Subira, since her childhood, has been a free spirit, a young Muslim girl born to be in the water. She loves to swim and to go fishing with her father – much to her mother’s dismay. In her element in the ocean, Subira dreams of swimming competitively, as the boys do. But when her father dies in a boating accident, suddenly she’s not allowed to swim at all anymore. Subira now finds herself firmly in the clutches of her traditional mother, Mwana, whose single- minded aim is to arrange a good marriage for her daughter.

The film tells the story both of Subira's arranged marriage at 18 to the handsome and progressive Taquif and her quest to finally learn how to swim. Are the two compatible? This searing family drama vividly captures the paradox of modernity versus tradition. 


ORIGINAL TITLE: Subira
YEAR: 2018
GENRE: Feature Film – Drama
DURATION: 99 min
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: English, Swahili
COUNTRY: Kenya, Denmark
DIRECTOR: Sippy Chadha
WRITER: Sippy Chadha
CAST: Brenda Wairimu, Tirath Padam, Nice Githinji, Melvin Alusa
PRODUCTION: Kaaya Films

For festival or booking inquiries, please contact elizabeth@junofilms.com. For educational inquiries, please visit our educational site.

Playdates:

Hayti Heritage Center
Saturday, 2/15 @ 8pm Closing Night film - Subira

American Film Institute
March 8 and 12, 2020
Silver Spring, MD