Multi-award winning filmmaker Uga Carlini brought home another win for herself, and South African filmmakers, with her third feature film, ‘Beyond the Light Barrier’. The film won ‘Best Foreign Documentary’ at Female Eye Film Festival that was held recently in Toronto, Canada.
The Female Eye Festival advocates for gender equity, inclusion, and diversity in the international film industry. Founder, Artistic and Executive Director Leslie-Ann Coles conceived the Female Eye Film Festival in 2001 after observing that female directors were in the minority of directors at the international film festivals she attended.
Beyond the Light Barrier, Carlini’s latest offering to moviegoers and critics, is the world’s first part Ethereum (cryptocurrency) funded hybrid documentary feature film and is supported by the NFVF (National Film and Video Foundation) of South Africa. The movie will be broadcast on streaming service Amazon Prime from 6 October 2023 globally. The film took 13 years to complete and is shot by cinematographer Georgia Court.
Beyond the Light Barrier, narrated by John Kani, explores the extraordinary life of Elizabeth Klarer, a South African meteorologist who devoted herself to proving the existence of Akon, her extraterrestrial lover from the planet Meton in the Proxima Centauri solar system. The film features archival footage, recent interviews with Klarer’s family and friends, as well as sceptics and Ufologists, to offer an in-depth look at her enigmatic life. Klarer claims to have lived with Akon’s family on Meton for four months and given birth to their son after a journey on his spaceship. The film delves into Klarer’s experiences on the alien planet and includes insights from Credo Mutwa, a renowned South African mystic. Through personal accounts and expert analysis, Beyond the Light Barrier provides an immersive exploration of Klarer’s remarkable legacy.
The subject matter of the movie is not alien to Carlini, as her first short film, Good Planets Are Hard To Find, also told the story of the controversial South African meteorologist Elizabeth Klarer. Klarer devoted herself to proving the existence of Akon, her extraterrestrial lover from the planet Meton in the Proxima Centauri solar system. Beyond the Light Barrier explores Klarer’s extraordinary life, and is narrated by well-known actor, author, director, and playwright John Kani.
The film is currently on its festival run: it premiered at the Encounters Documentary Film Festival, where it was an AIAHA AWARD finalist (which rewards excellence in documentary filmmaking by African women) and also received a special mention for the AL JAZEERA BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD as BEST AFRICAN DOCUMENTARY. It also won BEST DOCUMENTARY at the 8 & Halfilm Awards and BEST DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY for the Writer’s Guild of South Africa’s Muse Awards.
Carlini is the founding owner of Towerkop Creations, a boutique film production company. Since its inception (in 2010) the company has been specializing in female driven heroine stories since. Carlini has been voted ‘Woman of the Month’ in the ‘Extraordinary Women of South Africa’ initiative, and is the first filmmaker – and the first South African company – to be inducted as a member of the South African/American Business Chamber. Uga and her company are also involved in several local training initiatives.
