In an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle Fred. As funeral proceedings begin, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family. Surely the dead can’t take all their secrets to the grave, and Fred, in particular, had many. In the long-awaited follow-up to her widely acclaimed debut I AM NOT A WITCH, visionary Zambian Welsh auteur Rungano Nyoni returns with a fearless parable about the toll family secrets take on their keepers and the complicated costs of speaking up.
“This is palpably new, future-minded filmmaking, at once intrepidly daring and rigorously poised.” —Guy Lodge, Variety “With the cinematographer David Gallego, the sound designer Olivier Dandré and a superb ensemble cast, [writer-director Rungano] Nyoni has crafted indelible tableaux, powered by dark survivors’ humour, blistering originality and retaliatory fury.” —Tara Brady, Irish Times “Perhaps what’s most impressive about ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL is Nyoni’s respect for subtext. Her film doesn’t aim to be a guide, a balm or an ode to forgiveness. The director rejects the ease of over-explanation and allure of an exclusively reverential tone. She reaches for honesty, and what she uncovers is at once disquieting and deeply absorbing.” —Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter “Nyoni has made a film that burrows inside, well-crafted and well-acted with a stellar, speedy screenplay. The writer-director never rushes this story, but still wastes no time in the film –– each scene contains weight and value. Each moment builds on the memories of Shula and of the women in this family, fractured together, constantly reminded of monstrosities, somehow still taking steps forward.” —Michael Frank, Film Stage
