Fiela’s Child is a feature film written and directed by Brett Michael Innes and will screen at the 4th Beirut Women International Film Festival (July 19- 23). The film will appear on Tuesday, July 20 at 10:00 p.m. (GMT +3).
The Beirut International Women’s Film Festival (BWFF) is an annual event in Beirut that brings together filmmakers and film lovers worldwide. BWFF uses the power of the lens and cinema, which is the window on society and, in this case, women, to address themes such as gender equality, sexual identity, and domestic violence.
The film is set in the arid Karoo, and it follows a mixed-race woman who adopts and raises a lost white child as her own. The Child is removed nine years later and forced to live with a family of woodcutters in the Knysna Forest who claim he is theirs.
The film has previously won seven awards, including Best Actress at the South African Independent Film Festival, Best Achievement in Sound at the African Movie Academy Awards, Best Film and Best Screenplay at the South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTA).
In 2019, the film had its world debut at the Silwerskerm Film Festival in South Africa, where it won the Audience Favourite and Best Scorer awards. In addition, it had its international premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PFF) in Estonia, where it received the Audience Choice Award.
The film has also screened at international film festivals such as the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), where it had its Arab world premiere, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), and the Sedona Film Festival in the United States.
