500 Years Later

500 Years Later (?? ???? ??? 500 ?amätat? bähwala) is an independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah, written by M. K. Asante, Jr. and released in 2005. It has won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary (including) UNESCO "Breaking the Chains Award"). Other awards it has won include "Best Documentary at the Pan African (Los Angeles) and Bridgetown (Barbados) Film Festivals; Best Film at the International Black Cinema (Berlin) Film Festival; and Best International Documentary at the Harlem (New York) International Film Festival". 500 Years Later has received praise as well as controversy, both for the genre of the film (creative documentary), and its social-political impact with relation to race study. The film opened on February 28, 2005, at the Pan-African Awards (PAFF) and won Best Documentary at its premiere. It made its American television premiere on August 23, 2008, on TV One (Radio One), and Ethiopian Television premiere on October 27, 2007. It was shown nationally in South Africa on December 14, 2014, on SABC 2. In 2010, the sequel, Motherland, was released.