FESTIVALS * HOT DOCS - Toronto, Canada * Sydney Film Festival * Encounters * EIDF * Africa Film Festival * Visioni del Mondo * Vancouver Film Festival * Bergen * Afrikanische Filmtage * Cambridge African Film Festival * Preambulo * Chicago International Children’s Film Festival * Films from the South * Afrika Eye * Verzio Film Festival * Enfances dans le Monde * IDFA * DocPoint * Black Movie Festival * DocHouse * Chai - China Documentary Film Festival AWARDS * SAFTA (South African Film and Television Award) - Best Achievement in Directing - Documentary Feature - Best Documentary Feature * Best Documentary - Universal Martial Arts Film Festival * Best South African documentary- Durban International Film Festival (qualifying festival for Oscar consideration) * Best Documentary - Knysna Film Festival * Audience Award Encounters Documentary Festival * International Contest Award Visioni dal Monde * Japan Prize - The JAPAN PRIZE was established in 1965 by Japan's public broadcaster NHK as an international educational program contest. Its aim is to improve the quality of educational contents and thereby to contribute to a better future for people around the world. * Best International Documentary in the International Panorama "A Window onto the Future", section of the Visioni dal Mondo International Documentary Festival in Milan | Buddha in Africa
In a Chinese Buddhist orphanage in Africa, Enock Alu, is one of three hundred orphans from across rural Malawi, growing up between the contrasting worlds of traditional village life and the strict discipline of the Confucian, Buddhist value system of the Chinese. Reminiscent of the Christian mission stations during colonial times, here African children with Chinese names speak Mandarin, worship Buddha and go through a gruelling process of mastering the difficult art of Shaolin Kung Fu. Once the star performer with dreams of becoming a martial arts hero like Jet Li, Enock, in his final year at school, has to make some tough decisions about his future and finds himself torn between returning to his relatives in the village or going abroad to study in China. Against the backdrop of China’s expanding influence on the continent, the film evokes some of the tensions and uncertainties surrounding the growing relationship between China and Africa. Set against China's expanding influence on the continent, Buddha in Africa raises red flags around education as indoctrination, charity with strings attached and opportunity that comes at the price of identity. -HOT DOCS PREVIEW |
