On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

After discovering the body of her uncle on the road at night, a Zambian woman feels pressure from her family to mourn in a particular way.

On a dark road, driving home from a costume party, Shula discovers a dead body. It’s her uncle Fred. But Shula appears unfazed by the whole thing.

Having recently returned to Zambia from abroad, Shula soon finds the pressures of local customs and family expectations mounting as she’s instructed on how to mourn for a man she doesn’t much care about.

Curators’ Note

From the moment the film starts you know that writer/director Rungano Nyoni has everything in hand. A dead body is found on the road by a woman in a sequin mask and a big, bulbous bodysuit. The serious and the ridiculous are braided together with a steady hand and perfectly balanced throughout the film. The darkness is offset by humour throughout.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl was highly anticipated for many years before it finally arrived at the 77th Cannes Film Festival where it screened in the Un Certain Regard section. Both this and Nyoni’s previous film, I Am Not a Witch, deliver a vital reckoning of the treatment of women in Zambia with a mastery of filmmaking craft and a skill for weaving together surrealism, humour and a knowing eyeroll.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)