I’m a little late on this one but still felt this short film was worth sharing.
Black British filmmaker Kibwe Tavares wowed Sundance audiences this year with his beautiful scifi short film JONAH. Filmed in Zanzibar with two black British actors (Daniel Kaluuya and Malachi Kirby), Jonah is a modern re-imagining of the Biblical “Jonah and the Whale” tale.
The special effects in this short are AMAZING. Also, the narrative subtext about excessive tourism to tranquil paradises (and the human pollution that comes as a result) is well told with only visuals, no dialogue. What a great short that proves black filmmakers can think outside of the box every now and then. Here’s the official synopsis:
Mbwana and his best friend Juma are two young men with big dreams. These dreams become reality when they photograph a gigantic fish leaping out of the sea and their small town blossoms into a tourist hot-spot as a result. But for Mbwana, the reality isn’t what he dreamed – and when he meets the fish again, both of them forgotten, ruined and old, he decides only one of them can survive. Jonah is a big fish story about the old and the new, and the links and the distances between them. A visual feast, shot though with humour and warmth, it tells an old story in a completely new way.
Nick Delmacy
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Dooooooggggggggg…….
My fucking mind was blown in like the first 6 minutes…
The rest of the film was just so beautifully crafted in its frame sequencing and visual pyrotechnics. I loved the last reverse long shot… Made me think of Pharcyde’s Drop video(y’all don’t remember!)…. and what is even more spellbinding is the fact that I can’t shake this overwhelming feeling of dejavu… No not just in namesake…not because I’m having some past life regression, but because this morning I had a daydream of a young man being propelled through a series of moments to find himself later in age in the blink of an eye, just like what happened to Mbwana … Either the Director is really tapping into some kind of universal consciousness, or there’s a fucking glitch in the Matrix…
Hell… it’s probably both… Yea, it’s both…
Damn good find… See this is why I fucks wit Cypher Ave…
Wow!! 4.5 of 5 st*rs for sure
While keep it new, the videography of this short appears to have borrowed from two of my favorite films of all time, Cidade de Deus & Life of Pi.
“You look like an Italian lesbian” Bwahaha
Thanks Nick.
Meant to write, “While keeping it new…
I really ought to proofread before hitting send
wow, This was a cool movie… loved the special effects and the story.
WOW~
THAT WAS AMAZING!!!!
Nice little story line…thanks for posting!!!