The Train of Salt and Sugar (2016)

The Train of Salt and Sugar was Mozambique’s Oscar submission for Best Foreign Film in 2018 and won Best Director at Cairo International Film Festival, Best Director at Carthage, and Best Film at Joburg Film Festival, where the jury noted the film’s triumph “in showing the resilience of the human spirit.”

Set in northern Mozambique in the 1980s, the story follows a train transporting passengers and goods 500 miles through guerrilla-held territory during the Mozambican civil war. As rivalries form between the soldiers of the train’s military guard and friendships are forged between the passengers, violence looms both on board and from the rebels. And with the threat of battle looming, romance blossoms against the stunning backdrop of the African bush.