Farewell, Ella Bella - UK Premiere Film

Synopsis

For Ella, the death of her alcoholic father leaves her with nothing but debt and the bitter memory of a complicated past. Abandoned by her mother at a young age, she has sacrificed her life, opportunities and love to care for a man she resents but is now left adrift in the world after his passing. The re-emergence of her nomadic godfather, jazz musician Neo, gives Ella the opportunity to search for a better future for herself in Johannesburg. Deciding to bury her father’s ashes at her childhood home, Neo and Ella decide to road-trip from Beaufort-West to Johannesburg. As they journey across the country, drifter Neo is finally learning to take responsibility and Ella is forced to confront her past.

This is filmmaker Lwazi Mvusi’s debut feature, and the first film to come out of South Africa’s Emerging Black Filmmakers Transformation Fund, aimed at boosting the local South African film industry and providing opportunities for Black voices. As such, it is significant as one of the first fiction feature films directed by a Black South African woman.