Director Jean Lydall, Kaira Strecker
Country/Production Germany
Release 2001
Length 87 mins
Format Colour / DVD or VHS / PAL / All region
Location Ethiopia / Africa
Ethnic Group Hamar
Language Hamar & English
Prizes/Commendations Winner of the 2003 RAI Film Prize
Order No RAI-200.324
Sale Info See Film Prices General Collection; Sale in Germany with IWF
Hire Info See Film and Video Hire
Filmmaker and anthropologist Jean Lydall has been making films with the Hamar community of southern Ethiopia since the 1970s. In 2001 she returned with her daughter and grandson to follow the continuing life story of Duka. Candid interviews reveal the complex family dynamics when Duka’s husband, Sago, takes a second wife, Boro. This film provides an intimate and personal family portrait that captures Duka’s ambivalence at sharing her home and husband. The quiet suspense is only heightened when Duka’s mother-in-law starts stirring up trouble. The high points of the film include the birth of the new wife’s child, and heated dispute between the mother-in-law and her son, which leads to the building of a new house.
