New Moon - Feature Film
70 mins - 2018 - Feature-length Documentary, New Moon, by Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann (2018).
Awarded:
- Best Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival 2018 (Automatic Qualifier for the 91st Academy Awards)
- The Ladima Award for African Women Documentary Filmmaker at ZIFF 2018.
- Artistic Achievement Award in a Long Documentary at Luxor African Film Festival 2018.
With her deepest instincts guiding her, filmmaker and photographer, Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann embarks on a journey to the stone town of Lamu. A gigantic port project and coal plant are the threatening external elements though the real disruption is that of Philippa's internal journey. Her search takes her to Raya and her young son, Ahmed. It is in their home that she finds a narrative anchor and a more personal entry point into the mysteries of this old town.
Communicating the intangible aspects of spirituality through richly textured imagery and Quranic evocations that fill the screen, Philippa tackles the contradictions of being a woman embracing Islam and grappling with the complexities of her chosen faith. Her masterful use of visual poetry translates the potent pull of faith. Fragments of Lamu life unfold like chapters in a book: a man scaling a fish, children bathing by a dock, a baptism, a visual diary of a woman not entirely sure of where she is headed.
Director, Cinematographer, Producer & Sound Recordist: Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann (Kenya/Germany/UK)
Editor: Angela Wamai (Kenya)
Final Mix: Eric Musyoka (Kenya)
Score: Tiago Correia-Paulo (Mozambique)
Underwater Cinematography: Jahawi Bertolli (Kenya/Italy)
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