Sundance Winner Lemohang Mosese Wraps ‘Ancestral Visions,’ Heads to Venice

Sundance prizewinner Lemohang Mosese is in post-production on his fourth feature film, “Ancestral Visions of the Future.” Mosese will present the film during the Venice Production Bridge’s Final Cut pics-in-post workshop for films from Africa and the Arab world.

The film is described as “a deeply personal exploration of identity, childhood, death, and exile through the eyes of a puppeteer, a mother, a boy, a farmer, and a city.” It is pitched as an “allegorical essay,” focusing on a puppeteer in an anonymous African town who encourages the locals to return to their ancestral ways.

Describing the protagonist, an herbalist, preacher, and prophet, Mosese says the character “preaches to [the villagers] about beauty, about what people can become.” The puppeteer aims to extend the villagers’ lives, believing that human life is magnificent but too short to correct the mistakes of their predecessors. However, the city turns hostile, crushing the puppeteer’s spirit.

The director reveals that “Ancestral Visions” is his most autobiographical film to date, aiming to create something cohesive from his “fragmented memory of my past.” Raised in the small, mountainous Southern African kingdom of Lesotho, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world, violence was a daily reality for Mosese. His family was evicted from their home during his childhood, an experience he describes as “the first time when I lost the sense of a place.”

In recent years, Mosese has been based in Berlin. He has grappled with the subject of exile in both his career and personal life. He always thought of himself as being in transit, believing he would eventually return to a beautiful place he called home. However, one moment in Berlin changed his perspective.

Witnessing a disheveled African man shouting in his mother tongue at a café, Mosese experienced something akin to an out-of-body experience. “At that moment, I felt mirrored. Our lives collided,” he says. “The only difference is that I was not in rags. I was having cappuccino and a croissant. But we merged at that moment. I understood him.”

This encounter led Mosese to realize that his idea of going home was never real. It was a mirage that helped him endure his tribulations in Europe. This startling revelation prompted him to revisit his childhood and the country he left behind, asking himself difficult questions about what made him leave and what the cost was.

Produced by Agat Films in co-production with Mokaoari Street Media and Seera Films, “Ancestral Visions” comes after Mosese’s successful debut on the international festival circuit with his sophomore feature, “Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You.” This elegiac docu-fiction grapples with his exile from Lesotho and premiered at Berlinale’s Forum strand in 2019.

Mosese’s subsequent film, “This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection,” tells the story of an 80-year-old widow whose village faces forced resettlement due to dam construction. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020, winning a special jury prize for “visionary filmmaking.” It became the first film ever submitted by Lesotho for the best international feature film Oscar race.

“Ancestral Visions” is also inspired by Mosese’s mother, who played a significant role in his life, helping him survive his difficult childhood. Despite grim predictions from his teachers and grandmother, his mother always insisted that their hardships were temporary. “The idea of dreams, the idea of believing, it comes from my mother,” Mosese states. Her unwavering belief inspired his journey in cinema, despite the odds stacked against him coming from Lesotho.

Source: Variety, Sundance