Sauti (Voice)
Teenaged girls from war-torn countries face their futures in a refugee settlement in Uganda.
Sauti (Voice in Swahili) is the award-winning story of five adolescent refugee girls in Uganda's Kyangwali Refugee Settlement. Having fled war as young children living in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda, the girls strive to heal and pursue their dreams. They struggle with access to education, early marriage, subsistence farming, malaria and typhoid, being orphans, and subordination to men. Becoming storytellers in their own right, they learn to express themselves through song and dance, drawing, poems, and video self-documentation. Theirs is a struggle to make peace with the past and create a fulfilling future.
Released 2016
Produced in collaboration with NeeNee Productions.
Visit sautifilm.org
Festivals and Awards
International New York Film Festival, Best Female Filmmakers
Canadian Diversity Film Festival, Best Woman Filmmaker (Documentary)
Spotlight Documentary Film Awards, Gold Award Winner
Amsterdam International Filmmaker Festival, Best Editing of a Documentary Feature
“Sauti (Voice) is a beautiful and moving film which portrays the beautiful dignity of the people of Kyangwali Refugee Settlement and captures the true voices of young female East African refugees coming of age.”
Women in Media, Newark Film Festival
“Sauti (Voice) deeply explores the meaning of courage, perseverance, and the importance of struggle, which makes us stronger.”
Cinequest Film Festival
“I appreciated the integrity of the film. Sauti (Voice) truly honored and conveyed the real lives of the people of the Kyangwali community, especially the lives of young girls and women.”
Yazan Fattaleh, Executive Director, Kapadia Education Foundation
