Africa World Documentary Film Festival Review – NASCENT

Review by Stephen Tronicek

NASCENT screens at the Africa World Documentary Film Festival Friday, February 5, 2016 at 6:00. The festival takes place at the Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd (63112). For a complete schedule of all of the films, go HERE

It’s one thing to find a good documentarian. It’s another to find a good documentarian with artistic vision. In just six short minutes documentarians Lindsey Branham, and Jonathan Kasbe unleash a surrealist documentary that through sheer force of vision leaves the viewer perplexed.

NASCENT follows the story of two young Central African Republic children each telling their own story about the result of the war going on in their country. These stories won’t be revealed here since this is a six minute film. That said Nascent isn’t all about those stories. There’s a splash of aforementioned surrealism in here that allows the stories to not only become more powerful in themselves, but also allows the film to shine in it’s undeniable beauty. Also the fact that surrealism is ultimately better at pulling out emotions than anything straightforward is fully apparent. NASCENT seems to be the best short of the festival so far, and hopefully the vision here is appreciated.