PHOTO SLUG LINE: The Unique Kings and Queens African Movie World exists because a married African American couple, Anthony “Tony” Cooper and Shirley Cooper, became enthralled with the cinema of the Mother Continent. Recalling his initial encounter with a motion picture made in Africa, Anthony Cooper (shown above in his incredible business establishment located at 6631 Hwy. 42 in Suite 206 in Rex, Georgia in Clayton County) says, “It caught my interest to see all these movies and I picked one up. Me and my wife took it home and it happened to be Baby Police. We started watching them and from that movie alone, we were hooked.”
The Unique Kings and Queens African Movie World exists because a married African American couple, Anthony “Tony” Cooper and Shirley Cooper, became enthralled with the cinema of the Mother Continent. Recalling his initial encounter with a motion picture made in Africa, Anthony Cooper says, “It caught my interest to see all these movies and I picked one up. Me and my wife took it home and it happened to be Baby Police. We started watching them and from that movie alone, we were hooked.”
Soon the love Anthony and Shirley Cooper developed for African films grew into a determination to bring these remarkable movies to their brother and sister African Americans. “We were so inspired by the movies that we decided we got to get the African American people to see those movies,” Tony Cooper remembers. “So me and my wife sat down and said we gonna open up a store so that anybody can get a chance to see these movies.” So they opened the Unique Kings and Queens African Movie World. The title was chosen to reflect the way the store regards its customers. “Anybody that walks into the store, we treat them like kings and queens,” Tony Cooper proudly states. “We want them to see some good movies, other than all that violence that American movies be making.”
Tony Cooper was confident that he could make the Unique Kings and Queens African Movie World a success because he already had a background in business. He had been a disc jockey in New York City and went into the real estate field when he moved to Atlanta. “I started getting rental properties and housing people,” he recalls. While residing in New York City, Shirley Cooper worked as a home attendant.
The fact that the films of the Unique Kings and Queens African Movie World are made in countries that have black majorities means that they show black people in a much wider variety of roles than those made in America do, Tony Cooper maintains. “African Americans should buy African movies to get away from what¹s in the Hollywood movies,” he continues. “The stereotyping movies show the African American actors playing drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes. Nigeria or Nollywood is making better movies with better stories. We¹re more than just drug dealers or thugs in these movies.”
Tony Cooper believes that African Americans will discern a freshness of vision in African movies and that that freshness will be a big plus. “It is something different,” he observes. “It is bringing something different to the community. We¹ve always been stereotyped.” He says, “we¹re tired of seeing” stereotyped depictions of black people. He also notes, “We are good actors, period, and to me, the African movies are more real with their acting.”
The cinema of Africa strikes a strong emotional chord with Tony Cooper and he believes it ought to strike a similarly strong emotional chord with all people of African ancestry. “It is something that touches my blood,” he explains. “It is something I feel. I belong there. I¹m not here through choice. I was telling people I¹m African, just born here in America. That¹s why I travel back to Africa. I¹ve been to seven different African countries. I wanted to go and touch the earth in the Motherland. It was a good feeling. I was blessed to take my wife and my son.”
According to Shirley Cooper, “A lot of African Americans don¹t see African movies but they should. They¹re very good movies. They could sit and watch these movies back to back and learn from them.” She finds watching African movies similar to a form of therapy. “Watching these movies picks me up when I¹m down,” she comments. “I get so much out of these movies. It¹s filling for me like eating a nice meal leaves you full.”
African motion pictures are distinctive in ways that are extremely good in Tony Cooper¹s opinion. “The knowledge that they have in the movies of the elders, they have something positive to say,” he elaborates. “The old saying is that it takes a whole village to raise a child and it seems like we¹ve gotten away from that here in the United States but you see that in African movies where the teachers are there and the elders have a lot to say. As a kid, I heard my grandparents say always respect your elders and nowadays kids in America don¹t do that.”
Shirley Cooper¹s opinion of African motion pictures in some ways echoes that of her husband. “A lot of the movies show what¹s happening today and they don¹t show a lot of nudity like they do in American movies,” she notes. “In these movies, children listen to their parents. I have our kids watch the movies. They¹re very educational. They can teach young kids today to respect their parents and to respect themselves and their bodies.”
Unique Kings and Queens African Movie World attracts a clientele that is diverse as to countries of origin but is usually black. “We get African people from all different parts of Africa coming in, people from the Caribbean and we get a lot of African American people,” Tony Cooper discloses.
What genres of African movies are most popular with people in metro Atlanta? “Love stories, comedies and family entertainment,” Tony Cooper answers. “They like the sort of movies the family can sit down and watch together. We try to stay away from the violence. My wife and I watch them before we buy them and try to stay away from drug movies because that¹s what we have too much of in America.” According to Tony Cooper, Nigeria and Ghana are the nations currently producing the most popular African films. “They seem like they¹re updated with what¹s going on and the different quality that they have is updated,” he remarks.
Tony Cooper is concerned about the problem of piracy in cinema. “I¹m not for bootlegging of movies and taking away from the artists,” he firmly asserts. “I think they deserve more than they are getting. When someone sells a movie for like $2, I think it hurts the artists real bad and this is something you shouldn¹t do. I¹m not for that and I don¹t sell any bootleg.”
Cultural diversity and cross-fertilization is something that all of the arts have always benefited greatly from and Tony Cooper sees a further and fruitful interweaving of the African American and the African in cinema. He hopes for a situation in which “you have a few American people that will star in a Nigerian movie. Like a Denzel Washington and just ask him to give his time, so he can open up doors to the people here. Even a Will Smith. Once we get those people to donate the time, there might be a crossover right there. It¹s what we need.” Contributing directly to African American and African film crossing over is a personal aim for Tony Cooper. “My goal is to travel to Nigeria and produce a movie myself,” he reveals. “I want to have African American actors play along with the African actors, to combine them together to expose all of this talent. One day I want to see that movie in a theater in America.”
The Unique Kings and Queens African Movie World is located at 6631 Hwy. 42 in Suite 206 in Rex, Georgia in Clayton County. It is open Tuesday-Saturday 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. and closed Sunday and Monday. To learn more, call 770-474-8807 or 1-347-482-6727.
Tags: Clayton, The Unique Kings and Queens African Movie World
