Global Studies University (GSU) invites you to a special public screening of The Man Died, a powerful cinematic adaptation of the prison memoir by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian writer, playwright, and poet.
The film is directed by Awam Amkpa, Professor of Drama, Film, and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University and Dean of Arts and Humanities at NYUAD. It brings to the screen Soyinka’s incarceration during Nigeria’s civil war and his unbreakable spirit in the face of repression.
Presented by The Africa Institute, GSU, as part of its Film Screening + Talk program, the screening will be followed by a live moderated conversation with Manthia Diawara, Distinguished University Professor of Comparative Literature and Cinema Studies at New York University. The discussion will explore the intersections of film, politics, war, and intellectual resistance.
Venue: Africa Hall, Sharjah (location map)
Date: Thursday, April 2, 2026
Doors Open: 3:00 PM
Screening Begins: 3:30 PM
Based on the harrowing prison memoir by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, “The Man Died” is a powerful tale of resistance, courage, and the unyielding human spirit. Set against the backdrop of Nigeria’s civil war, the film chronicles Soyinka’s imprisonment without trial by a brutal military regime determined to silence his voice. Through solitary confinement, torture, and deprivation, Soyinka’s resolve to fight against tyranny and injustice only grows stronger. Interwoven with flashbacks to his earlier life as a writer and activist, the film reveals the profound inner strength and unbreakable spirit that drive Soyinka’s resistance. As he documents his experiences on scraps of paper smuggled out of his cell, his writings become a beacon of hope and a call to action for others living under oppression. “The Man Died” is not just a personal story but a universal testament to the enduring power of truth and the necessity of standing up against tyranny. It is a poignant reminder that in the face of oppression, silence is not an option, and the human spirit can never truly be extinguished. Learn more.
Director: Awam Amkpa | Nigeria | 105 minutes | 2024
Awam Amkpa is a Professor of Drama, Film, and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, with appointments in both New York and Abu Dhabi. He is a Nigerian-American actor, playwright, and director of stage plays and films, as well as a curator of visual arts, photographic exhibitions, and film festivals. Amkpa is the author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003) and has published numerous articles on African and diasporic representations, modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic cinema.
Manthia Diawara is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and Cinema Studies at New York University. A native of Mali, he received his education in France and continued his university studies in the United States, where he has taught at prestigious institutions such as the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Pennsylvania.
Diawara is a prolific writer and filmmaker whose essays on art, cinema, and politics have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, LA Times, Libération, Mediapart, and Artforum. He is the author of several significant works, including In Search of Africa (Harvard University Press, 1998), We Won’t Budge: An African Exile in the World (Basic Civitas Books, 2003), African Cinema: Politics and Culture (Indiana University Press, 1992), and Black-American Cinema: Aesthetics and Spectatorship (ed., Routledge, 1993).
His scholarship includes extensive publications on the film and literature of the Black Diaspora. Diawara has also collaborated with Ngûgî wa Thiong’o on the documentary Sembene Ousmane: The Making of the African Cinema and directed the German-produced documentary Rouch in Reverse (1995). His notable films include An Opera of the World (2017), Négritude: A Dialogue between Soyinka and Senghor (2016), and Édouard Glissant, One World in Relation (2010).
Global Studies University (GSU) invites you to a special public screening of The Man Died, a powerful cinematic adaptation of the prison memoir by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian writer, playwright, and poet.
Global Studies University (GSU) invites you to a special public screening of The Man Died, a powerful cinematic adaptation of the prison memoir by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian writer, playwright, and poet.
The film is directed by Awam Amkpa, Professor of Drama, Film, and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University and Dean of Arts and Humanities at NYUAD. It brings to the screen Soyinka’s incarceration during Nigeria’s civil war and his unbreakable spirit in the face of repression.
Presented by The Africa Institute, GSU, as part of its Film Screening + Talk program, the screening will be followed by a live moderated conversation with Manthia Diawara, Distinguished University Professor of Comparative Literature and Cinema Studies at New York University. The discussion will explore the intersections of film, politics, war, and intellectual resistance.
Venue: Africa Hall, Sharjah (location map)
Date: Thursday, April 2, 2026
Doors Open: 3:00 PM
Screening Begins: 3:30 PM
Based on the harrowing prison memoir by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, “The Man Died” is a powerful tale of resistance, courage, and the unyielding human spirit. Set against the backdrop of Nigeria’s civil war, the film chronicles Soyinka’s imprisonment without trial by a brutal military regime determined to silence his voice. Through solitary confinement, torture, and deprivation, Soyinka’s resolve to fight against tyranny and injustice only grows stronger. Interwoven with flashbacks to his earlier life as a writer and activist, the film reveals the profound inner strength and unbreakable spirit that drive Soyinka’s resistance. As he documents his experiences on scraps of paper smuggled out of his cell, his writings become a beacon of hope and a call to action for others living under oppression. “The Man Died” is not just a personal story but a universal testament to the enduring power of truth and the necessity of standing up against tyranny. It is a poignant reminder that in the face of oppression, silence is not an option, and the human spirit can never truly be extinguished. Learn more.
Director: Awam Amkpa | Nigeria | 105 minutes | 2024
Awam Amkpa is a Professor of Drama, Film, and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, with appointments in both New York and Abu Dhabi. He is a Nigerian-American actor, playwright, and director of stage plays and films, as well as a curator of visual arts, photographic exhibitions, and film festivals. Amkpa is the author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003) and has published numerous articles on African and diasporic representations, modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic cinema.
Manthia Diawara is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and Cinema Studies at New York University. A native of Mali, he received his education in France and continued his university studies in the United States, where he has taught at prestigious institutions such as the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Pennsylvania.
Diawara is a prolific writer and filmmaker whose essays on art, cinema, and politics have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, LA Times, Libération, Mediapart, and Artforum. He is the author of several significant works, including In Search of Africa (Harvard University Press, 1998), We Won’t Budge: An African Exile in the World (Basic Civitas Books, 2003), African Cinema: Politics and Culture (Indiana University Press, 1992), and Black-American Cinema: Aesthetics and Spectatorship (ed., Routledge, 1993).
His scholarship includes extensive publications on the film and literature of the Black Diaspora. Diawara has also collaborated with Ngûgî wa Thiong’o on the documentary Sembene Ousmane: The Making of the African Cinema and directed the German-produced documentary Rouch in Reverse (1995). His notable films include An Opera of the World (2017), Négritude: A Dialogue between Soyinka and Senghor (2016), and Édouard Glissant, One World in Relation (2010).
Subscribe to our mailing list and get the latest news from The Africa Institute
