The Summary for this unviewed film is based on reviews in the 7 Apr 1976 Var, the 17 Apr 1976 NYT, the 26 Apr 1976 Box, the 28 Apr 1976 LAT, and the 28 Apr 1976 MPHPD. The actor who portrays “Aziz Mohamed” is listed in the opening credits as Yomi Obileye and in the closing credits as Yomi Onileye. Actor Tom Aldredge’s character is alternately spelled “Amed” and “Ahmed.”
       Principal photography was set to begin 26 Aug 1974 in Lagos, Nigeria, the 23 Aug 1974 DV reported, and the 7 Apr 1976 Var noted that the film was shot completely in Nigeria with both U.S. and Nigerian crews.
       Countdown at Kusini was “conceived and entirely financed” by Delta Sigma Theta, an 85,000-member African American women’s service sorority that owned DST Telecommunications, according to the 5 Feb 1976 and 7 Apr 1976 Var. More than thirty Hollywood technicians worked with a Nigerian film crew. Lillian Benbow, the film’s executive producer, was past president of Delta Sigma Theta. Sorority president Betty Williams told the 19 Apr 1976 HR that members donated between $300,000 and $400,000 to the film’s $1.2-million “negative cost,” and raised another $400,000 in “outside contributions.” Rolling Ventures, a film company owned by director-screenwriter-star Ossie Davis and his co-star wife, Ruby Dee, also contributed. The remaining production costs were covered by Tan International, a group of African American businessmen. The 26 Apr 1976 Box added that the Nigerian government and the Presbyterian Economic Development Corp. also participated. The major actors, including Davis, Dee, and Greg Morris, agreed to defer their salaries until the film made a profit. The aim of DST Telecommunications, said Williams, was to produce material to counter the “inaccurate portrayal of black people in media.”
       Columbia Pictures acquired distribution rights in early 1976, the 4 Feb 1976 DV reported, and hoped to premiere the film in Atlanta, GA, on 9 Apr 1976, according to the 29 Mar 1976 HR. The 24 Mar 1976 Var announced an opening date of 7 Apr 1976 in New York City. The 22 Apr 1976 Los Angeles Sentinel noted that the Los Angeles, CA, premiere was held at an historic downtown theater on 28 Apr 1976, with the lead actors in attendance.
       According to many reports in Var, including the 14 Apr 1976 and 21 Apr 1976 editions, box office receipts were “mild” and the film “never got off the ground.” Later reports suggested that Countdown at Kusini lost millions of dollars.
       The 12 Jan 1977 Var ran a public notice that Cineffects Color Laboratory, Inc., in New York City had scheduled a 25 Jan 1977 auction of five reels of “16mm CRI negative and 16mm track,” and five reels of original 35mm color negative and 35mm CRI negative, “all of which materials comprise a completed feature film called Countdown at Kusini.” The sale was “to satisfy the artisan’s lien” of Cineffects Color Laboratory. The accounts belonged to “joint venturers” Guylanor, Inc., and Lady Libido, doing business as Rolling Ventures, all partners of the Kusini Company, a limited partnership.