Being very lucky to have seen titles such as Under The Concrete (2020-also reviewed) at the online event last year, I was thrilled to receive an E-Mail revealing that WOW Film Festival was returning this year. Looking at the first titles presented at WOW, I got set to meet Aya.
Note: Review contains some plot details.
View on the film:
Stepping onto the island of Lahou, writer/director/sound designer/cinematographer Simon Gillard crafts an extremely earthy, textured atmosphere in his feature film debut,filled of rustic close-ups round the island splashing over each other,as the change in climate alters the landscape of the island permanently.
Feeling the waves which were under her feet wash over her in beautifully composed match-cuts, Marie-Josee Kokora gives an excellent debut performance as Aya, thanks to Kokora expressing with a thoughtful expressiveness Aya's coming of age, along with a melancholy of seeing her childhood home go out to sea.
Following Aya picking up coconuts to bring home to her mum, the screenplay by Gillard makes each line of the sparse dialogue count, thanks to it painting a picture in exchanges with her friends and family, of the impact climate change is having in shifting the sands, around the home of Aya.
