Afronauts

Inspired by true events, Afronauts tells an alternative history of the 1960s Space Race. It's the night of July 16th 1969 and, as America prepares to send Apollo 11 to the moon, a group of exiles in the Zambian desert are rushing to launch their rocket first. They train by rolling their astronaut, 17-year-old Matha Mwamba, down hills in barrels to simulate weightlessness. As the clock counts down to blast off, as the Bantu-7 Rocket looks more and more lopsided, Matha must decide if she's willing to die to keep her family's myths alive. Afronauts follows the scientific zeitgeist from the perspective of those who do not have access to it. (Berlinale)