21/02/2025 - BERLINALE 2025: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese makes his long-awaited new feature with a moving ode to the past, present and future of Lesotho and his complicated bond with it

Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese opens his latest feature, Ancestral Visions of the Future, which just premiered in the Berlinale Special section of the 75th Berlinale, by telling us it is an "ode to cinema, an eternal nod to my mother”. Following up on his critically acclaimed This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection [+see also:
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The filmmaker begins with a narration that contextualises how he grew up, envious of those who have experienced war because of how it can be made nostalgic so easily. His trauma is of a different nature, says Mosese, such that its reverberating effects can be felt across all different aspects of life. He conversationally narrates to us a mix of anecdotes and poetics recounting his childhood, coupled with social musings (through a screenplay by Mosese as well) that reflect further on Lesotho’s colonial past, as well as the displacement and resistance that came in tow. The concept of time becomes increasingly important, as suggested by the film's title, where past and future aren't explicitly disconnected.

A potentially frustrating aspect for many viewers might be the disconnect between the undeniably striking images – with cinematography by Mosese and Phillip Leteka – that come in the film’s more essayistic portions of narration. As we witness moments of community, daily life, labour and more, the writer-director uses the narration to tell us what to think about while showing us something more atmospheric. This, at times, can be alienating, given the often dense and metaphorical content shared in voice-over. Gaps between spoken sections are filled by some greater-than-reality sounds and droning synthesiser music by Diego Noguera, which accentuate the film’s more meditative moments.

Other portions see Mosese navigate visually between people, such as particular encounters with individuals, including martial arts and puppeteer Sobo Bernard, and the cityscapes of the country where many were forced to move for work, as he notes. These more directly empirical sections are the easiest to grasp, even though the film still refuses to lean into a didactic mode that might accidentally over-explain things. The filmmaker is more interested in setting the scene and creating a mood and landscape, but never one that’s romanticised. Instead, we are given a privileged glimpse into types of experiences we will never have, guided by Mosese’s willingness to let us in on his perspective.

Ancestral Visions of the Future is a co-production involving France, Lesotho, Germany, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, staged by Agat Films & Cie / Ex Nihilo and Mokoari Street, co-produced by SEERA Films GmbH and the Red Sea Fund and with support from the Doha Film Institute. Memento International handles the film’s world sales.