Coming to virtual theatrical today, Friday, May 15:
ANBESSA
Director:
Mo Scarpelli
World Premiere:
Berlin 2019
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Hot Docs, Thessaloniki Doc, Durban, Mountainfilm, RiverRun, Maryland, Woods Hole, Cleveland, Cucalorus, Washington DC Enviro, San Francisco DocFest
About:
A young Ethiopian boy turns to his imagination to reckon with the urbanization of his home.
The film previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Mo Scarpelli’s creative documentary focuses on a lonely, imaginative Ethiopian boy named Asalif. Displaced by condo developments, Asalif and his mother struggle to make ends meet. With sweeping camera work and light-filled frames, the film gently probes the young boy’s interior world as he processes isolation and displacement. Creating an alternative identity as a ferocious lion – the meaning of the film’s title – Asalif learns to survive. Pushing the boundaries of standard nonfiction form, Mo Scarpelli’s portrait is a testament to resiliency.
