By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK
The feature film, Namibia the Struggle for Liberation, scooped three film awards during the Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival recently.
This was formally confirmed by the Executive Secretary of the Namibian Film Commission, Edwin Kanguatjivi, who attended the festival in the Malaysian.
“The film, formerly known as Where Others Wavered, competed for top honours among 168 films from 27 countries entered for the world renowned film festival. Apart from being selected for screening during the festival, the film won in three different categories: Best Music Score Award, Best African Film and Best Director Award,” Kanguatjivi said.
An American, Charles Burnett, directed the film.
The film depicts the life of former president of Swapo Party, Sam Nujoma.
The film was also nominated for best cinematography and the best actor and best actress awards.
“In the Best African Film category Namibia the Struggle for Liberation competed with other African films from Egypt, Rwanda, Algeria and Burkino Faso. In addition, during the festival we had the chance and opportunity to meet a film distributor and discussed possible deals,” he said.
Kanguatjivi was accompanied by NFC board member, Anna Shivute.
The film, has already been showcased in two American international festivals, but has not yet been premiered locally.
The Government has invested more than N$80 million in the historic film project and is keen to recover its investment through worldwide distribution and screening deals.
Sceptics initially dismissed the making of the film as a waste of the taxpayer’s money. The film features international American stars Danny Glover and Carl Lumbly.