Countdown at Kusini

Countdown at Kusini
Directed by Ossie Davis
Produced by Ladi Ladebo
Written by Ossie Davis
Al Freeman Jr.
Ladi Ladebo
John Storm Robert
Starring Ruby Dee
Ossie Davis
Greg Morris
Music by Manu Dibango
Cinematography Andrew Laszlo
Edited by George Bowers
Production
company
DST Telecommunications
Nigeria Glipp Productions
Tam International Limited
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • April 16, 1976 (1976-04-16)[1]
Running time
 101 minutes
Country Nigeria
United States
Language English

Countdown at Kusini (also known as Cool Red) is a 1976 action/drama film written by Howard Friedlander and Ed Spielman, and directed by Ossie Davis.

Synopsis

During a trip to the newly independent nation of Fahari, Africa, Red Salter, an African American jazz musician, falls in love with Leah Matanzima, but she is involved in Fahari’s struggle against a puppet government run by multinational corporations. Jealous of Leah’s friendship with white British journalist Charles Henderson, Red reluctantly joins her support of revolutionary leader Ernest Motapo and helps her obtain guns from weapons dealer Saidu. When Fahari officials arrest them, Charles rescues Leah and Red; then spirits them away in a motorboat, but Ben Amed, a French mercenary hired to assassinate Motapo, rams them with another boat and kills Charles. Marnie (Yola), Motapo’s traitorous nephew, arranges with Amen to ambush Motapo at a railroad junction near Kusini, but Leah and Red arrive in time with revolutionary fighters. After killing Marnie and Amed, Leah welcomes Red to Africa’s revolution against European imperialism.[2] [3]

Cast

Production

Filming took place in Lagos, Nigeria. Principal photography was set to begin 26 Aug 1974 in Lagos, Nigeria, the 23 Aug 1974 DV reported, and the 7 Apr 1976 Var noted that the film was shot completely in Nigeria with both U.S. and Nigerian crews. 

      Countdown at Kusini was “conceived and entirely financed” by Delta Sigma Theta, an 85,000-member African American women’s service sorority that owned DST Telecommunications, according to the 5 Feb 1976 and 7 Apr 1976 Var. More than thirty Hollywood technicians worked with a Nigerian film crew. Lillian Benbow, the film’s executive producer, was past president of Delta Sigma Theta. Sorority president Betty Williams told the 19 Apr 1976 HR that members donated between $300,000 and $400,000 to the film’s $1.2-million “negative cost,” and raised another $400,000 in “outside contributions.” Rolling Ventures, a film company owned by director-screenwriter-star Ossie Davis and his co-star wife, Ruby Dee, also contributed. The remaining production costs were covered by Tan International, a group of African American businessmen. The 26 Apr 1976 Box added that the Nigerian government and the Presbyterian Economic Development Corp. also participated. The major actors, including Davis, Dee, and Greg Morris, agreed to defer their salaries until the film made a profit. The aim of DST Telecommunications, said Williams, was to produce material to counter the “inaccurate portrayal of black people in media.” [4][5]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074352/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ov_inf+
  2. ↑ American Film Institute
  3. ↑ https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/55961
  4. ↑ American Film Institute
  5. ↑ https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/55961


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