
When Shula (Susan Chardy) returns home to Zambia and finds her uncle’s dead body on the roadside by a brothel, the last thing she wants is to mourn him. Her boisterously drunk cousin Nsansa (Elizabeth Chisela) can’t stop laughing, because Uncle Fred died as he lived: a pervert. But when their aunties shame them into helping with three intense days of traditional funeral rites, the cousins must wrestle with the sanctification of a man who caused great harm in his lifetime.
Kicking off our latest installment of African Cinema Now!, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is the second feature from writer-director Rungano Nyoni (I Am Not a Witch), who was awarded a Best Director prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. Darkly humorous and occasionally surrealist, her writing is matched by razor-sharp editing and immersive sound design to expose the absurdity of the family’s over-the-top demands. The pressure cooker of the funeral is contrasted with the joys and catharsis of stolen moments between the cousins. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a defiant warning call to families who hide predators in their midst.
Akojo Film Collective says:
No place is gender-based discrimination more apparent than in the domestic space of the home. Nyoni’s sensibilities in depicting the lives of Zambian women make for a film that challenges and deconstructs these intimate spaces and the labour expected of women and girls within them. The surreal nature of life for the main character, Shula holds deeply a universal understanding of the realities of womanhood even as it binds her deeper to other younger women in her family.
A magically transcendent, cunningly funny, and arresting piece of cultural commentary that puts the inequalities of tradition against the warmth community can, still, on occasions, provide.
Robert Daniels, rogerebert.com
Taut, absorbing, and, at ninety-nine minutes, ruthlessly concise.
Justin Chang, New Yorker
A story of discoveries both minor and monumental, one that’s flecked with troubling visions and an escalating sense of urgency.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Community Partner
UBC Africa Awareness Initiative
Rungano Nyoni
Susan Chardy, Elizabeth Chisela
Zambia/UK/Ireland
2024
In Bemba and English with English subtitles
Best Director: Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2024
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Eva Yates, Christian Vesper, Olivia Sleiter
Producer
Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Tim Cole
Screenwriter
Rungano Nyoni
Cinematography
David Gallego
Editor
Nathan Nugent
Production Design
Malin Lindholm
Original Music
Lucrecia Dalt
Also Playing
Marcella
Marcella Hazan taught North Americans that there was more to Italian food than pizza and meatballs. She wrote what remains the definitive book on the subject (Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking). This is her story.
Sabbath Queen
The dynastic heir of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis, including the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Amichai Lau-Lavie is what you might call the black sheep of the family. His sexuality led him down a different path, but its destination is surprising...
Caught by the Tides
Over two decades, across China’s rapidly changing landscape, two lovers meet and part and meet again. In this magisterial film, Jia Zhangke refracts the 21st century through a reflexive, retrospective look at his era-defining filmography.
The Penguin Lessons
Steve Coogan nails a juicy role in the true story of an English teacher in 70s Argentina who reluctantly p-p-picks up a penguin from an oil-slicked beach but finds his new friend is stickier than he looks.