ROXFILM | DOUBLE FEATURE: After the long rains + Doka w/ Kesho Pia Ni Siku

5:00pm:

After the long rains (BAADA YA MASIKA)

Directed by Damien Hauser (Kenya 2023, 90:00 mins).

Ten year old Aisha is given a school assignment to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. She soon realizes that everyone is taking over their parents‘ businesses and professions, but she has bigger dreams. She wants to go to Europe and become an actress. Her plan is to become a fisher so that she can sail to Europe, but her mother thinks that fishing should be left to men. Despite all this, she meets a fisherman and alcoholic named Hassan, who promises to teach her how to fish.

Intermission Film:

Kesho Pia Ni Siku : Tomorrow Is Another Day

Directed by Ng'endo Mukii (Kenya, 9:20 mins).

Kesho Pia Ni Siku is a story of rebirth. It means “Tomorrow is Another Day.” Njeri Mereka is a smooth-talking, hymn-singing, 67 year old grandmother who runs her small boutique, Kanyoko Fabrics and Designs in Nairobi. She retells how she unintentionally started her business from the boot of her 1990 Toyota Corolla, survived a market fire, the social alienation of divorce, and the economic calamities of Kenya, to become independent as a business woman, and face another day.

7:30pm:

Doka

Directed by Kidist Yilma (Ethiopia 2023, 112:00 mins).

Set in present-day picturesque Ethiopia, Doka follows a young nurse whose life is upended when shortly after arriving in a rural town to start a new job, a violent regional conflict erupts. Thrust into the middle of the chaos, she must care for the wounded on both sides while leading the charge for unity. This gripping human drama is muraled with lush landscapes and breathtaking scenery and is set against the backdrop of a multi-generational civil war reminiscent of current events.

Q&A to follow.

Host or Publisher The Roxbury International Film Festival