The Teacher's Country

At the center of the film is Madaraka Nyerere, the youngest son of Tanzania's first president. He wants to commemorate Independence Day at the top of Kilimanjaro. On the way to the summit, we learn about the challenges still facing the country. These challenges become comprehensible through the stories of the country's inhabitants*, such as the cook Bertha Bernard from Dar es Salaam, Laurent Nestory, who lives as a teacher on the island of Kome in Lake Victoria, where there is neither running water nor electricity, and Pastor Thomas Bilingi, who pragmatically and with a lot of foresight promotes the development of his environment.

Keywords

  • Decolonize
  • Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis
  • Africa
  • civil society
  • education
  • natural
  • north south
  • politics

Actors

  • Madaraka Nyerere
  • Thomas Bilingi
  • Bertha Bernhard Goha
  • Laurent Nestory

Director

  • Benjamin Leers

Documentary, Independent


1h 10min


6

EN


EN

DE

Germany
Tanzania, United Republic of
2013
50 years after Tanzania's independence from Great Britain, the East African country is still searching for a unifying identity.

50 years after Tanzania's independence from Great Britain, the East African country is still searching for a unifying identity.


At the center of the film is Madaraka Nyerere, the youngest son of Tanzania's first president. He wants to commemorate Independence Day at the top of Kilimanjaro. On the way to the summit, we learn about the challenges still facing the country.


These challenges become comprehensible through the stories of the country's inhabitants*, such as the cook Bertha Bernard from Dar es Salaam, Laurent Nestory, who lives as a teacher on the island of Kome in Lake Victoria, where there is neither running water nor electricity, and Pastor Thomas Bilingi, who pragmatically and with a lot of foresight promotes the development of his environment.

Festivals

Cast & Crew