Mosotho film in line for a Golden Globe award

This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection, starring the late SA screen legend Mary Twala, has been longlisted in the Foreign Language Film category of the Golden Globes. This is the first time a Mosotho film has been submitted for this award.

Each year, the Hollywood Foreign Press association awards the Golden Globe in the Foreign Language Film category to a motion picture with at least 51% of the dialogue in a language other than English. This year, 138 foreign language films were eligible for the award. Most of the submissions have been viewed via digital links in lieu of physical screenings due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The submission is the next in a long line of firsts for This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection. It is the first film from Lesotho, made by a Mosotho film-maker, to screen at an international festival. Directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, the film was viewed by critics as one of the best at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered in January.

It started its Oscar-qualifying run on 27 November at Ster Kinekor Tygervalley In Cape Town and at Ster Kinekor Sandton in Johannesburg, and screened until 4 December, in line with the rules for qualifying films for the upcoming 93rd Academy Awards.

“The film continues to travel internationally, and has taken home many awards,” says Helen Kuun, MD of Indigenous Film Distribution. “We are delighted that it has been named as Lesotho’s entry to the 93rd Academy Awards, and that it is attracting attention internationally.”

“It’s been an amazing journey to have our film recognised internationally and on the continent,” says producer Cait Pansegrouw of production company Urucu. “It’s a remarkable piece of cinema, and we are thrilled that it has been singled out for recognition in so many different regions. We feel privileged that it is Ma’ Mary’s final feature film and honoured that her legend will live eternally through her astounding performance in our film.”

The visually striking drama, set in the mountains of Lesotho, opens with an elderly widow named Mantoa (Twala), grieving the loss of her son. Determined to die and be laid to rest with her family, her plans are interrupted when she discovers that the village and its cemetery will be forcibly resettled to make way for a dam reservoir. Refusing to let the dead be desecrated, she finds a new will to live and ignites a collective spirit of defiance within her community.

The film won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Visionary Filmmaking at Sundance. Allan Hunter of Screen International said: “It offers a vivid, beautifully crafted reflection on identity, community and the tension between respecting age-old traditions and accepting the seemingly unstoppable march of progress.” – Citizen repoter