Meokgo and the Stick Fighter

This eclectic collection of shorts from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho moves from magic realism to documentary to social (and culinary) commentary. Two remarkable activists—a wealthy, high-profile fashion model and a woman in a high-density suburb—speak on living HIV positive in Zimbabwe in the spirited Growing Stronger. In the mystical mountains of Lesotho, a solitary recluse sees the woman of his dreams in the water in the magical Meokgo and the Stick Fighter, while a street-food vendor plots a decidedly delicious vengeance upon a gang of robbers plaguing her family in Nigeria’s Mama Put.

—Jason Sanders

• Growing Stronger (Tsitsi Dangarembga, Zimbabwe, 2005, 30 mins, In English and Shona with English subtitles). Meokgo and the Stick Fighter (Teboho Malatshi, South Africa/Lesotho, 2006, 19 mins, In Sotho with English subtitles). Mama Put (Seke Somolu, Nigeria, 2006, In English, Yoruba, and Igbo with English subtitles, 30 mins)

• (Total running time: 79 mins, Color, Beta SP)