B'ella

B'ella is seventeen and lives with her family in Chazunda on the outskirts of Blantyre in Malawi. Like other girls her age, she enjoys sharing confidences with her schoolmates – about her first love and her concerns for her own future. The debut director follows B'ella's sincere endeavours to mature and find her way in life. The chief narrative line is supplemented by several secondary themes which illustrate and reflect current issues in the given environment – the gradual loss of traditional values, the stigma attached to HIV sufferers – and also problems encountered the world over, such as family relationships and school bullying. The filmmaker chose to make his film in an improvised setting largely with non-professional actors, whose natural performances lend the work tremendous freshness and vitality. The acted segments are combined with quasi-documentary scenes which together form an absorbing and fascinating account of the lives of ordinary people in a faraway land. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)