Beza Hailu Lemma
2024, Ethiopia, Canada, France, 35min.

Fiction, color, Amharic with English subtitles

In contemporary Ethiopia, a farming community’s exodus is disrupted when the patriarch of a prominent family disappears from his grave. Tessema, his son, begins to question the church’s divine explanation, forcing him to launch his own investigation.

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Beza Hailu Lemma is a writer/director based in Addis Ababa. Passionate about both documentary and fiction, Beza has made several short films since he began his journey, which include Ballad of the Spirits (2016), Katanga Nation (2022) and Alazar (2024). Katanga Nation has screened in over 20 film festivals worldwide, including Visions Du Reel, IDFA and FESPACO, where it won the Silver Foal for best documentary short film. Beza has also attended Berlinale Talents, L’Atelier by the Cannes Film Festival and TIFF Filmmakers Lab.

Phumi Morare
2024
South Africa, 21min

Fiction, color, Xhosa with English subtitles

Nomvula, a goddess, returns to earth to find her human lover, Thandiwe, while shape-shifting into animals to evade detection by humans. When she finds him, she is devastated to learn he has moved on. Desperate to reclaim him, she tries to convince him to return to the eternal world before she destroys the earth. Despite her efforts, her love remains unrequited, leading her to take drastic measures. The arrival of colonial oppressors signals their doomed love.

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Phumi Morare is an award-winning South African writer and director, passionate about exploring the female gaze in intimate, character-driven stories. Her short film Lakutshon’ Ilanga (When The Sun Sets) won an NAACP Image Award, a Student Academy Award Gold Medal, and was Oscar-shortlisted. Her latest film, Why The Cattle Wait, debuted at the Mill Valley and ARIFF Film Festivals. A Tribeca Chanel and Berlinale Talents alumna, Phumi holds an MFA in Film Directing from Chapman University and has a background in investment banking and management consulting.

Alicia Mendy
2023, Suisse, Senegal, 29mn.)

Fiction, color, Wolof with English subtitles

When a parasite contaminates all the drinking water of Dakar, pills are created to neutralize it. Alioune, a young man can no longer afford them and is exposed to the symptoms of the parasite: Madness and dementia. As the days go by, he realizes that he has never been so lucid, and he begins a journey of political and spiritual awakening.

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Alicia Mendy is a young Swiss director born in Lausanne in 2000 to a Senegalese father and an Italian mother. Graduating from HEAD in 2023, she is interested in a cinema that represents and valorizes African and Afro-descendant peoples through the fantasy and science-fiction genres. Spirituality is central to her work, which explores utopias and dystopias. She also composes film music.