Photo credit: Via Google.com
The first Ugandan movie from Uganda by some Ugandan women titled Bed of Thorns (#Tosirika), won the Africa Focus Award at the London Art House Film Festival. The film is a gender based violence film, directed and produced by Eleanor Nabwiso, which tackles the subject of gender-based violence by weaving together the many tales of abuse within a circle of women as they prepare for their friend’s wedding – not knowing that she too is being abused by her soon-to-be-husband. Comedian Martha Kay and media personality Malaika Tenshi made their film acting debuts to help tell the tale. The film also features an all-female crew for the first time in Ugandan history.
PHOTO: Eleanor Nabwiso. Photo credit: matookerepublic
In an interview with BBC, Nabowiso said,
This is the first ever all-female made movie from Uganda. That means the director of photography, the producer, the sound engineer – everyone is female.
Perhaps it is due to the crew that such a nuanced film could be made about a difficult and complex subject. The film was first released in March to support the month celebrating women, but it is also intended to enact change. As Nabwiso says, “It’s about time we stopped this nonsense.” (Gender Based Violence)
The film’s title is accompanied by a hashtag #Tosirika which means ‘don’t keep quiet’ in Luganda. According to Nabwiso, that is the message of the film. “We call these ‘bedroom matters’—keep it in your bedroom, talk about it in your bedroom. If he’s beating you in your bedroom and you come out of that door, you must smile to the world. This is wrong. Come out, speak out, tell somebody about it,” she said to the BBC.
Nabwiso plans to make more films around gender-based violence and the many forms it comes in such as cyber-bullying and emotional torture. She wants to show the detail and consequences this type of violence has on society, on the psyche and on women. Check for those films in the future and watch the trailer for the award-winning Bed of Thorns (#Tosikira) by clicking the link below. *Beware as the video contains some graphic images.
