Green Dox

Black Mambas

Lena Karbe
Screening time  
29.03. / Wednesday, 19:00 - 21:00 Theatre 5  

Three young South African women must navigate the crumbling ruins of a colonial past when they take on the coveted job of Black Mambas Rangers, assigned to the Big Five animals (Elephants, Rhinos, Lions, Leopards, Buffalo) in the Greater Kruger Park, South Africa. Nkateko, who sees the position as a first step for her career; Qolile, training anti-poaching dogs to support her family while her husband looks for work, and Naledi, an idealist who sees the Black Mambas as the pinnacle of female empowerment, stand at the crossroads of the country’s forward progress and its colonial past. When their boss puts them on display to promote “environmental patriotism” each finds herself at a unique critical juncture.

Lena_karbe

Lena Karbe

Born in St Petersburg, Russia, Lena Karbe is a Germany-based filmmaker. Having studied film internationally (École normale supérieure, University of Oxford and University of Television and Film in Munich), she founded her own production company Karbe Film GmbH in 2018 with the focus on documentaries for national and international audiences, based in Munich. The mission of Karbe Film’s documentaries is to foster new perspectives and amplify voices and opinions outside the status quo. She has produced several feature films before starting to write and direct. Documentary series Chinese Dream that she co-directed with Tristan Coloma premiered at Hofer Filmtagen in 2018 and was shown at more than 30 festivals worldwide. It was published on ARTE in Spring 2020. Black Mambas is her feature film debut as a writer/director.

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Black Mambas

France, Germany
2022, 81'

Directed by:
Lena Karbe

Screenplay by:
Lena Karbe

Cinematography:
Mateusz Smolka

Edited by:
Georg Michael Fischer

Music:
Rémi Alexandre

Producers:
Lena Karbe, Jan Vasak, Ramadan Suleman

Produced by:
Karbe Film, Day for Night productions, Natives at Large

Festivals & Awards:

CPH:DOX: F:ACT Award (2022), Pordenone Docs Fest: Green Documentary Award (2022), IDFA (2022), Guadalajara IFF (2022), DOK.fest (2022), Sydney FF (2022), Krakow FF (2022), Durban IFF (2022), DokuFest (2022), Haugesund IFF (2022), Edinburgh FF (2022), Reykjavik IFF (2022), Adelaiade FF (2022), Jerusalem Anthropological FF (2022), Santa Barbara IFF (2023)