2023 AWARDED FILMS

MARIA KRISTU; THE BUUMBA STORY

In her desire for freedom, Buumba - a 16 year old youth - must go against the norms and doctrine of the Maria Kristu Church.

Awards won:


Best feature film

Best cinematographer

Best editor


IMAGINATION

An 8 year-old boy wants to direct a movie in the community backyard with his best friends. However, his Mother keeps dragging him away from the set and his dream. Despite all of this, Ken is determined!

Awards won:


Best short film

Best director

Best screenplay

Best actor (Kennedy Shani as Ken)

BADIMO BA MPITSA

A 2022 graduate project from AFDA Botswana, this film explores the religion of Ancestral Callings in Botswana that had reduces in popularity over the half a century of the country's independence. Conversations with Sangomas and Traditional Healer on their experience of this inherited faith and how they preserve it in the ever changing new age. Interviews decipher, if the ancestral calling a gift or are we enslaved to the spirits and ghosts of the forefathers. As bold words of every prominent traditional healer go, "you can never run from the calling.

Awards won:


Best Documentary

OLEANDER

Hard-of-hearing Cleo lives in a beautiful home on a peaceful, secluded plot where her husband, Duncan, has provided her with safety because she has troubles trusting her own mind. But what happens when she accidentally encounters disturbing information about her seemingly perfect husband? With this disillusionment and her growing disorientation, Cleo becomes paranoid that she might be in prison rather than a sanctuary. Feeling unsafe in both her home and her mind, she finds that every step she takes pushes her further into questioning her own reality.

Awards won:


Best actress (Mosie Mamagare as Cleo)

YOUNG PHOENIX

Three young adults share their struggle with anxiety, depression, and alcoholism while battling to promote mental well-being among their peers. Poignant metaphoric visuals and poetic narrative uniquely portray the symptoms and emotions of these mental health conditions with an aim of destigmatization. From their darkest moments to their search for help, the film illustrates that there is light at the end of the tunnel and support is closer than you think.

Awards won:


Honourable Mention Award