Mozambique’s Melanie de Vales shortlisted for Best African Actor Award

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Mozambique’s Melanie de Vales shortlisted for Best African Actor Award

2:18 CAT | 27 Sep 2018

Photo: O País

Mozambican actress Melanie de Vales Rafael has been nominated by the Sotigui Academy, Burkina Faso, for the 2018 Best Young African Actor award for her role as ‘Rosa’ in Licínio de Azevedo’s ‘Train of Salt and Sugar’.

The Sotigui Prize will be awarded during the annual African Film Festival, which is considered by many the most important on the continent and takes place this year in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 29 November to 1 December.

Melanie played a young nurse trained in the city with no experience of war but who nevertheless embarks on the ‘Train of Salt and Sugar’ intending to offer her services in Cuamba. During the train journey she experiences the atrocities of the war at first hand and, amid the chaos, falls in love with a soldier, Taiar, played by Angolan actor Matamba Joaquim.

“I did not imagine that my career, which started only a short while ago, would reach this stage,” the actress said on Monday morning in reaction to her nomination.

Rewarding a small film industry like Mozambique’s enhanced its potential, she said, and should prompt exploration of the great variety of stories the country had to offer.

It opened up the possibility, she continued, of greater exchange, allowing those involved in film production here to think big and dream of greater things, as it was becoming apparent that it was possible to go much further.

“For me it’s already a prize, especially because the people around me were keen for me to take up a more secure career. But I insisted on acting, because that’s what I love doing,” she said.

She expects more women to achieve the same visibility, and recognise that they need to become more involved in the whole production chain.

“Rosa is a woman who fought for women’s rights, and for that reason I believe she would be proud,” she said, referring to the character who made her nomination as Best Young African Actor possible.

Licinio des Azevedo, director of ‘Train of Salt and Sugar’, said the nomination constituted an important step for the national cinema, especially coming from an academy like Burkina Faso’s Sotigui.

Although Melanie de Vales Rafael had received several invitations to join productions following the movie’s international screenings, it was still “a nice surprise to hear about the nomination”, Azevedo said.

‘Train of Salt and Sugar’ has received several international awards, most recently Best Director at the Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles, USA.

Before taking the leading role in ‘Train of Salt and Sugar’ in 2014, Melanie made her movie debut in ‘Republic of Children’ a film by Guinean director Flora Gomes shot in Maputo in 2010.

‘Train of Salt and Sugar’ has recently had commercial screenings in movie theatres in Brazil, for periods of up to four weeks in some cases – a rare achievement for an African film in the country.

Source: Notícias