Amok

Amok is a 1983 drama directed by Souheil Ben-Barka and co-produced by Morocco, Senegal and Guinea. Loosely adapted from Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country, it transplants the story to the time of the Soweto uprising, following an ageing schoolteacher who leaves a poor village in Natal for a modern Johannesburg scarred by conflict. Made in French and featuring Miriam Makeba alongside Robert Liensol and Douta Seck, the picture emerged after Ben-Barka witnessed the conduct of South Africa's apartheid regime during a journey to Madagascar and decided to respond on film. It is considered the first Moroccan-Senegalese-Guinean dramatic co-production to take a clear anti-racist stance. The roughly 103-minute work received the Golden Prize at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival.