The New African Film Festival has ended, but this film is now playing in AFI Silver's Virtual Screening Room.

Opening Selection

2021 Oscar® Selection, Lesotho

Followed by a recorded Q&A with filmmaker Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese.

Berlin-based Mosotho filmmaker Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese's (MOTHER I AM SUFFOCATING. THIS IS MY LAST FILM ABOUT YOU) devastating and hypnotic THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT'S A RESURRECTION won the Special Jury Prize for Visionary Filmmaking at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival before taking home Best Actress, Best Director and Best Cinematography at Africa's Academy Awards. The late Mary Twala Mhlongo, recognizable from Beyoncé's blockbuster musical BLACK IS KING, gives a heartbreaking performance as Mantoa, an 80-year-old woman who has lived in a small Lesotho village her entire life. While preparing for her own death, she receives word of an accident that has killed her only son, leaving her entirely alone, with nothing but the respect of her community, the traditions of her ancestors and the courage of her convictions. When her community must relocate to make way for a nearby dam which would flood her family's burial ground, Mantoa draws a line in the sand and becomes an unlikely political and spiritual leader. Cryptic, impressionistic and informed by magical-realist literature, the film contains some of the most striking visual compositions in contemporary cinema. (Note adapted from Dekanalog.) Winner, World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award, 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Official Selection, 2020 Venice, Rotterdam, Göteborg, Cartagena and New York African film festivals.

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