Anansi the spider: a tale from the Ashanti

United States, 1969

Film
Please note

Sorry, we don't have images or video for this item.

Episode number 1 of Series “African folklore”.
Anansi is a folk hero of the Ashanti people of Ghana and is a spider with human qualities. In this tale he falls into a river and is swallowed by a fish. After his rescue another accident befalls him. Rescued again, Anansi wishes to reward his son who has helped him with the aid of a beautiful white globe. Nyame, the One god, resolves the dilemma for him by setting the globe in the sky: it is the moon. Animation by Vincent Bell and narrated by Athmani Magoma. Animation inspired by the sophisticated geometric forms of the Ashanti.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

producer/director

Gerald McDermott

production company

Gerald McDermott Films

Duration

00:11:00:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1969

Appears in

African folklore

Group of items

African folklore

Explore

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

000349

Language

English

Subject categories

Animation

Animation → Animated films - United States

Childrens Films

Childrens Films → Children 6-12

Childrens Films → Children's films - United States

Literature → Fables

Literature → Folk literature, African

Literature → Literature

Short films

Short films → Short films - United States

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)

16mm film; Preservation Print (Section 5)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/64733--anansi-the-spider-a-tale-from-the-ashanti/ |title=Anansi the spider: a tale from the Ashanti |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=2 January 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}