Feeling home in Tanzania on its 50th birthday
THE TEACHER’S COUNTRY is the story of a land 50 years after its independence. It is about Tanzania, a country, which was formed by the ideas of “Mwalimu” Julius Nyerere, who stuck to his ideals and never became a detached politician.
The film follows the youngest son of the famous first president on his way to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Madaraka Nyerere climbs Africa’s highest mountain to reminisce about the struggle for independence which his father was deeply involved in half a century ago. It is also a story reflecting on the development of Tanzania over the past decades, told by people who seem ordinary at the first glance:
One is single mother Bertha who lives in Dar es Salaam. She works all day to earn her living and hardly sees her daughter. Laurent Nestory is a teacher on Kome Island on Lake Victoria - an island without electricity or running water. The film also portrays Thomas Bilingi, a catholic priest who is helping very pragmatically with the development of his area in the vast dry hinterland of Lake Victoria.
THE TEACHER'S COUNTRY provides a genuine insight into the hopes and disappointments, the achievements, failures and problems of the protagonists in Tanzania 50 years after independence from Great Britain.
with: Madaraka Nyerere, Thomas Bilingi,
Bertha Bernhard Goha, Laurent Nestory
produced by: Benjamin Leers, Maurice Hüsni,
Martina & Johannes Leers, Marika & Mathias Hüsni
co-produced by: Edeltraud Koschorz, Thomas Bohne
camera: Maurice Hüsni, Benjamin Leers
editor: Pablo Ben-Yakov
sound design: Jascha Viehl
add. sound postproduction: Niels Maier
music: Niels Maier, Nino Kann
color grading: Ruben Schlude
written & directed by: Benjamin Leers
The Teacher's Country is not only a project of the makers alone. The film is made possible by more than a hundred supporters, who helped to scratch together enough money to cover the production costs. Attractive perks made it easier for them to do that - starting with being mentioned in the main credits to a private screening with the makers through to a co-producer-credit.
For more information on The Teacher's Country feel free to download our press kit. Apart from that we are happy to receive your message through the form underneath
Pictures & Presskit (.pdf 380 KB)
