A film by UW–Madison’s Micha Espinosa, a professor in the School of Education’s Department of Theatre and Drama, has been recognized with an Honorary Award for Efforts in Social Filmmaking at the Activists Without Borders Film Festival. The award spotlights films that advance social impact and honors filmmakers whose works deliver powerful messages regardless of technical constraints.
Espinosa’s film, “Lamentation at the Liesbeek,” co-directed with University of Cape Town Associate Professor Sara Matchett, documents a protest by Indigenous and local artists at Cape Town’s Liesbeek River. Through ritual, movement, and testimony, the film explores how the community transforms grief into advocacy, while honoring the land and its ancestral heritage.
“Lamentation at the Liesbeek” will have its world premiere at the Social Justice Film Festival in Seattle on April 17. Espinosa recently discussed the film on the Radical Films podcast, airing April 1.
The film will screen online this fall as part of the Activists Without Borders Film Festival.
Espinosa has additionally created an immersive installation that serves as a companion piece to the documentary and will premiere at the University of Cape Town in 2027. While the film provides narrative grounding, she explains, the installation “centers sensation, sound, and embodied presence.”
“The two works were conceived in dialogue with one another — each speaking to the other,” she says.