FILM: OLIVER SCHMITZ'S 'LIFE, ABOVE ALL'

African film on Aids


LIFE, ABOVE ALL, is a film by Oliver Schmitz, a White South-African residing in Germany. Oliver wants to raise awareness of the world about the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. 


The film was presented at the 2010 Cannes premiere. It's a film based on a Canadian novel and financed in Europe.

Almost six million South Africans are infected with HIV, killing thousands of people each day with AIDS. The AIDS epidemic is disastrous, silencing the dead, but the living are crying, wailing, and calling for help. 

Life, Above All" is trying to send a message of hope about an epidemic that has killed millions and will probably take millions to their untimely grave.

The film is about the difficult adolescence of Chandra, played by actress Khomoso Manyaka, in her first role in her acting career. The background of the story is sad but educational. 

Chandra has a bright future, as her school results were excellent. She has the opportunity to study further, but she has to wait.

She has other plans. Chandra has to arrange the burial for her baby sister and her junior brother. Her mother was not only sad, but the problems took their toll on her experience depression every day. It is worth for one to watch this film.

The background of the film was made with an excellent story, hoping this movie carries the message that could change the present situation in South Africa.

AFRICAN FILM: “LOVE BREWED IN THE AFRICAN POT”

Kwaw Ansah's Love brewed in the African pot.


African films continue to face many problems competing with other films on the international level. The more the film industry fights for international recognition, the more it lags due to many reasons. 


African films are only watched by Africans and other Third World countries. According to film critics, the stories used for most of the African films are insignificant, and thus, if the African film industry wants their films to be accepted on an international level, then they must base the films on good stories.

Kwaw Ansah’s “Love Brewed in an African Port” tackles the residual effects of still-recent colonialism on the minds and hearts of the Ghanaian people. Despite the problems and barriers, Kwaw Ansah’s “Love Brewed in an African Port,” released in 1981, achieved success both in Africa and on the international level. 

Ansah’s hope in making the film was that it would prove to be popular both with African audiences and well-regarded critics and peers. He was successful on both grounds.

The film earned awards worldwide, including the prestigious Omar Ganda Prize for most “remarkable direction and production in line with African realities” at the seventh Pan-African Film Festival (FEPACO), the first to be awarded to a film from an Anglophone country; the UNESCO film award in France; and the Jury’s Special Silver Peacock Award for a genuine and talented attempt to find a national cultural identity at the International Film Festival of India.