The 12th New African Film Festival (NAFF) opened last Friday, with a full house for the screening of Lamb, the first Ethiopian film to premier at the Cannes Film Festival, last year. The Amharic film, with English subtitles, follows young Ephraim, a Jewish-Ethiopian boy whose life is turned upside down after the death of his mother. Forced to head to the city to make money, Ephraim’s farmer dad leaves him and his beloved pet sheep with relatives in the Bale Mountains, far from the village he has known as home for his whole young life.
Suddenly alone in a new environment and a new family, Epharaim comes of age as he plots his escape and fights to save his beloved sheep from slaughter for a religious festival feast. Watching young Ephraim’s struggle with abandonment is as emotionally harrowing as the movie’s scenic backdrop is visually stunning.
Lamb is just one of a 20 strong films from across the African continent being shown at NAFF this year, including Things of the Aimless Wanderer from Rwanda, in Central Africa, Madame Courage from Algeria, in North Africa, Katatura, from Namibia in Southern Africa, and They Will have to Kill Us First, from Mali in West Africa.
AFI Silver is hosting NAFF for the 12th year in-a-row, in partnership with the Africa World Now Project and afrikafé. Whether you just love film or are curious about Africa, be sure to catch a movie before the festival closes on Friday, March 18. For show times and tickets visit here.
