By Khalifa Hemed
Published November 18, 2017
A dream-like experimental movie about a fisherman whose search for identity is questioned by a wise older man has won the Best Short Film award at the 12th annual Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival in Scotland.
DEM DEM!, a 25-minute work from Senegal edged out six other films from Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco and Algeria to win the £500 cash prize awarded by the jury as AiM’s annual Short Film Competition marked 10th anniversary.
That it is made in made in Wolof and French with English subtitles did not prevent this Pape Bouname Lopy, Marc Recchia and Christophe Rolin film from also winning the Audience’s Award during AiM that ran in the Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow October 27-November 5, 2017.
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“This year’s selection is a delicious smorgasbord of different and compelling cinematic delights. At turns sensitive, tragic, naturalistic and penetrating, it also ranges through the uproarious, charismatic, stylised and boldly imaginative,” said South Africa’s Jarryd Coetsee, a member of the 2017 Jury and director of THE SUIT that won the same prize in 2016.
AiM says it usually invites ‘filmmakers of African nationality’ to submit ‘films of no longer than 30 minutes’ to its annual Short Film Competition. Its aim, says the festival that is also known as Scotland African Film Festival, is to ‘support young and emerging filmmakers from Africa’. The cash prize money of £500 is sponsored by the Scottish Documentary Institute.
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Other shorts that took part in the 10th Short Film Competition included CHEBET from Kenya; BLACK ROSE from Ghana; THE DARK BOX from Nigeria; THE ANT QUEEN and I PROMISE YOU from Algeria and OCCUPATION: KILLER from Morocco.
