An animated short telling the legend of Lwanda Magere, a warrior who was gifted with skin as strong as stone, and the strength of ten men. His achilles heel is his shadow, a secret he keeps hidden from everyone. As a worthy young warrior he uses his power to protect his people from warring raiders,…
The Art of Fallism documents the history of the student protest movements in South Africa which began in 2015, starting with #RhodesMustFall and ending with #TransCapture. It interviews artist-activists, giving their first-hand accounts of the events from their perspectives. Like any movement, there is as much challenge building solidarity within as destroying oppression without. I…
A Cemetery Of Doves is a short film with no dialogue, following a young gay man as he experiences love and rejection for the first time. The film begins with the quote, “Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation.” It then tries to encompass all the emotion of love and loss…
Absolutely excellent. Outstanding short film. A dorlis is like an incubus, a evil spirit which enters homes at night and commits sexual attacks upon the inhabitants. Dorlis the film is like a kitchen sink drama, but also a horror movie. Which for women is often the same thing, as the place we are least safe…
Yerusalem is, as billed, the incredible story of the Ethiopian Jewry. Known to the Ethiopians as ‘Falasha’, a term meaning foreigner, which is now considered derogatory. At one point their struggles are summed up quite succinctly by an activist, “The Falasha problem is really two problems. They are Jewish among the Blacks, and then they…
Literally the two worst things I can imagine is being trapped underground and drowning. So for me, the trailer for this looked like a horror film. The Descent or something. The Rescue is a documentary about the attempt to rescue 12 Thai schoolboys and their football coach from a flooded underground cave. The story made…
Sacred Forest is a documentary about the rich mountain forests of Taiwan. If you like yer David Attenborough, you’ll like this. Chen Yufeng describes the evolution of the unique ecosystems of the Taiwanese mountain forests. They host some of the most ancient and largest trees on earth. From fir, juniper, cypress and cedars, down to…
A New Country traces the history of South Africa from the fall of apartheid to present day as it relates to the promise of a Rainbow Nation. When watching Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom, was the promise of that day, of real freedom and a new equality for all in South Africa, was that…
This blog celebrates the wide range of excellent films shown at the Glasgow Film Festival, as well as other film festivals shown in Glasgow. Some reviews are long, some reviews are short. All are intended to give you an idea of what you might like to see, and take a chance on something a little…
Downstream to Kinshasa is a documentary following the attempts of the victims of the 6 Days War to get the compensation allocated to them by taking their case to Parliament in Kinshasa. The 6 Days War occurred in 2000, when the fighting between Rwanda and Uganda spilled across the border onto Democratic Republic of Congo…