The Forgotten Kingdom

Taking his late father's body back for burial in his ancestral homeland prompts a young Johannesburg resident to reconnect with the land and the tribal ties his family had long since left behind, in this very first feature film to be shot in the land-locked country of Lesotho. American film-maker Andrew Mudge first visited when his brother was a Peace Corps volunteer, and obviously fell under the place's spell, since this beautifully shot story conveys a reverence for its verdant rolling landscapes while remaining clear-eyed about the struggles of its populace. The mysteries of tribal magic are explored along the journey, but it's the country's Aids crisis that provides the crux of the plot, since the rekindling of childhood romance is complicated by the social stigma the virus places on the household in a tight-knit Lesotho community. The resolution proves heartfelt and touching, and if the script sometimes waxes too mystical for its own good, the film's ultimately so genuine it's hard to resist.