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The independent Mozambican feature film REDEMPTION (original title, in Portuguese: RESGATE) premiers in Germany during the 2019 edition of FilmFest Hamburg, from September 26 to October 5. The film will be shown twice: on October 2 at 9:15pm (CinemaxX 2) and October 4 at 9pm (Metropolis). The director, Mickey Fonseca, will participate in both events.
By the Mozambican production house Mahla Filmes, REDEMPTION (RESGATE) is one of very few independent films by local filmmakers and the first Mozambican feature that tells an urban and contemporary story. It was filmed in the south of the country (Maputo city and Maputo province) between 2017 and 2018. The colour editing was made in Portugal and the sound in South Africa.
Still in October REDEMPTION (RESGATE) will be presented at the Zell Film Festival in Austria and the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in Nigeria, where it is nominated for nine categories.
After being sold out in several exhibitions in Maputo, where it premiered last July, it was exhibited in Portugal and is now preparing to be exhibited in Angola before the year end.
REDEMPTION (RESGATE) is written and directed by Fonseca, a young Mozambican filmmaker and co-founder of Mahla Filmes with Pipas Forjaz, who is the director of photography and editor. This is Fonseca’s and Mahla Filme’s first feature.
In Mozambique the public and the critic embraced REDEMPTION (RESGATE) as a cut from the common narratives where Mozambique is presented as a country of war, obscurantism, poverty and rural settings. For many Mozambicans this is the first time they see themselves represented on a national film, an aspect that strongly contributed to its success amongst its urban and peri urban audience in the country.
Mahla Filmes has been striving to break barriers with REDEMPTION (RESGATE) since its inception. It started in 2016 with the first crowdfunding campaign for a feature film by Mozambican filmmakers. The financial target fell far from reached, but the efforts to communicate the campaign gave life to a community of followers and supporters inside and outside social media, which also highly contributed to how the public welcomed the film when it finally came out in 2019.
The idea to produce REDEMPTION (RESGATE) was planted in Forjaz and Fonseca’s minds a few years ago, when the kidnapping of rich Mozambican men and foreigners suddenly became a frequent crime in Mozambique. Since then and for about the six years that followed, Forjaz and Fonseca invested Mahla Filme’s earnings in equipment they would later use to produce the feature and saved enough money for production and co-production. It was important to them not only to have full creative freedom but also to prove that there are options for Mozambican cinema, which depends almost exclusively on international funds.
Source: Mahla Filmes/Press Release
For more information about REDEMPTION (RESGATE):
Maura Quatorze | +258 823172770 | maura.quatorze@gmail.com
For interviews with director Mickey Fonseca during FilmFest Hamburg:
Mickey Fonseca | +258 827116080 | friedmozkitos@gmail.com
