Backdrop fallback

Bao

Bao

Share

Bao

"Give the Beggar a Chance!"

2026

0h 8m

0.0(0 votes)

History

Drama

Overview

An African and African American debate on the ongoing diaspora war within the black community. Set entirely across the centuries-old East African Mancala strategy game, Bao, the film fuses historical archive with lived experience to wage a fierce interrogation of Black identity and pride.

Links & Resources

Social & External

The people behind it

Cast & crew

2 featured cast members

Starring

Mpianga Job Jr. Oueno

Player One

Purple Nwo

Player Two

Creative team

Directed by: Sekera Mohamed Besta
Written by: Sekera Mohamed Besta

Similar Movies

Ghosted

Ghosted

A weekend retreat with a partner turns sinister for a social media influencer when he is pursued by an online stalker.

The Red Valentine

When a pair of young lovers are discovered dead, a tangled web of deception unravels revealing that behind the passionate tragedy lies a dangerous truth.

Ballet Shoes

Ballet Shoes

Two dancers are forced to confront their feelings for each other on the eve of a ballet competition.

The Sheets Must Be Silk

The Sheets Must Be Silk

A young photographer doesn't know it, but he is about to take one of the worlds beloved photos. During the course of the evening, two people find love encapsulated in a moment. But love like this was never meant to be, unless it is captured forever in time.

Sally

Sally

When Sally, a lost soul stuck in the past, meets up with her part time lover Winnie at college, she must decide what's more important, her past with Kristian or present with Winnie.

The Quiet

The Quiet

After her widowed father dies, deaf teenager Dot moves in with her godparents, Olivia and Paul Deer. The Deers' daughter, Nina, is openly hostile to Dot, but that does not prevent her from telling her secrets to her silent stepsister, including the fact that she wants to kill her lecherous father.

The Prince of Egypt

The Prince of Egypt

The strong bond between two Royal Egyptian brothers is challenged when their chosen responsibilities set them at odds, with extraordinary consequences.

Lost Time

Lost Time

Anto travels to the depth of his most beloved memories with Julián. He must cross the threshold of the loss of a loved one.

Instinct

Instinct

After a diving excursion in the middle of the ocean, Lindsey is viciously sexually assaulted by Bruce, her instructor. She fends him of and they fall overboard into the water. Bruce grabs her and sinks her to the depths of the ocean. In this spiral of violence, she has no way to breathe.

Other than silence

When she was younger, she created an imaginary friend who took up all the space in her life, driving her to shun others. He is all her ghosts. He's her refuge. But now she's grown up, she'd like to understand, she'd like to stop running away. That evening, it was one more escape, perhaps the last.

Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting

Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting

In the Depression-ravaged countryside of 1930s America, adolescent girls are expected to fulfill a long-standing rite in which they hunt and slay a mythical beast of their mother’s choosing.

Animale

Animale

Camargue, France - Nejma trains hard to win the local bullfighting competition. When she is mauled after a celebration, she starts to notice disturbing changes. News of a rogue bull on the loose terrifies the community, killing young men.

Handling the Undead

Handling the Undead

On a hot summer day in Oslo, the dead mysteriously awaken, and three families are thrown into chaos when their deceased loved ones come back to them. Who are they, and what do they want?

Ragamuffin

Ragamuffin

A 12-year-old motocross racer spends what seems like an average race weekend at the track with her father. But as things unfold, she’s faced with her identity, her deafness, and what it means to be a girl.

Stranger, Brother.

Stranger, Brother.

When Adam, a self-absorbed and lonely millennial, wakes one morning to find his estranged half brother on his doorstep, he must face the family he’s been running away from.

Elena

Elena

An old woman suffering from dementia thinks she is twenty years old and is about to run away with her lover. How does this illness affect her son?

Moth!

Moth!

Moth! follows Sophia, a 15 year old girl struggling to come to terms with her first major breakup, and navigate her relationship with her mother now that she is getting older and experiencing more. With her best friend Caitlin, Sophia will explore these big new emotions, and do whatever it takes to get over her ex, no matter how drastic, far fetched, or idiotic that may be.

Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot

At 25, Berthe dreams of making a living from her painting, never to marry, and to always stay with her sister Edma. Her parents do not see things from the same angle. Then Berthe meets Edouard Manet, who takes an interest in this young artist apprentice whose face inspires him.

Letter to America

Letter to America

Two friends from Odesa try to compose a video message to their pals, emigrants to the United States. One of them rents his apartment to a tricky girl who invents various excuses not to pay the rent. An exceptional story about people on the verge of despair who nonetheless manage to enjoy life, even if these joys are beyond good and evil.

A Poet in New York

A Poet in New York

In 1953 Dylan Thomas went to New York for the last time, his marriage a wreck, his drinking out of control. He was on his way to meet Stravinsky and to wallow in New York acclaim - but what was he escaping? How did such a triumph become a requiem? The last days of a great poet.

Recommended Movies

Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher

Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher

At the turn of the 19th century, Pugilism was the sport of kings and a gifted young boxer fought his way to becoming champion of England.

The Safety of Objects

The Safety of Objects

In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.

Dalíland

Dalíland

In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps aging genius Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York.

Origin

Origin

While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the beauty of human resilience.

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film

A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.

The Last Rifleman

The Last Rifleman

A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.

Belle

Belle

Dido Elizabeth Bell, the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, plays an important role in the campaign to abolish slavery in England.

Worth

Worth

Kenneth Feinberg, a powerful D.C. lawyer appointed Special Master of the 9/11 Fund, fights off the cynicism, bureaucracy, and politics associated with administering government funds and, in doing so, discovers what life is worth.

Vesper

Vesper

After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.

Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs

Short film made with the help of the Sundance Film Institute and serving as a proof-of-concept for the subsequent feature film.

All Eyez on Me

All Eyez on Me

All Eyez on Me chronicles the life and legacy of Tupac Shakur, including his rise to superstardom as a hip-hop artist, actor, poet and activist, as well as his imprisonment and prolific, controversial time at Death Row Records. Against insurmountable odds, Tupac rose to become a cultural icon whose career and persona both continue to grow long after his passing.

I Believe in Unicorns

I Believe in Unicorns

Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

This film is a glimpse into the life, love and the unconquerable spirit of the legendary Bruce Lee. From a childhood of rigorous martial arts training, Lee realizes his dream of opening his own kung-fu school in America. Before long, he is discovered by a Hollywood producer and begins a meteoric rise to fame and an all too short reign as one the most charismatic action heroes in cinema history.

Skin

Skin

Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Bastard Out of Carolina

Bastard Out of Carolina

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

Iron Jawed Angels

Iron Jawed Angels

Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.

The Short History of the Long Road

The Short History of the Long Road

Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy still struggled with the challenge of her color, in a time that wouldn't let some stars in by the front door. Yet against the odds she beat out many more famous rivals for the role of "Carmen Jones", becoming the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. Marriages and affairs would break her heart, but her heart was strong. Seductive and easily seduced, she was born to be a star - with all the glory and all the pain of being loved, abused, cheated, glorified, undermined and undefeated. Here was a woman who wouldn't wait in the wings. Halle Berry stars as Dorothy Dandrige.

Hounddog

Hounddog

A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.