Synopsis: A civil war in Africa. After her village is burned down by rebels and her parents are killed, Komona is forced into the jungle as a child soldier. Her brutal commander not only trains her in the use of arms but also orders her to sleep with him. Searching for shelter amidst the horror, she turns to a slightly older boy with white hair who she calls ‘Magician’ and falls in love with. After they escape from the camp together, Komona does her utmost to return to her village. She wants to bury her parents to prevent them having to eternally wander the wasted land as ghosts … Told throughout from the perspective of an adolescent girl, the film – shot in authentic locations in Congo and cast mainly with non-professional actors – visualises the horrors of civil war and the suffering of children and civilians. Realistic images are interspersed with dream sequences which are rooted in African legends and which resonate with infinite grief about hardship and misery. Despite all the horrors she encounters, Komona proves to be a beacon of hope for a continent yearning for peace and humanity. [Synopsis courtesy of Berlin International Film Festival]
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We've got official theatrical playdates for Kim Nguyen's Oscar-nominated (Best Foreign Language Film) Congo-set drama War Witch or Rebelle, an S&A 2012 Highlight selection, which stars Rachel Mwanza.
Read More »We've been following this powerful, harrowing film, titled War Witch, regularly on S & A, and it's one that I've been especially dying to see after Tambay's rave review last spring (HERE).
Read More »The biggest change for this particular update is the entry of the critical juggernaut "Before Midnight." While some new films are able to achieve an initial overall "A" rating at the outset of a festival or theatrical run, few manage to sustain such adulation after nearly 70 different critics have c...
Read More »It's a good weekend for limited release films. Canada's Oscar-nominated foreign entry "War Witch," a harrowing yet poignant tale of a young Congolese girl's survival and first love, is scoring top marks with critics. Meanwhile, documentaries "Leviathan" and "A Place at the Table"...
Read More »“War Witch,” Canada’s Oscar-nominated Foreign-Language entry, centers on a young African girl’s abduction into a rebel army, her escape, and the slow, painful process of liberating herself from the army’s traumatic, devastating reach. It is directed by French-Canadian Kim Nguyen, and is the second f...
Read More »It's a film that we encourage you to see in the theater, but if you can't wait until it comes to your city, or if it's not coming to your city at all, the film also became available on demand starting on February 26th.Rarely does war look so beautiful on film. I feel somewhat guilty saying ...
Read More »The Toronto International Film Festival continues through next weekend, but Indiewire has already reviewed a significant portion of the program at various other festivals over the past year.
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