The Kingdom of Lesotho is an enclave within the territory of South Africa: a tiny state, whose most important natural resource is water. One of the country's most important economic resources are dams. This explains the dimensions of what is at stake in This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resuirrection, when an old woman refuses to leave her house and her land to make way for the next dam, which will drown her village as well as the cemetery and bury all the dead and their immortal souls under water.
For Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection marks a homecoming: after his gangster action thriller Khapha tsa Mali (2007), he left Lesotho to go to Berlin, where he reoriented himself artistically: while his essay film Mother, I am Suffocating. This is My Last Film About You (2019) demonstrated his admiration for Chris Marker and Harun Farocki, every image and sound of This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection – as well as the film's splendour and verve – reveal his love of both Soviet cinema and his sub-Saharan predecessors.
