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The film “Hope in the Heart” directed by Maria Binder shows as a unique document stages of the life and work of the artist, scientist and Black German activist May Ayim. Special attention is paid to her poetic work. The film includes sequences showing May Ayim performing in South Africa and in Germany.
May Ayim is a central figure in the Afro-German movement. She was the first scholar to investigate the history and living situation of Black women in Germany – despite all institutional resistance. May Ayim became known for her poetry and poems such as “Blues in Black and White” or “Boundless and Outrageous”. May Ayim lived from 1960 to 1996. In 2010, a street in Berlin was renamed after her, which previously bore the name of a colonialist responsible for the establishment of the Brandenburg-Prussian fortress “Groß-Friedrichsburg” in present-day Ghana and thus for the deportation and enslavement of Africans.
The film can be ordered as a DVD from Orlanda Verlag, or viewed here and here.
Hope in the Heart – Oral Poetry – May Ayim | BRD | 1997 | German | Documentary | 35 min.