The Gerima couple have been producing films since the early 70’s when Haile Gerima completed BUSH MAMA and HARVEST 3000 YEARS as a graduate student at UCLA.
Mypheduh Films was created in 1982 by Shirikiana, Haile and sister Selome Gerima, in the basement of their home in Washington, DC, in order to control the distribution of their products. This company continues to operate along with their production company, Negod Gwad Productions, inside of the Sankofa building.
SANKOFA is an example of what community and artist teamwork could accomplish if the will was great enough.
It was this distribution model that successfully kept SANKOFA in theatres across the country for two years. The drama in the SANKOFA story and its distribution, demonstrate the significance of choosing “Sankofa” as a name for this establishment.
