Crumbs: the award-winning African sci-fi film now available to watch online

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African sci fi film
The Ethiopian post-apocalyptic sci-fi film Crumbs, which has earned a cult film status among critics and movie-lovers around the world, has finally been released online. (Photo: Crumbs Facebook)

CD Anderson

Bypassing the traditional route of commercial theatre and DVD releases, the acclaimed Afrocentric sci-fi film, Crumbs is now available to watch online on Vimeo, following two years of building its reputation on the international film festival circuit as one of the most innovative and entertaining independent films in the last two years.

Watch the Crumbs trailer

Directed by Spanish-born, Addis Adaba-based filmmaker Miguel Llansó, Crumbs blends an apocalyptic science fiction narrative with a touching love story, incorporating visual elements of Afro-futurism, surreal Romanticism with Western pop culture touchstones.

The film tells the story of Gagano (Daniel Tadesse) and Birdy (Selam Tesfaye) and their journey of exploration (both physical and metaphorical) deep into a dystopian wasteland. Along the way, the pair tackle witchcraft, aliens, Nazis and, most bizarrely, Santa Claus, all building towards an epic confrontation between forces of good and evil.

The 70 minute low-budget production, completed in 2015, earned a Nightfall Jury mention at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the New Flesh Award for Best First Feature Film at Montreal’s annual Fantasia International Film Festival. The film has been shown at various festivals across Europe, Africa and the US.

The New York Times called the film “stunningly shot” and admired the film’s lo-fi charm and quirky humour. Highlighting the film’s outlandish and imaginative style, the Hollywood Reporter compared Crumbs to films such as District 9 and ET, saying it was a film that does more with its meagre resources (a budget less than US$250,000) than most Hollywood blockbusters could do with multi-million dollar budgets.

Its growing reputation amongst sci-fi geeks and cult movie fans, thanks in part to an engaging organic social media campaign by producers, has built up considerable word-of-mouth buzz around the film, to the point where the time is right to give Crumbs a wider release using the power of the internet.

Crumbs is now available to stream and download for less than US$10 on the Vimeo website. For something more permanent, fans can also order the film on DVD featuring behind the scenes action as well as two additional short films by director Llansó.

Watch the opening scene of Crumbs below:

Source: OkayAfrica