, they’re strong, smart, charming and dedicated people. You can easily see the sincere frustration that comes from putting the weight of the world on their shoulders, tasking themselves with refreshing their nation’s pride when it’s a hefty job, one that not many people would take on.
There are a lot of emotions running through this story, when their frustrations build with the looming production, there’s a genuine sadness lingering in the air. Though this experience is one very specific to the people of Sierra Leone, it’s one that also feels very accessible. Its subjects are intensely relatable, its generous and kind nature flows easily, and it’s a moving experience to watch.
Sing Freetown is a 94min documentary film directed by Clive Patterson an award-winning producer and director of documentary films and is the senior producer at Insight TWI – an Emmy, BAFTA and Peabody award-winning production company in London. He has made over a dozen films with Sorious Samura which have been broadcast on the BBC, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera English. More recently, he produced ‘So Foul A Sky’, a feature length documentary which premiered.
Sorious Samura is Sierra Leone’s best-known investigative journalist, making documentaries for CNN, Channel 4 and BBC that have won two Emmy Awards and seen him described by The Independent as “the world’s most fearless filmmaker”.
Over the last 25 years, he’s tackled the toughest issues in the region including civil war, starvation, AIDS, corruption, attitudes to homosexually and more.
