A new trailer for the African folklore fantasy/horror film, Mami Wata has been released online. The film previously premiered this past January at Sundance where cinematographer Lílis Soares took home the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography.
Spinning out of advance Sundance screenings, the film achieved a 100% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating.
The Hollywood Reporter praised the Sundance screening for maintaining, "a steady narrative and balances its broader thematic interests — intergenerational anxiety, Western influence agitating established customs — with action and character development."
In their review, The Verge wrote, "Director C.J. Obasi’s Mami Wata is a monochromatic feast for the eyes that wants you to think about what it means to believe in something larger than yourself."
Screen Anarchy added, "The series and sequences of images in Mami Wata are so beautifully composed, framed, and lit that they could be printed and displayed in a museum or art gallery."
In an interview with Screen Daily, Obasi cited Akira Kurosawa as one of his influences for the film. "One might be Kurosawa, the way he framed his shots is not just about the character, it’s about everything happening within that shot. In a Kurosawa shot, you can see someone sitting in a field. There is wind blowing on the grass, there is a tree in the distance and a bird in the horizon. You’re taking the entire image, and very few big few filmmakers can do this."
Dekanalog will distribute the film in North America, where it will hit select theaters on September 29.
In the oceanside village of Iyi, the revered Mama Efe (Rita Edochie) acts as an intermediary between the people and the all-powerful water deity Mami Wata. But when a young boy is lost to a virus, Efe’s devoted daughter Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) and skeptical protégé Prisca (Evelyne Ily Juhen) warn Efe about unrest among the villagers. With the sudden arrival of a mysterious rebel deserter named Jasper (Emeka Amakeze), a conflict erupts, leading to a violent clash of ideologies and a crisis of faith for the people of Iyi.
C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s potent modern fable deploys vivid monochromatic black-and-white cinematography, rich sound design, and a hypnotic score in a folk-futurist style both earthy and otherworldly. Obasi depicts a pitched battle between opportunistic militants promising technological progress and a matriarchal spiritual order living in fragile harmony with the ocean. Mami Wata transports us to a place that seems both suspended in time and perhaps running out of time, as the threats of modern life wash up on its shores.