Aftersun Film Club: On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

You don’t even look traumatised, you seem fine…

It was a rainy Tuesday, the kind that makes you want to go straight home. But our Aftersunettes still turned up to our first ever midweek screening at Aftersun Film Club. Many of them in their office suits, shaking off the day to sit with Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. By the end, nobody was rushing out. Instead, we had one of our longest discussions yet — a full hour, and honestly, it could have gone on twice as long.

Without giving too much away, the film follows a family gathering in the wake of a death, where unspoken truths and long-ignored traumas begin to surface. Nyoni manages to balance sharp humour with painful realities, holding up a mirror to how communities protect appearances while ignoring harm. It was a perfect fit as our first movie under the theme Quiet Perversions.

The film itself is tough: family secrets, abuse, silence. But it’s also sharp, funny, and completely engaging. People wanted to talk. And not just talk, half the audience had stories or reflections that hit close to home. More than one person said, “Yes, it happens here too,” drawing parallels with traditions and cultures across the continent 

The characters divided the room. Some people despised everyone except Shula and the kids. Others, argued that even the worst characters had reasons for being the way they were. That sparked a healthy back-and-forth — exactly the kind of disagreement we love creating space for.

There were also those details that stuck with everyone: they called the police for a dead uncle but not for the countless assaults he committed. They cared more about a funeral blanket than about children. And of course, the line that got a grim laugh from the crowd: it’s always a weird uncle. (Which in this case was especially horrifying, since he had been married to a 12-year-old.)

One Aftersunette offered one of the night’s best moments, suggesting we should “normalise grudges” as a way of holding people accountable. The audience actually cheered.

The acting was universally praised, and the discussion proved how much the film hit home. It reminded us why we do this: not just to watch, but to sit together in a room and work through complicated stories. Sometimes with laughter, sometimes with discomfort, but always with honesty.

We learned on the night that owe it to ourselves to dismantle system rooted in hurt but also that the work of dismantling can be a long and painful journey. What we can do now is at least be Guinea Fowls and call out injustice first in our tiny corners of the earth then the whole whole. 

As always, drink water and hug somebody. 

Take care.