The Meatseller

"Selinna" is a young lass who lives with her mum in a rural Nigerian town. Her mum sells the beef, and she helps out by drumming out trade hoping one day that she will follow in her footsteps. Things are not going so well though, and after a casual encounter with a woman in the market she gets it into her head that life might be better in Italy. This woman "cares more about money than human lives", but "Selinna" still decides to take the perilous journey north - by land and sea and so puts herself in the hands of a few venal and mercenary people smugglers. Can she make it to the Mediterranean? This is a gorgeously poignant animation to look at as in combines the innocent joy of enthusiastic youth with the contrasting cynicism of those all too ready to exploit the vulnerable and the hopeful - all against a backdrop of an often hostile environment where her struggle is inevitably tough. The vivid and energetic style of the hand-drawn imagery mixes the constantly moving basic shapes of the characters with both colour and an effective use of shading too, all whilst conveying a story of more thought provoking substance.