Daughters of the Niger Delta Documentary

Woman’s Way Red Lodge brings another documentary to the big screen as part of its Women’s Film Series.  Tuesday, March 24th, 6 PM at the Vashon Theatre, “Daughters of the Niger Delta” will show everyday life in the Delta, filmed and told by the women who live there.

Following the screening Islander Kirsten Gagnaire, founder and director of the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA), will speak about her experiences working in the Delta, answer questions about the challenges faced there and what we can do to help.

Daughters of the Niger Delta is an intimate film portrait of three women who manage to make ends meet against all odds. As their personal stories unfold, we come to see that the widely ignored environmental pollution in their backyard is not the only human rights issue affecting their lives.

The film radically differs from the usual media reports about oil outputs, conflict, and kidnapping. It gives a taste of everyday life in the Niger Delta. The struggle to survive in the delta’s beautiful but pollution-marred wetlands confronts us with the human impact of corporate irresponsibility, gender injustice, and failing government service delivery.
The hour-long documentary is a bottom-up film production. Rather than bringing in external filmmakers to document the lives of women, young women from the heart of the region were equipped with the tools and skills to do so themselves. They were trained in filmmaking.

The peer filmmakers did research on gender and women’s human rights in their own communities. They spent weeks with women to capture their daily lives on film and encourage them to share their life stories. The result is a touching testimony of everyday life, highlighting injustices that we rarely hear about in the news.

The event is sponsored by Woman’s Way Red Lodge, a 501c3 not for profit, with generous support from Vashon Theatre and Island Green Tech.