Liyana is a beautiful film about the way storytelling can empower, heal, and reveal truths.

| Oct 11, 2021

In lesser hands, this documentary could have been something simple and too sweet, but Aaron Kopp, who grew up in Swaziland, and his wife Amanda, wisely let the children' express their darker thoughts as well as the hopeful ones.

| Oct 11, 2021

Liyana is an absolutely lovely and heartening vision of the power of story to help children cope with trauma, overcome their fears, and find hope in a world that has been too harsh to them.

| Oct 11, 2021

Movies can matter. Liyana clearly does.

| Oct 11, 2021

The two worlds the film captures - the orphans' African home and Liyana's gorgeously rendered environment - are ultimately beautiful, despite all of the pain and tragedy they hold...

| Oct 11, 2021

While much of the story is basic Joseph Campbell Hero's Journey stuff, like any story, it's made memorable by its details.

| Original Score: B | Aug 21, 2021

Liyana is a unique experience that capitalizes on those themes to great effect. Its subjects are children whom we may not have heard the stories of otherwise, and the fruits of their creative labors are plentiful in more ways than one.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 25, 2020

Liyana is the kind of documentary feature that makes you fall in love.

| Original Score: 4.0/4.0 | Sep 14, 2020

Despite its aesthetic standouts, this is a film that's more admirable than successful -- an auspicious directorial debut more than a movie in and of itself.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 24, 2020

Like Abbas Kiarostami's documentary ABC Africa (2001), the result is an unexpectedly joyous film about heavy subjects.

| Apr 9, 2020

An innovative blend of animated storytelling and traditional documentary.

| Jan 15, 2020

...a film that can be enjoyed by both children and parents, and which tells a story different from the usual animated children's fare.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 19, 2019

[T]he embodiment of creativity, imagination, and inspiration...An entertaining and engaging blend of live action and interviews complemented by animation of the story!

| Oct 30, 2019

We are left with a very powerful impression of resilience, the power of imagination, and the hope that the kids can craft a similarly happy ending for their own lives.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 23, 2019

Calling a movie inspirational has become something of an insult, but there's no other way to describe "Liyana."

| Original Score: A+ | Feb 4, 2019

Aaron and Amanda Kopp take the somewhat rigid format of documentary filmmaking and infuse it with folklore and fairy tales.

| Dec 12, 2018

It's that collective experience that carries the emotional heft of Liyana as she becomes a kaleidoscopic mirror of the storytellers' experiences with challenges that make them unsafe.

| Nov 26, 2018

Sweetly entertaining despite the horrors it hints at, Liyana is a snapshot of a larger story with plenty of potential for a happy ending.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 8, 2018

The visually innovative documentary is a testament to the healing power of storytelling.

| Oct 31, 2018

"Liyana" is an innovative blend of documentary and animation that tells a moving story of resiliency and the power of imagination.

| Oct 31, 2018