Hairareb solidifies its status as Africa’s Best Feature Film
Local narrative film awardee, Hairareb bagged six new awards at the King Moshoesho Film Festival 2023 in Lesotho.
Hairareb swept up all six awards in the categories for Best Feature, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography at the festival held in both Maseru, Lesotho, and Ladybrand, South Africa from 9 to 12 March, Executive Producer, Dantagos Jimmy-Melani said in a statement released last week.
The King Moshoeshoe Film Festival is named after Moshoeshoe 1, the founder and first king of the Basotho, or Sotho people of Lesotho. Moshoeshoe 1 is commemorated annually during March and hosts various activities.
According to Jimmy-Melani, the submission followed an invitation from the Maseru-based organisation, Film Sector Groundbreakers for film producers from any country in the African continent to submit their work for awards and screening.
Hairareb has already achieved several continental and international accolades, including winning Best Feature Film Southern Africa and Best Director at the 9th SOTAMBE International Film and Arts Festival in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2022; captured the coveted Best Movie Southern Africa trophy at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award Ceremony in Lagos Nigeria in 2022; nominated for Best Feature Narrative at the 30th Annual Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in Los Angeles in May 2022, and previously received Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Awards for Hazel Hinda in Cannes and Lagos, respectively in 2021.
Hairareb also holds the Best Narrative Film, Best Director, and Best Male Actor Awards at the Namibian Theatre and Film Awards.
Hairareb is based on a book by August Bikeur, previously performed as a radio play in the Damara Nama language, a non-Bantu language widely spoken in southern Africa and rich with click consonants, and later developed into a script by Aina Ligola Kwedhi.
