‘Wrong Generation’ takes on GBV

‘Wrong Generation’ is set to premiere at Ster-Kinekor in Windhoek on 11 June, with a cast and crew of over 50 Namibian and regional creatives.

The film is directed by Shili Munyama and inspired by a book activist Ndiilokelwa Nthengwe wrote.

She says the film follows a group of estranged friends brought back together by the murder of a childhood companion.

Their grief doesn’t just result in mourning, it sparks the largest protest in post-apartheid Namibian history.

“The film arrives at a time when the conversation around gender-based violence (GBV) remains painfully relevant,’’ Munyama says.

She describes the film as a direct challenge to the “patriarchy, violent misogyny, and toxic masculinity” that forced thousands into the streets in 2020.

At its core, however, ‘Wrong Generation’ isn’t just a political manifesto. According to the director, it’s an intimate look at the “pain, joy, and work” involved in activism.

It asks what it costs a person to try and change a broken system.

The film explores the specific kind of anger that comes from grief, and the frustration of being let down by the very institutions meant to protect you.

Audiences will be revisiting a movement that changed the national psyche.

Munyama says the film invites everyone to ask themselves where they stand: Are they helping to build a better system, or simply watching the old one fail?

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