Angelou on Burns' travels well. I was inspired to make this film when I discovered the great African American poet Maya Angelou had, since her childhood, read and loved the poetry of Robert Burns. She found in his writing that same passion for human rights and freedom which were to become so much a part of her work.

This February the film took me across the Atlantic to Toronto, Canada, where it was part of 'African Film Now', a weekend of screenings which kick-starts a month of celebrating African history and heritage in that city. Toronto is home to more than 200,000 people of African origin, hence the reason this festival began 5 years ago. It's purpose is to present Africa and the African Diaspora through the medium of film and the selection of 'Angelou on Burns' was an exciting rebirth for a film made four years ago, which had already featured in many other festivals around the world. But the Canadian selection broke new ground since the usual festival criteria was to promote the work of African filmmakers and here, for the first time, was one made by a non African. I was very proud of that.

In spite of its Scottishness the overwhelmingly African Canadian audience seemed to love discovering Burns through the eyes of one of their own literary icons. And she brought Burns to life for them the moment she appeared on screen and said: "My name is Maya Angelou, I was brought up on dirt roads just like these, in the southern states of America. I was mute, poor and black and female and the only key, which opened the door to the world for me, was a book. I read everything, I fell in love with poetry, and amazingly in a small hamlet, a village in Arkansas, I met Robert Burns." The audience was hooked. (Cont. next page)