Docufilm description: Ahoemoe-egbe (a documentary on love)

This is an ongoing experimental docufilm, shot in Ekpoma, a small town in Edo state, Nigeria (location is more than one rural community) and in the personal homes and places of worship of the subjects. Conducting this interview in their comfort zones was key as home is the base where everything begins... Subjects weren’t informed of the project prior to the interviews. It was the first time they had been asked their opinion on the condition of their hearts and what love means to them.

The docufilm is titled ahoemoe-egbe which translates to love in ishan language. It aims to explore perspectives on the meaning of love to women in rural communities who didn’t have a chance to choose their partners/broken out of toxic marriages to live on their own terms. It’s a collection of voices that are rarely heard. It was important for me that these people explain love in their own language using their own cultural contexts as language is one of the barriers that prevent them from adding to these kinds of conversations. The plan is to broaden the demographic in the nearest future to accommodate those who are evolving in their journey with love. I felt the need to bring the mind of rural women to the frontlines of the conversation. The title introduces variants of the concept (the difficulty to define it because it doesn’t exist as just one thing), and how their experiences have informed their opinions on what they think they deserve, is explored in the rest of the film. In a world where women in these parts of the world are rarely heard, the film is necessary and long overdue. It was important to show their opinions on the effects of the strides of feminism in their community.  In addition to giving voice to the voiceless the documentary is also about preserving language and archiving culture.

 

So what would love mean to a woman who wasn’t given a chance to choose?

What would love mean to a woman who only knows self-sacrifice?

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