{"id":26240,"date":"2021-02-19T09:05:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T09:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amplify.nabshow.com\/?post_type=articles&p=26240"},"modified":"2024-09-15T18:07:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-15T18:07:21","slug":"you-cant-go-home-again-ekwa-msangis-debut-feature-farewell-amor","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/jwolfepr.com\/dev\/articles\/you-cant-go-home-again-ekwa-msangis-debut-feature-farewell-amor\/","title":{"rendered":"Home is Where I Want to Be: Ekwa Msangi\u2019s Debut Feature \u201cFarewell Amor\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jayme Lawson as Sylvia in Ekwa Msangi\u2019s Farewell Amor<\/em>. Cr: IFC Films<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cFarewell Amor<\/em> powerfully argues that you can never really go home again, especially when that home was never yours to begin with,\u201d film critic Ryan Lattanzio<\/a> writes in his review of the movie for IndieWire<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feature debut from Tanzanian American filmmaker Ekwa Msangi, Farewell Amor<\/em> is an intimate and deeply personal immigrant story inspired by true events: Msangi\u2019s uncle came to the U.S. from Tanzania in 1996 on a student visa with every intention of eventually bringing his wife to join him. Twenty-four years later they\u2019re still living apart, regularly applying for visas that are just as regularly denied, yet remain hopeful that they will one day be reunited. Farewell Amor<\/em>, which was released in select theaters in December by IFC Films and is currently streaming on digital and VOD platforms, imagines a scenario in which that happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 17 years apart, Angolan immigrant Walter (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) is joined in the US by his wife and teen daughter. Now absolute strangers sharing a one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment, they struggle to overcome the emotional distance between them. Walter is trying to let go of a previous relationship while his religious wife Esther (Zainab Jah) struggles with a new country, culture, and a husband who seems distant. Their daughter, Sylvia (Jayme Lawson), also finds her new life difficult but begins to explore the city and show herself through dance, setting the stage for an inevitable clash of values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine as Walter, Zainab Jah as Esther and Jayme Lawson as Sylvia in Ekwa Msangi\u2019s Farewell Amor<\/em>. Cr: IFC Films<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

READ MORE: Farewell Amor<\/em> Review: An Angolan Family Reunites in America in Empathetic Slice of Immigrant Life (IndieWire)<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis particular time in history feels like one where there is an audience that is curious, that is willing to listen, that is willing to challenge their assumptions, and most importantly, is willing to follow the lead of an African female filmmaker in the telling of that story,\u201d says Msangi, who has also written and directed several drama series for mainstream broadcasters in Kenya and South Africa, including The Agency<\/em>, MNET\u2019s first-ever original hour-long Kenyan drama series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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