Ezra

In the year 2000, it was alleged that some 300,000 children were serving as soldiers in armed conflicts in more than thirty countries around the world. Nearly 120,000 of these were allegedly engaged in various conflicts on the African continent.

EZRA is a factional tale inspired by the Sierra Leonean conflict. It is centred on one event: a drug fuelled atrocious attack on a village by rebel soldiers. The jigsaw puzzle of what occurred that night is reconstructed through the testimonies of three witnesses: Ezra, an ex-combatant, his sister Onitcha, a mute, and Cynthia, Ezra's fellow ex-soldier.

What is supposed to be reconciliation soon becomes a trial, as Onitcha chooses this as the arena to reveal a secret she has kept from her brother.

 

© ARTE France, CINEFACTO, KGP Filmporduktion, Pierre Javaux Productions, Sunday Morning Production


World premiere: Sundance Film Festival 2007 (Park City, USA)

Trailer
Awards

2007

Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)

Grand Prix Etalon d'or de Yennega

United Nations Special Award for Promoting a Culture of Tolerance and Peace

Special Prize Burkina Prize for the Rights of the Child Special Prize of the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations (Inalco)


African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival (Milan, Italy)

Audience Award


Durban International Film Festival (Durban, South Africa)

Audience Award


Granada Film Festival "Cines del Sur" (Granada, Spain)

Best Directing


Rencontres Internationales (Paris/France, Berlin/Germany)

Preis der Jury


Amiens International Film Festival (Amiens, France)
Jury Prize

Audience Award


Lumières d’Afrique (Besançon, France)

Audience Award

Jury Prize

Festivals

2007

Sundance Film Festival (Park City, USA)
Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)
African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival (Milan, Italy)
Cannes Film Festival (Cannes, France)
Granada Film Festival "Cines del Sur" (Granada, Spain)
Rencontres Internationales «Songes d’une nuit DV » (France)
Durban International Film Festival (Durban, South Africa)
La Rochelle International Film Festival (La Rochelle, France)
Gindou Film Festival (Gindou, France)
"Africa in the picture" Film Festival (Netherlands)
Festival do Rio (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)
Barcelona Festival de Cinema Politic (Barcelona, Spain)
FILMFEST Hamburg (Hamburg, Germany)
Films from the South (Oslo, Norway)
Busan International Film Festival (Busan, South Korea)
Warsaw Film Festival (Warsaw, Poland)
BFI London Film Festival (London, UK)
Französischen Filmtage (Tübingen/Stuttgart, Germany)
Mostra de Cinemas Africanos (Spain)
Amiens International Film Festival (Amiens, France)
Kolkata International Film Festival (Kolkata, India)
Lumières d’Afrique (Besançon, France)
Afrikanische Filmtage (Saarbrücken, Germany)
Festival di Cinema Africano (Verona, Italy)
ZINEBI (Bilbao, Spain)
Kanema Film Festival (Lisbon, Portugal)
Havana Film Festival (Havana, Cuba)
Dubai International Film Festival (Dubai, United Arab Emirates )
Caravan To Africa (Seoul, South Korea)


2008

Africa Alive Festival (Frankfurt, Germany)
Seville Three Cultures Foundation (Special Screening) (Sevilla, Spain)
FEMI Guadeloupe International Filmfestival (Guadeloupe)
Cascade Festival of African Films (Oregon, USA)
BLACK MOVIE Festival de films des autres mondes (Geneva, Switzerland)
CinemAfrica (Stockholm, Sweden)
AFRIKAMERA (Berlin, Germany)
Göteborg Film Festival (Gothenborg, Sweden)
Biennale Cinéma et Education "Cinéduc" (Grenoble, France)
CinemAfrica (Stockholm, Sweden)
Pan African Film Festival (Los Angeles, USA)
Mons International Film Festival (Mons, Belgium)
Vienna Forum on Human Trafficking (Vienna, Austria)
Ecocinema International Environmental Film Festival (Athen, Greece)
FEBIOFEST: International Film Festival Prague (Prague, Czech Republic)
Diagonale. Festival des österreichischen Films (Graz, Austria)
La Caravane des cinémas d’Afrique (Lyon, France)
AFRICALA - Festival de Cine Africano de la Ciudad de México (México)
Wild Cinema Windhoek International Film Festival (Windhoek, Namibia)
AfryKamera Film Festival (Warsaw, Poland)
Human Rights Nights (Bologna, Italy)
Donostia - San Sebastian Human Rights Film Festival (San Sebastian, Spain)
MOOOV Filmfestival (Turnhout, Belgium)
Kristiansand International Children's Film Festival (Kristiansand, Norway)
Human Rights Films Festival (Pamplona, Spain)
African Film Festival FCAT (Tarifa/Cadix, Spain)
Internationales Film Festival Innsbruck (Innsbruck, Austria)
SANFIC Santiago International Film Festival (Santiago, Chile)
Festival cinémas d’Afrique (Lausanne, Switzerland)
Take One Action (Edinburgh, UK)
AFRICAN SCREENS (Berlin, Germany)
Festival Jenseits von Europa (Köln, Germany)
Africa in Motion (Edinburgh, UK)
Carthage Film Festival (Tunis, Tunisia)
Al Kasaba International Film Festival (Palestinia, Israel)
Antirasistiska filmdagar (Malmö, Sweden)
Castellinaria (Bellinzona, Switzerland)
Just Film - Youth and Children’s Film Festival (Tallinn, Estonia)
HUMAN AID 4 Life Filmtage (Vienna, Austria)
“African Perspectives” Special screening – major exhibition by Yinka Shonibare MBE – Museum of Contemporary Art at Dendy Opera Quays Sydney (Sydney, Australia)
Cinestar Filmverleih Special screening "FranCultures" (Vienna, Austria)


2009

Cycle de cinéma Africain "African Screens" (Lisbon, Portugal)
African Studies Film Festival (Madison, USA)
Helsinki International Film Festival (Helsinki, Finland)


2010
KINO AFRIKA FESTIVAL (Oslo, Norway)