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ANBESSA

By Mo SCARPELLI

Social issues - Completed 2019

A young boy displaced by a massive condominium complex creates his own reality where as a lion (anbessa) he can face the forces beyond his control.

Festivals
& Awards

Berlinale 2019

Generations KPlus - Crystal Bear nominee; Glashütte Documentary Prize nominee

IDFA 2019

Kids & Docs Competition

Hot Docs 2019

World Cinema

Maryland Film Festival 2019

DOC NYC 2019

Rooftop Films 2019

Human Rights Watch Film Festival - London 2019

durban international film festival 2019

Special Mention for Best Documentary

- Year of production
- 2019
- Genres
- Social issues, First film, Documentary
- Countries
- ETHIOPIA, ITALY, USA
- Languages
- AMHARIC
- Budget
- 0.3 - 0.6 M$
- Duration
- 86 mn
- Director(s)
- Mo SCARPELLI
- Synopsis
- Ten-year-old Asalif and his mother have been displaced from their Ethiopian farmland by the construction of a condominium. Now living on the divide between a new and ancient world, they are reminded that their country’s big dream of “progress” is not for them. Land developers come knocking and Asalif feels his mother’s fear of further displacement. On the other side, ferocious hyenas lurk in a dark forest and local farmers speak their lore. To fight back against all that threatens his family, Asalif transforms into a lion (“anbessa” in Amharic). His newfound power takes him to places he never imagined inside and out of the condo until finally, Asalif must shed the lion persona and find the strength that resides in him as a boy, in order to deal with the tides of change and violence that are usurping his family, his country, and his own identity.
  
  A stunning observational work, ANBESSA vibrantly mirrors its subject’s imagination with a creative approach to non-fiction filmmaking. The film is an urgent and caring portrait of those cast aside by the processes of modernization.