In December 2015,  the Sundance Institute announced its full lineup of 72 short films that will screen at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Sundance and Ogden, Utah. Among the the list under the U.S. NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS category is ‘Jungle’ by Ghanaian director and screenwriter, Asantewaa Prempeh.

‘Jungle’ tells the story of two Senegalese vendors as they try to make a living on the streets of New York City  with intertwined lines between trust, betrayal, and forgiveness.  Amadou and Yaya are two Senegalese friends who illegally sell purses on the streets of Chinatown, NYC. Tired with an unpredictable means of making money, they both want to move to a more permanent spot and become licensed vendors. Complications arise when Yaya finds information he was not privy to and we watch the lines of trust and betrayal entangle their friendship.

According to Asantewa Prempeh, he inspiration for the movie came from a subject close to home.

“My mother and uncle had a feud that lasted more than five years. This was a huge shift growing up since the two of them were so close. In an instant our families grew worlds apart. Just recently they decided to bury the hatchet and I found myself wondering, why now after so many years? Was it because they grew up learning that such an act is the right thing to do? Perhaps they did it because they realized their kids didn’t know each other and the disconnection in our family was seeping into the next generation. I was curious and that curiosity led me to explore the betrayal of trust between two people and how people deal and recover from such betrayal. “

Asantewaa Prempeh is a Ghanaian/American filmmaker. Her interest in film began while studying graphic design in college where she made her first short film, after learning of a classmates battle with AIDS. After the film’s great reception she decided to pursue an MFA at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where she has made numerous shorts films including ‘ A Sweet Song’. Winner of the Insitut du Français sponsored Accra Francophone Film Festival, winner of the Wasserman award for best editing, a Wasserman Finalist and official selection for the BFI London Film Festival Asantewaa hopes the emotive and observational style of her films will encourage positive action in others. She is currently developing her first feature film ‘Mortar’ in Ghana.

‘Jungle’ is produced by Joyce Sherrí and features  Niger born Yacine  DJoumbaye,and Senegal-born model and actor, Kumar. Below are some selected scenes from ‘Jungle’