Liyana

Swaziland/USA/Qatar, Feature Documentary, 2017, 77 min

Winner at Los Angeles, Heartland, Durban and Denver Film Festivals

This beautiful film is a celebration of collective storytelling. Under the gentle eye of the great African storyteller, Gcina Mhlophe, five African orphans write the screenplay for an animated feature film using their own darkest memories and brightest dreams as raw material. While the script is written, it is also sketched and beautifully animated as the children brainstorm obstacles and triumphs faced by their fictional heroine, Liyana, as she journeys through unknown lands with her beloved bull while desperately searching for her kidnapped brothers. As the real and imagined worlds begin to converge, the children must choose what kind of story they will tell—in fiction and in their own lives.

Directed by Aaron Kopp and Amanda Kopp

Colorado Premiere

A Call2Action selection