Oscars 2022: South Africa selects ‘Barakat’ for International Feature Category
A still from movie ‘Barakat'
South Africa has selected the multi-award-winning movie ‘Barakat’ for Best International Feature at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022.
The movie follows the story of a Muslim widow Aisha, who tries to bring together her fractured family over Eid-al-Fitr to break the news about her new romance. South African actress Vinette Ebrahim plays the ageing matriarch, while her four sons, struggling to come to terms with the death of their father two years earlier.
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The movie is directed by Amy Jephta and produced by Ephraim Gordon.
The country’s National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) decision makes the movie from director Amy, the fourth from a female director to be submitted to the Academy Awards by South Africa, and the first from “a woman of color,”.
“I am so proud that our small story about a family has reached as many people as it has,” said Jephta. “To be recognized by South Africa in this way is incredibly special after an extremely challenging year for our film industry.”
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Barakat, which means “blessings” in Arabic, is “told in Afrikaaps, the widely spoken Cape Town dialect of the Afrikaans language,”. “The first Afrikaaps dictionary is currently in development after being announced earlier this year.”
“This selection was totally unexpected, but it shows that everyone’s hard work on this project has paid off,” says Ephraim. “This film was a blessing from the beginning and continues to be. It is our barakat.”
