Another View 2014 / B'ella / Malawi 2014
B’ella is seventeen and lives with her family in Chazunda on the outskirts of Blantyre in Malawi. Like other girls her age, she enjoys sharing confidences with her schoolmates – about her first love and her future. This filmmaker chose to make his film in an improvised setting largely with non-professional actors, whose natural performances lend the work tremendous freshness and vitality.
B’ella is seventeen and lives with her family in Chazunda on the outskirts of Blantyre in Malawi. Like other girls her age, she enjoys sharing confidences with her schoolmates – about her first love and her concerns for her own future. The debut director follows B’ella’s sincere endeavours to mature and find her way in life. The chief narrative line is supplemented by several secondary themes which illustrate and reflect current issues in the given environment – the gradual loss of traditional values, the stigma attached to HIV sufferers – and also problems encountered the world over, such as family relationships and school bullying. The filmmaker chose to make his film in an improvised setting largely with non-professional actors, whose natural performances lend the work tremendous freshness and vitality. The acted segments are combined with quasi-documentary scenes which together form an absorbing and fascinating account of the lives of ordinary people in a faraway land.
106 min / Color, HD CAM
European premiere
Director Tawonga Taddja Nkhonjera
/ Screenplay Tawonga Taddja Nkhonjera
/ Dir. of Photography Peter Mazunda
/ Music Muhanya
/ Editor Muhanya
/ Producer Tereza Mirovičová
/ Production boNGO Worldwide
/ Coproduction Dikamawoko Arts
/ Cast Vinjeru Kamanga, Chimwemwe Mkwezalamba, Tony Khoza
/ Contact boNGO Worldwide
Tawonga Taddja Nkhonjera (b. 1983, Malawi) is a talented African artist – poet, stage director, ethnomusicologist and screenwriter. He is also the founder and director of the organisation Dikamawoko Arts. He frequently tackles subjects which are regarded as taboo in Malawi. He has made several shorts, documentaries and music videos, and also worked on the award-winning film The Last Fishing Boat (Best Music award from the African Film Academy). B’ella is his feature film debut, screened this June in its international premiere at the film festival in Zanzibar.
boNGO Worldwide
box 7, Mbame, 12345, Blantyre
Malawi
Phone: +265 888 014 575
E-mail: [email protected]
Tereza Mirovicova
Producer
Tawonga Taddja Nkhonjera
Film Director / Producer
Zdeněk Janáček
Producer
Ondřej Cihlář
Film Crew
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