Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese will unveil his new project, a documentary titled Ancestral Visions of the Future, at the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival. The filmmaker’s latest is among the last couple batches of films announced by the festival.
The announcement means the film a list of other African projects selected for the 2025 Berlinale, including Egypt’s Akher Youm (The Last Day); Senegal-Morocco-France co-production Ne réveillez pas l’enfant qui dort (Don’t Wake the Sleeping Child); Democratic Republic of the Congo-USA collaboration Mikuba (Cobalt); Egypt-Saudi Arabia’s Daye: Seret Ahl El Daye (The Tale of Daye’s Family); and Sudan-UK-Germany-Qatar co-production Khartoum.
It also means that Mosese is returning to the festival that announced his talent back in 2019, when it programmed his first feature-length work, the documentary Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You. His fiction film This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection followed and was screened at the Venice International Film Festival. Both were critically acclaimed.
Last year, the World Cinema Fund announced Mosese’s new film as one of its grant recipients. In the same year, the project received support from the Venice Film Festival’s Final Cut programme.
Alongside Mosese’s new work are co-productions The Heart Is a Muscle (South Africa and Saudi Arabia), Minimals in a Titanic World (Rwanda-Germany-Cameroon) and Al mosta’mera (The Settlement) (Egypt-France-Germany-Qatar-Saudi Arabia).
Below are the details of African projects recently added to the 2025 Berlin Film Festival selection.
Ancestral Visions of the Future
Co-directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, Siphiwe Nzima, Sobo Bernard, Mochesane Edwin Kotsoane, and Rehauhetsoe Ernest Kotsoane, the film is a personal and poetic work that draws on Mosese’s own childhood experiences, and an a tribute to Mosese’s mother.
The Heart Is a Muscle
Directed by a collective of six filmmakers – Imran Hamdulay, Keenan Arrison, Melissa De Vries, Loren Loubser, Dean Marais, and Ridaa Adams, the film revolves around a dramatic incident where Ryan’s five-year-old son temporarily goes missing. The story unfolds as Ryan’s aggressive response to this traumatic event triggers a chain reaction, ultimately exposing long-buried secrets from the past.
Minimals in a Titanic World
The film, directed by a collaborative effort by Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo, Aline Amike, Niyigena “Rwasibo Joe” Jean Pierre, Ganza Moise, Nasser Makala, and Alice Amike, explores the story of Anita, a woman struggling to manage her aggression after being released from prison.
Al mosta’mera (The Settlement)
Co-directed by Mohamed Rashad, Adham Shoukry, Ziad Islam, Hajar Omar, Mohamed Abdel Hady, and Emad Ghoneim, the film tells the story of how a man loses his life in a fatal incident, and his two sons are given the opportunity to work in the same factory where their father met his demise, alongside the very person responsible for his death.
