On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Shula stumbles upon her uncle’s body along a roadside. In the days that follow, preparations for the funeral begin, and old secrets rise to the surface.

Her uncle’s sudden death sets in motion a series of traditional rituals that, for Shula, only intensify the suppressed trauma of his abuse against her. At the same time, relatives gather, and the family reunion turns into a confrontation with the abuse — and with those who protected the perpetrator. This is Rungano Nyoni’s second feature film after I Am Not a Witch (2017). She tells a powerful and uncompromising story about sexual abuse, with elements of surrealism and an undercurrent of rage directed both at the perpetrator and at those who chose to remain silent while it was happening. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.