Director: Iara Lee
Running time: 40mins
Film festivals cost a lot of money – and so they often struggle to break even, let alone make a profit. With submission fees often posing as the only dependable source of revenue that many festivals have access to, that can make granting waivers difficult. Sadly, this means filmmakers who already struggle to have their voices heard end up even further marginalised.
Stories told by artists from low-income backgrounds, opposition groups hit by censorship, or individuals in nations subjected to international sanctions still need a platform, though. That’s why Indy Film Library’s Saturday Matinees series has returned for a fourth season.
Over the current run of matinees, IFL is showcasing work from places where monetary and legal constraints have prevented the free communication of political and social issues.
The fourth film in our free-to-view programme comes from international filmmaker and activist Iara Lee. Over the years, Lee’s short documentaries have tirelessly sought out political and social struggles which are often ignored by mainstream Western media – from the ancient populations of West Papua caught between the climate crisis, and imperialism in WANTOKS: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia, to the determined efforts of activists to reduce pollution in southern Africa in From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives in Lesotho. Unite for Bissau (Nô Kumpu Guiné): agroecology and feminism in Guinea Bissau has all the hallmarks of those previous outings – centring on the efforts of feminist activists in Guinea Bissau as they fight for political and social equality in the western African nation.
In particular, the documentary flags up the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) as one of the most pressing issues facing women in Guinea Bissau. With an estimated 45% of women having undergone the procedure, despite it being outlawed, Lee seeks out some of the voices calling for its end – and to dispel some of the myths around its perpetuation. One particularly important segment sees two subjects discussing FGM lay blame for the phenomenon entirely on the religion of Islam – a perception which is often unhelpfully parroted in American and European discourse as a means of further demonising Muslims.
But the segment is immediately followed by an interview with Malam Djassi – an Imam who has spent his life campaigning for an end to FGM, and who is keen to point out that amid the debate, people often confuse “culture and religion” – noting that many non-Muslim countries also practice FGM, and suggesting the route of the problem is actually long-standing patriarchal norms which diminish the power of women in society.
With the help of cinematographer João Meirinhos, Lee’s film manages to reinforce this point both directly, and through its imagery. One particularly irritating exchange sees a seemingly random man approach the camera to give his presumably unsought opinion on a local farming collective, which aims to give women a means of earning a living through sustainable vegetable allotments. The man, putting on his very best manosphere voice (mistaking speaking loudly and quickly for exhibiting charisma) insists that the farming is ruining the women, who return to their houses ‘tired’ – and adds they would be better off staying in the home space instead. He adds that he has never seen any evidence the women get any money from the initiative – so he concludes it can’t have happened – though it also seems unlikely he spends a lot of time around these people he so apparently despises.
While the individual in question comes across as an imbecile, however, Meirinhos’ camera silently picks out imagery which is just as damning an indictment of many men in Guinea Bissau – without saying a word. As various women are shown toiling in fields, or processing grain to feed their families and communities, multiple shots pick out the silent, glowering faces of men reclined nearby, sipping tea in the shade. At certain points, the men seem to almost be gloating that they don’t have to do this kind of work – making a deliberate show of the pouring and leisurely consumption of their refreshments, and emphasising their position of social dominance in the process.
Fortunately, it seems that a growing number of women and men are still determined to challenge this status quo. While older activists like Adja Djenabu Balde are still the focal points of this movement – she tells the filmmakers that she remains involved in the running of APALCOF (the previously-mentioned farming collective) because others insist that she is the best candidate available – Lee’s film also picks out many young women looking to change their expected lot in life.
Many of them draw also draw inspiration from the country’s revolutionary anti-colonialist Amílcar Cabral, who helped lead Guinea Bissau’s fight for independence from Portugal in the 1970s. One quote picked for the film saw him argue “Our revolution will never be victorious if we do not achieve the full participation of women” – not long before his assassination.
One of the problems Unite for Bissau faces here – besides having a title longer than your arm – is that the potted history it serves up for context doesn’t go quite far enough in explaining how we got here – what Bissau was like before colonialism, how Portuguese rule changed it, what led to the uprising, and what the post-colonial country might have looked like if Cabral had not died young.
At the same time, the many, many issues that Lee’s film takes on are not always clearly ordered, and don’t always have the time and space to build cases of their own, or as part of a grander theme of women’s liberation. For example, there is not much of a direct attempt to establish what FGM is, why it still happens, or what can be done to stop it, beyond saying no. All these points subsequently work better if you come to the film with a pre-existing knowledge of the country’s geography, history, and culture, but may struggle when reaching beyond the converted. For a film covering issues and cultures which viewers are probably not regularly in contact with, that is a problem.
Even so, Unite for Bissau is something to celebrate, because however thorough it might be in its execution, it does try to tell stories which most of us have never heard – and to give a platform to the voices of people engaged in the transformative struggle to create a fairer world. Like all of Lee’s previous body of work before it, that makes this film worth its weight in gold.
The film will be available to view for free in full from 09:00 UK time on Saturday the 3rd of February, until the end of the weekend, via our Saturday Matinees theatre page. Viewers will also be invited to rate the film out of five, to help determine the winner of this Saturday Matinees season.
As the film is still trying to gain access to other festivals, the page is password protected. Use the code IFLMATINEE2324 to access the film.
Stay tuned for another film next week!