POV: What has happened to the characters since filming ended?
Yoruba Richen: Here are what some of the characters in Promised Land are up to.
Mekgareng Claim - After years of delay, the claimants and the farmers expect to be in land claims court in May 2011. Both sides are still confident that they will prevail.
Molamu Family - Three years after receiving the land that their grandfather owned, the Molamus are still waiting to receive government assistance in order to start operations on their farm. In the meantime, they have leased the farm to another farmer who is operating it.
Ntate Obed Moja – Moja passed away in 2007. He was 106 years old. Read Roger Roman's tribute to Moja.
Roger Roman – Roger is still working with Land for Peace. Read a Q&A with Roger.
Philip Rafedelie – Philip's wife took a job in the U.K. as a nurse, and Philip has joined her there.
POV: How has Promised Land been received?
Richen: Promised Land has been very well received. People are most struck by the balance of the film and the fact that it challenges the audience's sympathies. They also agree that it is very unusual to hear the stories of the beneficiaries of the apartheid regime — the white farmers. And they always remark on how the land issue is a global one that is at the heart of so many divisions in post-colonial societies.
POV: What are you working on now?
Richen: My new film examines the complicated and often combative histories of the African-American and the LGBT community by following three people as they fight to change the way in which the two groups work with each other for political change and social acceptance.