Memory of Princess Mumbi: Close Up with Director Damien Hauser

In 2093, filmmaker Kuve visits the village of Umata to document a war that resurrected ancient kingdoms. He meets Mumbi, an actress who challenges him to create his film without using artificial intelligence. This sci-fi romance mockumentary is set in a futuristic Africa; it’s the fourth feature from Swiss-Kenyan filmmaker Damien Hauser, and touches on the themes of personal loss and mourning. A visually stunning Afrofuturist film, this film is, as the Zurich jury put it, “both intimate in its focus on characters and monumental in the breadth of its imagined landscapes.” Variety calls it “a playful, bittersweet meta-fiction that is part love story, part mockumentary.”