MANYATTA SCREENING INVITES:
Join us Thursday, 26th August for Opening Night of our 5th Edition!
| We’re excited to be showing films from Réunion, Mauritius, Comoros and Burundi for the first time as part of a slate of 23 funny, evocative, illuminating shorts screening in this special 5th edition! Ticketing is simple! If you’re on the African continent, one $2 ticket gives you full access to the 4-day program, if you’re elsewhere, that’s $4. |
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Beza Hailu Lemma opens the program with ADEY ABEBA, a documentary on Ethio-Somali fashion designer Gouled Ahmed. It’s the sole documentary of this edition, but it carries its weight and sets the tone for the rest of the festival.
If it’s Drama you’re after, fellow Ethiopian Hiwot Admasu’s masterful storytelling needs no introduction, and her A FOOL GOD is unflinching and tender. SIRÉNA is Camille Bessiere-Mithra’s surreal, mystical offering about a wandering young man abandoned by his mother and haunted by the past, a real highlight out of Réunion. RESIDENCE YLANG YLANG by Hachimiya Ahamada is a beautiful meditation on home from Comoros, perhaps from a different perspective. Plan your weekends around them if you must.
For a touch of the experimental, Azim Moollan from Mauritius presents ROD ZEGWI DAN PIKAN centred around a woman walking the fine line of addiction. BEATRIZ, THE SAINT PRAYS by Kenyas Gisemba Ursula offers a different kind of prayer, and Alex Niragira’s LET IT BE – WHY IT HURTS WHEN IT ENDS is rooted in poetry (as are a few of the films), but turns to dance for visual inspiration. MNEMOSYNE from fellow Rwandan is a man’s unsettling eulogy for a girl.
If it’s laughter you’re craving, Tanzania’s Dipesh Shapriya’s AHADI YA MBUNGE is the pill all will relate to, as is #BLESSED from Shirleen Wangari (who also stars) and Aggie Nyagari’s WORMHOLE, shot in Greece, the UK and Kenya. All three turn their lens on the pandemic to find some lightness in our ongoing situation.
For children (of all ages!), Kwame Nyongo’s animated short THE LEGEND OF LWANDA MAGERE is Kenya’s own Iron Man legend – and a must watch, as is FROM HERE TO TIMBUKTU by Buni Media’s Brian Kyallo. The latter is a fantastical take on Ahmed Baba of 16th Century Timbuktu. Uganda’s Naseeba Bagalaaliwo’s SCALP DEEP will provoke important conversations about hair and identity.
Some surprises: Kenyan Photographer Mutua Matheka makes a special appearance in Phil Makini’s visually stunning A BOY AND A BEARING. Charles Ouda writes and directs his own return to the screen in WIT’S END. Director Ganza Moise, whose work we have previously shown, returns as lead actor in Ngabo Wa Ganza’s FISH BOWL. Indeed the program includes not just national, gender and linguistic diversity, but also many unique artistic visions.
