''I Love You'' (2007) is a short film made in Mozambique that was directed by

Rogério Manjate Rogério Manjate (born April 1972) is an actor, theater director and filmmaker from Mozambique, and an author of poetry and fiction. Early career Rogério Manjate was born in the Malanga neighborhood of Maputo in April 1972. He grew up there and ...

. It is a Força Maior Production, created with the financial support of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

and Cooperação Belga, Mozambique. The film, which deals with the issue of safe sex, was produced for UNESCO.

Synopsis

The film tells the story of Mandala, a boy of 11 years of age playing football in the street who has discovered that his attractive neighbor, Josephine, is a prostitute. The film briefly features frontal nudity as Josephine "tarts herself up" to go into the city to meet clients. Although very young, Mandala knows about AIDS and struggles with himself because he does not know how to tell Josephine to protect herself by using condoms. He aids her on the way into the city, putting down stones as bridges for her to cross puddles and helping her with shoes. He finds an original and unique way to communicate his message and the innocent love that he feels for her by leaving a condom in one of her shoes with the message "I Love You" written on it which she sees as she departs across the street. The film has no dialog, because it was meant to be shown in many parts of the world without subtitles.

Awards

The film won the 2008

Durban International Film Festival The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Founded in 1979 by Teddy Sarkin and Ros Sarkin, it is the oldest and largest film festival in Africa an ...

award for Best Short Film. ''I Love You'' also won the short film prizes at the

Africa in Motion Africa in Motion (AiM) is an annual African film festival which takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland, in late October/early November. The primary aim of the festival is to offer audiences in Scotland the opportunity to view the best of African cin ...

(AiM) festival which ran from 23 October to 2 November 2008 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland and at the

African Film Festival of Tarifa The African Film Festival of Cordoba (formerly (African Film Festival of Tarifa) or FCAT) is an annual festival devoted to African cinema held in the Spanish city of Cordoba. It is organized by the NGO Al Tarab. The event was founded in 2004 un ...

(FCAT) in

Tarifa Tarifa (, Arabic: طريفة) is a Spanish municipality in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located at the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula, it is primarily known as one of the world's most popular destinations for windsports. Tarifa ...

, Spain in 2009.

References

External links

*{{cite web , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jol5ZuKK8fk , title=I LOVE YOU - mozambican short film , work=YouTube , author=Rogério Manjate , accessdate=2012-03-10 2007 films 2007 drama films Mozambican drama films Films set in Mozambique 2007 short films Mozambican short films