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Fespaco 2005 - Special Features
 
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FESPACO INDEX
South Africa at the festival
Legend of the Sky Kingdom
A magical tale following the journey of a group of children on their way to find the mythical sky kingdom. The film uses a unique stop motion animation technique known as Junkmation to create the different worlds that the film inhabits. Roger Hawkins and his small team have created something that is a little rough around the edges but then this is hardly surprising bearing in mind its junk origins. What is surprising is how effective and captivating the animation, the story and the characters are.

Enslaved in an underground city, Blockhead, Squidge and Lucky stage a daring escape and begin a journey that sees them pursued by the evil Emperor's hyenas and travelling through many dangerous areas including the Jungle of Despair and the Desert of Desolation. Many other obstacles stand in their way including a predatory crocodile and an erupting volcano but with a bit of courage, some common sense and the magical weapons they receive as gifts they give it their best shot. While embracing its African origins, The Legend of the Sky Kingdom tells a universal story.
  Image from Legend of the Sky Kingdom
Kare Kare Zvako (Mother's Day)
It's hard being a mom to three hungry kids in drought-stricken bush country, especially when Dad is a selfish, good-for-nothing layabout. When all there is to eat is the occasional plate of grilled bugs and starvation threatens, tempers flare and Dad does the unthinkable. He tricks Mom into falling into a stake-filled pit, killing her. That's when the dancing termites appear.

Zimbabwe's Tsitsi Dangarembga has taken a story from African folklore and fashioned it into an all-singing, all-dancing tale of cannibalism, revenge, and female empowerment. Like most good film musicals, it takes us to another world that is nevertheless familiar and very relatable. In Dangarembga's world, dead mothers can sing and dance, rescue their kids, and give reprobate fathers the bleak fate they so richly deserve.
  Image from Kare
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is the first South African film about the politics of reconciliation since the end of apartheid. Forgiveness is also the second film within the South African DV8 project for 'Electric African Cinema'. In a period of three years, twelve digital films are being made to strengthen the basis for independent cinema in the country.

In the film, an ex-cop played by Arnold Vosloo granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission seeks out the family of one of his apartheid-era victims to ask them for forgiveness.

Inclined at first to drive the cop away, the victim's sister and her family become involved in a plot to keep him in the small West Coast town of Paternoster in order to avenge her brother's murder. As former colleagues gather for revenge, the victim's sister uncovers a long-hidden secret. Directed by Ian Gabriel, the film won two prizes (Junior Jury and the Human Rights Prize) at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland last year.
  Arnold Vosloo stars in Forgiveness
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