The Burial of Kojo

As a child Esi witnesses something between her father and her uncle. What came between them years ago over a woman was never settled. One day her father Kojo falls into an abandoned mine and stays there. Nobody looks for him. She sees him in her dreams and looks for her own way to find him. The narrative moves constantly between the real and the dreamed. Blitz Bazawule directs. It is a Ghanaian production. The director was known as a musician and this is his first film; it was crowdfunded and the budget is very small. Its visual language is its strongest side: coloured costumes, wide landscapes and strange arrangements in the dream sections. The narrative proceeds from a child's view and the events are not explained; which parts are real is left unclear. There is a concrete matter behind it: illegal gold mining in Ghana and the harm it does to the land and the villages. The narrative treats that directly. It is short and the structure is episodic; some transitions are abrupt. Bazawule went on to direct large productions, and this first film counts as where his visual sense was formed. Who it is for: viewers who like African cinema and visually strong independent film. Who it is not for: the narrative is unclear, the means are limited, and the plot is weak.