RCB Film Club is screening the drama Subira, Kenya's nomination for the Oscars in 2018, at the RCB Forum, 2nd floor of River City Bangkok, Charoen Krung 24, on Saturday at 4pm.
This is a love story, social document and woman's tale combined as it portrays the dilemma of Subira, a young bride in a conservative Muslim family, who gets married off to a well-to-do family in Nairobi.
She struggles to please her husband and his family, even as she seeks to fulfil her innermost desire to learn swimming, which would break norms.
She is dazzled by the city, and her helpful husband is all too pleased to show her around. Her husband's father, on the other hand, is conservative and expects her to be involved with cooking and other household chores.
But Subira is bored and only longs to swim. She finds a swimming instructor and secretly attends classes but finally gets caught. After that, she needs to solve the biggest crisis in her life which involves her husband, his father and her mother.
This is the debut feature film by Indian-born Kenyan director Ravneet Sippy Chadha who said the story resonated with her own conservative background where a girl's life was "laid out for her". It was based on a short film of the same title that she made in 2007, which went on to receive 15 international awards.
The lead is played by one of Kenya's top actresses whose performance has won rave reviews. The movie also won the country's top Kalasa Awards and was screened at many film festivals. It is in English and Kiswahili (Kenya's national language).
Kenyan ambassador Lindsay Kimwole Kiptiness will introduce the film and host a reception after the screening.
Tickets cost 100 baht and can be purchased from ticketmelon.com/rivercitybangkok/rcbfilmkenya.
Email rcbfilmclub@gmail.com.
