‘Liyana’ Is Unlike Anything Ever Seen

You may have missed Liyana, a documentary that blends animated artwork and live action, and its impressive film festival run. I certainly did. Fortunately for all of us, films like this one have a lifespan born in word of mouth that, while it may take some time, will inevitably hit your ears when you’re ready for it. For this writer, Liyana caught my attention after returning to New York to play at one of my favorites, the Museum of the Moving Image. And now it’s only proper that I write this review from Africa, where I see the faces of the five young storytellers in each smiling child I see. Like I said, these films have a way of finding you late but also right on time. Liyana is set in an orphanage in Swaziland where five children are led by South African storyteller, Gcina Mhlophe, to create a story of their own. A Russian doll of a movie, the story of Liyana becomes their movie — complete with animated artwork — inside a documentary. Theirs is about a girl they named Liyana who lives in a small home made of sticks and mud, along with her small family. The children then collaboratively add pieces to her story as viewers watch it play out like a comic book, panel by beautiful panel. The young girl quickly becomes an outlet for their personal experiences with alcoholism, abuse, neglect, disease, and violence. The children are told in the beginning that this is their story, that they choose how it will end, and the fictional story of Liyana is quickly juxtaposed against the…