original title:
Anbessa
directed by:
cast:
Asalif Tewold, Alem Sebisibe, Ayitenfsu
screenplay:
cinematography:
editing:
Nico Leunen, Thomas Pooters
music:
Erik K. Skodvin
producer:
Mo Scarpelli, Caitlin Mae Burke
production:
Rake Films, Catapult Film Fund
world sales:
country:
USA/Italy
year:
2019
film run:
85'
format:
colour
status:
Ready (21/01/2019)
festivals & awards:
Asalif and his mother defy the newly-built housing estate which is like all the other ones springing up all over Ethiopia, and continue their life within the traditional village community: grazing their animals, tending their gardens and picking fruit off the trees. Asalif’s hut lacks electricity, but the windows of the surrounding high-rises outshine the moon at night. Asalif scours the new city’s streets for electro-junk and builds a spaceship with an engine. His mother recounts ancient legends. Real estate developers buy up more land. Asalif feels increasingly threatened, stalked by the invisible hyena that haunts the area. With a sensitive grasp of her protagonist’s emotional reality, the documentary filmmaker and camerawoman Mo Scarpelli traces Asalif’s transformation into Anbessa, the lion.