African folktales reimagined by Netflix
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Loading... - Bridget Tarimo
- 18 Apr 2023
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If you have been following African film for the past week, you have indeed heard about six short films that streaming site, Netflix, released on Wednesday, March 29.
The films were selected from 2,000 entries in 2022 when Netflix announced a competition in collaboration with Unesco.
The collaboration was to sponsor six up and coming African filmmakers to tell ancient stories, folktales and mythologies among others with a fresh thought, angle or totally retooling the narrative for an audience today.
The stories were selected from the pack coming from filmmakers, Korede Azeez (Nigeria), Voline Ogutu (Kenya), Mohamed Echkouna (Mauritania), Walter Mzengi (Tanzania), Gcobisa Yako (South Africa), and Loukman Ali (Uganda).
Katera of the Punishment Island (Uganda)
Loukman does not really fit the label of up and coming, he’s Uganda’s first director with a film on Netflix and Amazon Prime, thanks to his The Girl in the Yellow Jumper and his first Nollywood film, Brotherhood respectively.
His Katera of the Punishment Island is not reimagining a folklore but reimagining a real place whose relevance was out of the rule of the day. Akampene or the Punishment Island as it has come to be known was a tiny island where girls who got pregnant out of wedlock were thrown to starve to death. Some, however, drowned while trying to swim to land.
Then, dowry was only paid for virgin girls, thus, taking girls to the punishment island was not only about getting pregnant early but for the loss of bride price. Read More…
