Survivors interweaves the heroic stories of Mohamed Bangura, the senior ambulance driver at the country’s main ambulance dispatch location and Margaret Sesay, a nurse who works at the EMERGENCY Ebola treatment center in Freetown caring for some of the sickest patients. Through intimate vérité footage of these characters’ daily lives, the film not only explores how the epidemic ravaged families and communities, but it also reveals broken infrastructures, deep misunderstandings between international aid organizations and the communities they serve, as well as unresolved political tensions after the decade-long civil war. In this way, Survivors profoundly wrestles with what it means to be Sierra Leonean at this critical juncture in the country’s history.
I had the incredible opportunity to assistant edit on this project and its surrounding campaign materials during the epidemic, just about right out of college. I learned so much from Banker, Anna, Arthur, and everybody on the US and SL teams, for whom I will forever be grateful. The finished film is incredibly important and (as I write this in 2021) carries forward ideas that are just as relevant now as they were then.
Produced/ Directed by Arthur Pratt
Produced by/ DP Lansana Mansaray
Produced/ Edited by Banker White
Produced/ Directed by Anna Fitch
