Regia/Director Mo Scarpelli
Fotografia/Photography Mo Scarpelli
Montaggio/Editing Nico Leunen, Thomas Pooters
Produzione/Production Rake Films
Stati Uniti-Italia 2019, 86’ amarico con sottotitoli in inglese e italiano/ Amharic with English and Italian subtitles

Through a coming-of-age story, ANBESSA captures one boy taking on modernization on his own terms, revealing a unique and magical perspective on the myth of “progress” that entraps us all. 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, they are reminded in small and big ways that their country’s big dream of “progress” is not for them. But Asalif wants a slice of modernity too, so he goes into the condo to find discarded electronics he can reuse. The condominium’s trash becomes Asalif’s treasure, but this is threatened when he’s chased out by new tenants, and garbage trucks start hauling away items he could use. To fight back against those casting him out and those threatening his mother’s safety, Asalif taps into the fantasy of becoming his favourite hero: the lion (“anbessa” in Amharic).