The film chosen to represent the Dominican Republic in the 2023 Oscars Academy of Awards opens at the Fine Arts Novo Centro at Av. Lope de Vega in Santo Domingo. Bantú Mama has been receiving praise and awards abroad. The film will compete for the best international feature film in the upcoming 95th Academy Awards.
Dominican filmmaker Ivan Herrera is proud that the film is the first Dominican film to be shown in the prestigious SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas in 2021.
The Bantú Mama has special merits as it is regarded as an ‘indie film,’ or a movie produced by people outside the mainstream film industry, without involvement from major movie studios or television networks.
The film stars Clarisse Albrecht as Emma, a French-Cameroonian woman who manages to escape after being arrested in the Dominican Republic. She escapes to be sheltered by three semi-orphaned kids in Santo Domingo. By becoming their maternal figure as a fugitive in a dangerous section of the city, Emma will see her destiny change as she finds redemption, according to the film’s plot outline.
International media announce that the film will debut in theaters and on Netflix beginning 17 November 2022.
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has acquired the drama for distribution in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
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Diario Libre
Hollywood Reporter
Deadline
13 October 2022