Our Lady of The Nile Screening

The first of five screenings under the theme of human rights on screen, with the thematic question: ‘What does it mean to assert your humanity against systems that deny it?’ About The Film: A black statue of the Virgin Mary watches, high up in the mountains, over a Catholic boarding school for girls. Here, daughters of politicians, officers and businessmen are educated to one day become productive members of the country’s elite. Yet brooding in view of the blessed mother is a civil divide, bloody and brutal. This is a bracing adaptation of Rwandan author Scholastique Mukasonga’s bestseller by the same Title. Event format: On arrival, audiences encounter a musical response to the film, a playlist commissioned from a musician from a non-Western background. You will also receive a postcard copy of an original artwork created in response to the film. After the screening, the discussion is explicitly audience-focused. The film provides context; the audience's perspectives and voices are what enrich our gatherings. Our host moves between small group conversations before opening to the full room, building familiarity and dismantling any perceived hierarchy that typically silences people who don't consider themselves film experts. There are note lines on the back of the postcards and pens for those who'd like to take notes at any point.