Sunday School

Sunday School is an encounter between two female film makers. Joanna Arong Vasquez is a documentary maker from the Philippines who has lived and worked in Beijing for several years. Her films are complex and meticulous and demonstrate a sharp eye for social processes and situations. She has made films about the many economic and cultural changes in today's China, such as the full-length documentary Neo-Lounge, about the colourful night life of Beijing.
For this project Arong Vasquez went to Zambia to make a portrait of the Zambian film maker Musola Cathrine Kaseketi, who has made documentaries and short films. This programme also includes Kaseketi's first full-length feature, Suwi.
The life story of Kaseketi is fascinating and impressive and makes much about the situation and developments in her country clear. She became handicapped as a child and, thanks to a heartless stepmother, had an even more difficult childhood. The perseverance needed for her to grow into a prominent film maker has evoked great respect in her surroundings.
For Sunday School, the two directors went back to the places where Kaseketi grew up and went to school. As a result, the film gives an unusual picture of traditional life in Zambia, but also of the present situation. Zambia is among the poorest societies in the world and is a country where very little can be taken for granted - certainly not making idiosyncratic films.