28 minutes | Director Maria Binder | 1997 | Germany | German with English Subtitles | PAL & NTSC

A moving documentary about the life and untimely death of Ghanaian-German poet, academic and political personality May Ayim. Ayim was one of the founders of the Black German Movement, and her research on the history of Afro-Germans, but also her political poetry, made her known in Germany and other countries.

Ayim wrote in the tradition of oral poetry and felt a strong connection to other black poets of the diaspora. Poetry gave her an opportunity to confront the white German society with its own prejudices. Interviews and poems reveal the search for identity, how and why the term Afro-German was introduced. An insightful look at how a young black woman experiences the German reunification.

In the foreword to Ayim’s BLUES IN SCHWARZ WEISS (BLUES IN BLACK AND WHITE), Maryse Conde wrote “... With the unmistakable sound of her voice her poems spoke to me of her, told of others that are like her and yet so unlike her in Germany, in Africa, in America. These poems held passion and irony ... In May’s voice I found the echo of other voices from the diaspora.”

“This visual portrait offers a moving picture of Ayims eloquence in the German language, emphasizing her poetic presentation... a seamlessly edited collage of interview excerpts, poetry readings and still photography that depicts Ayim as a complicated figure whose political message resonated at multiple levels among diverse peoples.” Tina Campt, Wise Women News

“HOPE IN MY HEART shows the powerful and playful performance of Aim's poetry in dealing with her personal experiences in post-reunification Germany.” - NewsBytes, Sonoma State University