Son of Man updates The story of Christ For a New Audience

A new contemporary retelling of the story of Christ was screened in London's West End last week and is giving another outing on Thursday 26th October as part of the London Film Festival.

Son of Man, an original and adventurous interpretation of the New Testament, was filmed in the township of Khayelitsha and on the Eastern Cape of South Africa by Mark Dornford-May in collaboration with the pioneering Dimpho Di Kopane theatre troupe and choir network, whose film U-Carmen eKhayelitsha - Bizet's opera Carmen translated into the Xhosa tongue - was recently on general release and won the Berlin Film Festival last year. The film is infused with traditional dance, songs and rhythms, giving it life and spirit that really cuts its own voice to speak.

The film relocates the Gospel to contemporary Africa, where civil war rages. As divine child is born and grows to witness the inhumanity of the world he lives in, the world and he must try to save from the work of evil men and from the darkness working through them. The narrative unveils a portrait of a man of our time whose currency is the politics of compassion.

Son of Man has already been given awards by the Traverse City Film Festival and the San Fransisco Black Film Festival, and has received enthusiastic responses at the Sundance Film Festival and Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival, amongst others. The Daily Telegraph described it as "a vivid, thrilling, visually awe-inspiring piece of cinema".

We can expect to see the film on widespread release next year, but for further information about Thursday's screening and the film itself, see the website of the London Film Festival.