ADF STAFF
Tanzanian filmmakers have released the country’s first film to be streamed on Netflix. “Binti” is a story about the lives and struggles of four women surviving extreme hardship in Dar es Salaam.
The film is about the painful circumstances that some women find themselves in as they pursue a “perfect” life.
“We have dealt with so many obstacles, including post production in different countries during a pandemic, just to be seen, and this is only the beginning,” Angela Ruhinda, who co-founded the film’s production company with her sister, Alinda, told OkayAfrica.
Godliver Gordian, one of the film’s actors, said the film shows the pain that women in families silently deal with.
“‘Binti’ has given a voice to those who cannot speak,” she told BBC News Swahili. “There are some things that families or couples will go through but one of the partners does not get help or talk about what they are going through.”
“We had a screenwriting competition in late 2018 called ‘Made In Africa,’ where we asked Tanzanian writers to submit original stories with the theme of female empowerment,” Alinda Ruhinda told OkayAfrica. “In 2019, they picked the winning screenplay, which was titled ‘Her Life’ by Maria Shoo.
“We loved the story because it highlighted contemporary Tanzanian women, and it just felt like we had never really seen it before,” added Alinda Ruhinda.
“Binti is the first Tanzanian film to get on Netflix as a global acquisition!” director Seko Shamte told The Citizen, South Africa’s national newspaper. “We are elated and deeply humbled by this honour. We have worked so hard to get Binti onto the screen — and to bring Tanzanian stories to a global audience.”
Comments are closed.