Desiree Kahikopo’s feature film, The White Line (2019) continues taking Namibian cinema to new heights, having just recently scooped the Kilimandjaro Award for Best Feature Film at the 7th edition of the Africlap Festival held in France from 23 to 30 August 2020.
The Kilimandjaro Award for Best Feature Film is one of the two main prizes the festival has, alongside the Kilimanjaro for Best feature documentary and various other prizes. Festival Africlap is organized by Africlap, a non-profit association whose objective is to expose African cinema in Toulouse, France and surrounding territories.
Kahikopo says awards add certain credibility to the film and helps push the film further with the potential buyers and draws attention to her as Director/Producer, her future projects and the hard work of the entire cast and crew.
“Seeing our story having touched somebody enough for it to receive an award especially knowing what we went through telling it- all the blood, sweat and tears- is amazing and I thank Jesus for it,” she says.
Kahikopo says she hopes the international recognition earned by The White Line as a Namibian film will continue to create a shift in the quality of Namibian cinema and draw interest to private investors and corporations, not just in Namibia but internationally and equally build audiences.
“I hope this will continue to lay the new ground for building this industry to a space that we can all be proud off and the industry becoming self-sustaining,” Kahikopo says.
The White Line has screened at various international festivals and consequently earned accolades locally and internationally. The film is yet to have a Namibian premiere.
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