Lazarus
2019 · 29m · Malawi
Directed by David Darg
Genres: biography, documentary, musical
Tones: contemplative, tender
In Malawi, where people with albinism face discrimination and abuse, street musician Lazarus Chigwandali teams with a London producer to record his debut album and tour his hometown — challenging stereotypes through music.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Everyone expects the uplift narrative—marginalized musician finds voice through art—but Darg refuses the easy catharsis; instead he lets Lazarus's defiance sit uncomfortable against Malawi's brutal indifference, which is the only honest move a documentary can make.
The film's formal restraint—its refusal to sentimentalize either the subject or the collaboration with the London producer—places it in a lineage of observational docs that trust their subjects' complexity over narrative convenience, with editing that lets silences do the argumentative work.
The genius move is making the album sessions themselves the engine: Darg doesn't cut away from the technical problem-solving and sonic decision-making, which transforms what could be a profile into something about the exact moment creativity becomes agency.