12 African Films to Watch This Women’s History Month

African history is filled with stories of powerful women, but they haven’t always made their way to the screen. In honor of Women’s History Month, OkayAfrica compiled a list of 12 African films that focus their lenses on such women and their fascinating and impactful roles. In Maryam Touzani’s Cannes Film Festival-debuting Adam, a young woman (Nisrin Erradi), pregnant out of wedlock in the city of Casablanca, plans to give her child up for adoption as soon as the baby is born. Searching for work and shelter, she is reluctantly taken in by a widowed baker. In Seko Shamte’s unabashedly pro-feminist drama Binti — the first Tanzanian film to be licensed on Netflix — the breadth of womanhood’s challenges are made front and center. In Rungano Nyoni’s dazzling yet heartbreaking feature length debut, women and girls are identified as witches sometimes for reasons as flimsy as an unwelcoming stare. Inspired by the story of Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Enah Johnscot’s The Fisherman’s Diary is the tale of Ekah (Faith Fidel), a bright twelve year old Cameroonian girl who defies the will of her father and entire village to pursue an education. For the first time in his career, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, best known for exploring themes of fatherhood and brotherly love in his films, turns his gaze on the women folk. He emerges with the uplifting Lingui, The Sacred Bonds, a strongly feminist piece of filmmaking that zeroes in on the very hot button issue of reproductive rights.

SOURCE: OKAYAFRICA