The film Brief Tender Light follows four African students from the time they are awarded spots as undergraduates at MIT through their studies and graduation in 2015 as they learn about a new culture, confront racism and homophobia, and begin to move into careers. They all feel a responsibility toward their home countries. “I want to amass skills, amass knowledge. I want to amass leadership. I want to amass opportunities here, which are all going to be used in Zimbabwe,” says Fidelis Chimombe, who is from that country (second from left in photo); the others are, from left, Sante T. Nyambo from Tanzania, Billy Ndengeyingoma from Rwanda, and Philip Abel Adama from Nigeria.
They grapple with how to balance helping their home countries with the opportunities open to them in the US. “At its core, Brief Tender Light is about whether youthful idealism can survive the process of growing up,” says the engineer-turned-filmmaker Arthur Musah, who moved from Ghana to attend MIT in 2000. Brief Tender Light premieres on PBS on 15 January and will be available free for streaming at www.pbs.org and on the PBS app until 14 April 2024.
