Zjili: A Story of Sisterhood and The Burdens of Excess

What happens to the clothes you buy cheaply and then toss to make room for new ones? They end up in secondhand stores... or are shipped to African markets where women eke out a meagre living ferrying the heavy textiles around on their heads.

In Zjili: A Story of Sisterhood and the Burden of Excess — “zjili” means “heavy” in Dagbani, spoken in northern Ghana — ambitious teenager Zoya (Abdullah Rahana) leaves her village by herself and settles in Old Fadama, a precarious settlement in Accra straddling both the world’s largest secondhand clothing market and an enormous e-waste dumpsite. There, Zoya hopes to earn enough money to continue her education. She meets Teiya (Esinam Semordzi), a young mother and part-time kayayo who dreams of owning a hairdressing salon, and Charpang (Zarahawu Fuseini), a landlady haunted by painful memories. The three, drawn together by the harsh realities of urban life,  powerfully represent intergenerational threads connecting women.

Stories about the tireless kayayei in Ghana are rare but co-directors Christine Boateng and Hajara Musah Chambas bring them to the screen in Zjili: A Story of Sisterhood and the Burden of Excess without sensationalism or artifice. Featuring a fantastic cast and strong visuals by American cinematographer Erin G. Wesley, the film is grounded by research and inspired by real-life stories. Dedicated to a 28-year-old mother who died under a heavy load during production, this feminist film aims to support women labourers while advocating for abolishing this dangerous and sometimes fatal work.

CLAIRE DIAO

TIFF Next Wave: Celebrating the highs and lows (and everything in between) of young voices in today’s fast-moving world. This film has been selected for the next generation of film lovers by the TIFF Next Wave Committee.