The trailer for the feature film “Short Cut” (to be directed by Norman Maake) about the quest of two brothers to escape a life of hardship and political turmoil in Zimbabwe and decide to travel to Johannesburg only to be forced into slavery in an illegal mine in a border town. As Maake explains: “They plot an escape but are seperated instead. One gets deported back and the other is left stranded in no man land.. Inches away from freedom he is forced to turn back and search for his brother dead or alive bring him back to the city of promise or slums.”

The film is still in development phase.

For more information also read this essay (part of a fundraising effort) about the genesis of”Short Cuts” by the film’s producer David Max Brown.

Further Reading

Fuel’s errand

When Africa’s richest man announced the construction of the continent’s largest crude oil refinery, many were hopeful. But Aliko Dangote has not saved Nigeria. The Nigerian Scam returns to the Africa Is a Country Podcast to explain why.

Fragile state

Without an immediate change in approach, Somalia will remain a fragmented country populated by self-serving elites seeking foreign patrons.

Coming home

In 1991, acclaimed South African artist Helen Sebidi’s artworks were presumed stolen in Sweden. Three decades later, a caretaker at the residential college where they disappeared found them in a ceiling cupboard, still in their original packaging.

Imaginary homelands

A new biography of former apartheid homeland leader Lucas Mangope struggles to do more than arrange the actions of its subject into a neat chronology.

Business as usual?

This month, Algeria quietly held its second election since Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted in 2019. On the podcast, we ask what Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s second term means for the country.