South African film project, Days of Cannibalism by Teboho Edkins, is one of 15 projects from 14 countries selected for the 9th Cinefondation L’Atelier, the financing and co-production programme of the Cannes International Film Festival.
Days of Cannibalism is a feature length film in three-parts about the relationship between Africa and China today – the structure of power and those who are affected by it.
“Stylistically my film is a western with a man-eat-man theme – from the business of globalised trade in China, to a band of smugglers in Lesotho who play cards in the village bar, to the violence of a cattle raid deep in the high mountains,” explains Edkins.
The trail begins in a hotel in Guangzhou, China, where a foreigner staying in the Xiushan Building Business Apartment offers to take a letter written by the young Chinese receptionist to her lover who has started a business in Africa.
Edkins continues: “The letter leads us to a village in the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho, where there has been a recent influx of Chinese traders. However the lover is nowhere to be found. Hearing a rumour in the village bar about the lover’s involvement in a cattle raid, the narrator travels to a cattle post high in the mountains. Here in a remote piece of Africa, the final act of cannibalism takes place.”
Formed in 1998 to inspire and support the next generation of international filmmakers, Cinefondation invites selected directors to the Cannes International Film Festival in order to put them in contact with film professionals. The filmmakers are selected according to the quality of their project and that of their previous films, as well as on the state of progress of their finance plan. Cinefondation L’Atelier enables them to gain access to international financing and to speed up the production process.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the other projects selected for Cinefondation L’Atelier are: Niles Attalah with Rey from Chile; Song Chuan with Ciao Ciao from China; Jasmina Matwaly and Philip Rizk with Out/In the Streets from Egypt; Yared Zeleke with Lamb from Ethopia; Emmanuel Finkiel with Je ne suis pas un salaud from France; Yorgos Zois with Stage Fright from Greece; Manjeet Singh with Chenu from India; Shady Srour with Holy Air and Amir Manor with the House on Fin Street both from Israel; Laura Bispuri with Sworn Virgin from Italy; Yaha Alabdallah with Me, Myself and Murdoch from Jordan/Palestine; Jorge Hernandez Aldana with The Heirs from Mexico; Ozcan Alper with Memories of the Wind from Turkey; andYuichi Hibi with Road Kill from the United States.
The Cannes International Film Festival takes place from 15 to 26 May.
