A coming-of-age story that reveals a magical perspective on the myth of progress. A curious ten-year-old, Asalif, and his mother have been displaced from their farmland on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by the construction of a condominium. As they watch the buildings take shape, the film exposes the hope and tension engulfing the country.
They defy the newly-built housing estate which is like all the other ones springing up all over Ethiopia and continue their life within the traditional village community: grazing their animals, tending their gardens and picking fruit off the trees. Asalif’s hut lacks electricity, but the windows of the surrounding high-rises outshine the moon at night. Asalif scours the new city’s streets for electro-junk and builds a spaceship with an engine. His mother recounts ancient legends. Real estate developers buy up more land. Asalif feels increasingly threatened, stalked by the invisible hyena that haunts the area. With a sensitive grasp of her protagonist’s emotional reality, the documentary filmmaker Mo Scarpelli (Frame by Frame, SF IndieFest 2016) traces Asalif’s transformation into Anbessa, the lion.-CM
Co-presented by SFFILM.