Zanzibar International Film Festival – Sunday, July 9, 2017

Azaad (India, 2016) – A very well-done movie with a quality story and cinematography. The plot points that revolve around politics, journalism, free speech, and family issues come together nicely about 80% of the way through the film. 8/10

The Goldfish Who Swam Out of the Fishbowl (India, 2016) – This was not about goldfish. This movie had too many open plot lines and coincidences that were never satisfactorily explained. Based on some of the “creative” camera work (including shots with spots on the lens), I think the creators were trying to do something big, and in their heads, it all probably made sense, but I left the movie wondering where the rest of the story was. 4/10

Eleven Percent (South Africa/Democratic Republic of Congo) – This documentary about the 2006 security guard strike in South Africa tells the story of one refugee worker who crossed the picket line and was killed. There were too many mistakes in the movie including captions in the lower third left unfinished where it referred to a character as “ -Name- “, and during the credits the list of characters had a “fill in last names” text in there, making me feel as though this was not the actual final cut. And honestly, the story was not very compelling. 3/10

Santa Klaus Dark Side (Reunion Island, 2016) – In a beautiful country, a man with no money takes a rooster and two hens in to town to sell them to buy his daughter a Christmas gift. But nobody has money and through a bit of bad luck, followed by some humorous good luck, the story concludes, not in the most expected way, but I left satisfied. Good attention to detail throughout the film makes this one worthy of seeing twice to catch what you missed the first time. 8/10

Woven (USA, 2016) – A story about an Ethiopian family in New York who faces tragedy and the need to work together to overcome their grief. There is a complicated relationship between all ten or so main characters that is too convenient to be accepted. My favorite part involves the main character running through the streets looking like a beautiful princess. 6/10