On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

When driving home one night in Zambia, Shula discovers her Uncle Fred’s dead body lying in the middle of the road. On Becoming A Guinea Fowl is a dark comedy that only gets darker from this initial moment. As Shula’s large family descends on her mother’s house to mourn Uncle Fred, horrible secrets about his past are revealed as well as the family’s disturbing insistence on covering them up. Acclaimed director Rungano Nyoni (I Am Not A Witch) viscerally evokes Shula’s claustrophobia; stuck between British and Zambian culture, fighting the overbearing, lying tsunami that is her family, and longing to be free—or at least to be left alone.

Please note this film contains repeated references to sexual assault.