As part of our yearlong series on Sundance filmmakers, The Independents, we asked participants to keep a diary of their working life and submit an accompanying self-portrait. I managed to write a few pages of “La Pyramide” and I’m taking a break. Back to working on my other script, “Mortuary Man.” I’m on Page 54, which means I’m more than …
You don’t need to believe in the generosity of an ancient water deity to be transfixed by Nigerian director C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s folklore melodrama “Mami Wata.” Respecting the conjuring power of movies is all the devotion that’s required to fall under the spell cast by Obasi’s stark, roiling tale of spirit-world mysteries and all-too-human machinations, filmed in an evocatively dense …
As the first Nigerian-based director to have a feature selected by the Sundance Film Festival, C.J. A mesmerizing drama set in a fictional West African village whose traditional beliefs in a water spirit called Mami Wata have come under attack, the picture drew strong reviews and earned a jury prize for Lílis Soares’ starkly beautiful black-and-white cinematography. If you had …
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