By ALY N. ALIBHAI

On October 15^th, 2023, two extraordinary films — Inside Job and Mama of Manyatta — made by a remarkable young artist, Kiana Rawji, screened at the Nanji Family Foundation Auditorium at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto with resounding success. In the packed auditorium of over 200 people on a Sunday afternoon, the event evoked laughter, tears, and in the end, a well-deserved standing ovation. I had the honour and privilege of serving as the emcee for the event, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing both films which explored vastly different issues albeit in the same East African country where I was born and lived until the age of seven. I found Inside Job especially thought-provoking and it resonated with me very powerfully as it examined important themes with which my own family would have grappled around the time that we left Kenya in 1972. I found myself deeply moved and indeed very emotional after the screening of Mama of Manyatta in which Rawji very skillfully tells a story of hope, resilience, compassion and the truly incredible journey of a community leader and mother figure working tirelessly for social justice.

Inside Job is a fictional film about an Indian woman who, when preparing to leave her home in 1970s Kenya, loses a piece of jewelry and suspects that one of her African domestic workers stole it. Mama of Manyatta is a short documentary film about Phelgone Jacks, an extraordinary woman fighting HIV and gender-based violence in a Kenyan slum.

The event began with opening remarks made by Dr. Zainub Verjee, an accomplished writer, critic, curator, contemporary artist, and public intellectual, as well as an accomplished leader in the arts and culture sector. “When I previewed these works,” Dr. Verjee said, “I was really moved by its poetry. But more importantly, what struck me was its feminist ethos.” She continued to speak about the importance of films made with a political consciousness and the role of artists and filmmakers as imperative witnesses and narrators. Dr. Verjee asserted, “It takes moral courage to tell a story. It takes moral courage to act and to speak for the public good. To speak for the oppressed. To speak for a society, to speak for peace, to speak for pluralism, and to speak for making this world a better place.”

The screening of the two films was followed by a Q&A moderated by Narendra Pachkhédé, a trained filmmaker who practiced as a multidisciplinary artist, curator, programmer, critic and writer. Remarking on Rawji’s films that screened, Pachkhédé reflected, “In both these works, the story emerges as a site of micropolitics, albeit in different ways. Inside Job cleverly frames the power relations within this interracial narrative, and yet stays clear of dipping into a sentimental tone… And how those boundaries are drawn that keeps just the right distance between the subject and the perspective and the mood of the film: the pacing… While Mama of Manyatta defines how communities of care are formed.”

When asked about what drew her to filmmaking in the first place, Kiana reflected on the first film class she ever took, out of sheer curiosity, during her first year at Harvard: it was a course at MIT called Social Justice and the Documentary Film taught by filmmaker and Professor Vivek Bald. This class opened her eyes in more ways than one. Kiana explained that it was her realization of the power of film to engage with social justice issues combined with the discovery of her passion for it that propelled her into the practice. She explained, “I absolutely loved the process; I learned so much about myself, about others, about the world around me… I loved holding a camera, I loved interviewing people, I loved the research… something clicked for me, and I realized this is what I want to do, and I haven’t looked back since.”

Rawji discussed various elements of the films and what inspired them both. With Inside Job, it was important to her to shed light on history through the lens of those often unheard in the archives, impacted by colonialism. “If you think about what gets counted in the history books,” she said, “it’s so rare to have a Harvard research project about a woman’s life in the kitchen. But that’s what I was really interested in from a very academic, intellectual standpoint, and from an emotional standpoint — I wanted to know what life was like, because that’s what you need to make a film and create the world.” She was interested in how intertwined racial and socioeconomic hierarchies constructed during the colonial era affected daily, intimate relationships between black and brown East Africans in the household; how cultural norms could be both reinforced and transcended behind closed yet porous doors.

With Mama of Manyatta, Rawji similarly sought to give voice to those overlooked in society and to change the narrative. She asserted, “There is so much resistance in resilience, in joy, in dignity. And these are all things that Phelgone was cultivating every day, despite that hardship and the trauma that she was witnessing and helping people move through.” Rawji did not want to create another narrative of the suffering African poor, and instead, wanted to tell a story of African self-empowerment, endurance, and resilience.

On the topic of race and its role in her work, Rawji referenced a historian who influenced her own thinking early on at Harvard, teaching her that, though race is a social construct and is not “real,” the consequences of it are real and cannot be ignored. Rawji explained that her own films strive to “tackle the consequences of race – the ways that the constructions we have of each other, and systems of oppression that are based on race, are affecting people in their daily lives, whether it’s in Manyatta or in an East African Asian home in 1970s Nairobi. And I think the implications are always there, looming, and it’s about how we move through what race has caused in our societies.”

It was a real pleasure to have the opportunity to watch these two wonderful and very well-made films by such a talented, up-and-coming young artist. What Rawji has so ably done, through both Inside Job and Mama of Manyatta, is teach us about history from a truly unique perspective. She has given us so much to think about in the profoundly moving way that she gives voice to the forces of resilience, community, and hope. The screening of Inside Job and Mama of Manyatta on October 15 was an inspiring event which gave those in attendance an early peek into the work of a gifted filmmaker with tremendous promise who will undoubtedly continue to make a real and meaningful difference through her films. 

Date posted: November 1, 2023.

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About the author: Aly N. Alibhai has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business and obtained a Juris Doctor degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor. He has worked in different capacities as a lawyer, adjudicator and public sector executive at different levels of government in Canada and has an extensive and longstanding history of community service and engagement in the governance of a host of different not-for-profit and civil society organizations. Currently, Mr. Alibhai serves as an executive with Ontario Public Service as theDirector of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act Review Branch in the Strategic Policy Division of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services and is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Bellwoods Centres for Community Living Inc. in Toronto, a member of the Board of Directors of Rooftops Canada/Abri International, and a member of the Complaints Committee for the Human Resources Professionals Association of Canada.

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About the filmmaker: Kiana Rawji is an award-winning filmmaker from Calgary, Alberta, and daughter of South Asian immigrants from Kenya. She recently graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College studying Film and History & Literature. Through film, she tries to amplify social issues and drive cultural change; from independent theatres to Oscar-qualifying film festivals, her films have screened across Canada, the USA, and East Africa. Kiana’s TEDx talks on Islam and the Cosmopolitan Ethic have reached over 150,000 people worldwide. She has a website www.kianarawji.com and you can stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to view Kiana’s films and stay updated on her future work by following her on Instagram @kianarawjifilms.