08.01.26, 20:30, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)

When Shula, back in Zambia after a long absence, finds her uncle's lifeless body, she unwittingly sets in motion a machinery of mourning and secrecy. What follows is a feverish drama, in which every action becomes charged with everything that must remain unsaid. While the body is being washed, an unspoken truth swells beneath it all, one that can no longer be kept quiet. Whispers entrench themselves in back rooms while rumours sweep through the walls like a draught.

Director Rungano Nyoni serves up her satire with a dryness that almost echoes rhythmically in a maze of shame, tradition and denial. The titular guinea fowl is a bird that sounds a loud alarm when danger approaches. While the family hides behind convention, the guinea fowl reacts instinctively and without shame.

The result is a sharp, melancholic and unexpectedly humorous portrait of a community that prefers to look away, until the bird breaks its silence.