Binti (Swahili for young woman) is a Tanzanian drama film that explores the nuances of contemporary African womanhood. It premiered on 8th March 2021, at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, US, for International Women's Day. It has since screened in Nigeria, South Africa, and Zanzibar, winning the best feature film award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. On 7th January 2022, it became the first Tanzanian film to stream on Netflix.

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When asked by the New York Film Academy to share a filmmaker's statement about Binti, co-producer Angela Ruhinda said, "Binti is a love letter to African women. I also want everyone who watches Binti to see our strength, our beauty, our resilience and our ability to choose our own destiny."

The story revolves around four women in Dar es Salaam with different aspirations and social backgrounds who are connected by the trials and tribulations of womanhood. Their stories are not crisscrossed but told in chapters; each woman's story is exhausted before the film moves on to the next. This is because the women know each other in sequence, and the next woman is dealing with the pains of the life the previous woman desires. Though set in Dar es Salaam, women in Accra, Pretoria, Harare, and the African continent over can relate with this film, as the narrative is a familiar reality.

Love doesn't bear all burdens

The first story is about Tumaini (played by Bertha Mloya), who owns a struggling convenience store where goons of a local loan shark constantly come to harass her to pay a large loan taken out by her father who abandoned her and her mother ten years ago. Her only saving grace is that the goons assume, stereotypically, that she is only a saleswoman keeping the store for a male owner. The only person willing to give her money wants sex in exchange, an offer she turns down. For Tumaini, keeping the store open is a matter of pride and a statement of resolve to her absent father; even though he abandoned them, she's still running the store — albeit unsuccessfully.

However, as Tumaini's chapter draws on, we see how the convenience store is anything but what its title suggests, sabotaging the young woman's life and impeding her ability to do other, possibly more fulfilling things. After careful reflection, she gives it up. Tumaini realises that keeping the shop open is a burden that will only bring her down, a burden she doesn't have to carry. When packing up, a chance encounter brings Angel, a former schoolmate who is in the area, to pick up her holiday flight tickets at a travel agent in the same building. Tumaini longs for the life that Angel has. 

Love is not blind

Angel (Magdalena Munisi) owns an exclusive bridal shop and is engaged to a rich and seemingly doting man. But behind closed doors, her fiancé is subject to fits of jealousy-fuelled rage, resulting in a toxic and violent dynamic. Her mother, who raised her alone, constantly tells her to leave, but Angel is convinced they "need each other". It doesn't get better when Angel gets pregnant. Believing she is paying too much attention to another man, her fiancé sets her shop on fire with her inside. Fortunately, Angel survives, but for her, this is the final straw, finally leaving her abuser and aborting their baby. Her ex-fiancé shares nasty Instagram posts about her and even follows her to her mother's house, intending to break in. He only leaves after Angel goes live on Instagram and records him pounding on the door with threats. She also takes the chance to tell of the abuses she's suffered in his hands.

Angel's emotional dependency on this man provided the space for him to abuse and manipulate her. Walking away returned her agency. As her story climaxes, a new face shows up. Her friend Stella comes to sympathise with her at her burnt shop, which she's rebuilding. Stella is then driven away by her genuinely loving husband, with Angel left longing for what Stella has.  

Love takes two

Stella (Helen Hartmann) and her husband have been trying to conceive with no success, both naturally and through IVF. It takes a toll on them both, but her more so. Her husband is open to adoption, but Stella believes they can never be complete without a biological child. She details a strict daily regimen of healthy living for them and gets pregnant but suffers a miscarriage shortly after, spiralling Stella into a deep depression that threatens to break their marriage. She tells her husband that without a child, they are "not a family, but a couple". Desperate, she goes to prayer warriors to bless her womb and also seeks traditional help. The two separate shortly after.

After some time, Stella packs up all the things in the baby's room and pursues her partner for reconciliation. At a restaurant, the server asks them if they want the "couple's special", but she says, "We are not a couple. We are a family". 

By focusing only on what she doesn't have, Stella loses the love she presently shares with her husband. In the end, despite not having a child, their love was not diminished because they didn't experience parental love. The romantic love she had with her spouse was just as valid and complete. At the restaurant, a woman named Rose, who has gone to the same medical clinic as Stella, greets them while carrying her child. Rose has the "complete" family Stella always longed for.  

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A mother's love, tender and strong

Rose (Godliver Gordian) is a working mother of two children. Running her work and household is a difficult challenge as her husband offers no assistance. Things get further complicated when her younger son is diagnosed with a developmental disability. Torn between her professional life and dedication to taking extra care of her emotionally demanding son, Rose suggests to her husband that one of them should quit their job and stay home. Though Rose earns more than her spouse and pays most of their bills, he refuses to be the caregiver for their son. He tells Rose to send their child to a boarding school in Arusha, and when schools close, the child can stay with Rose's mother in the village. She refuses but eventually yields because of her husband's pressure. Rose leaves the child in the village but almost immediately goes back for him, refusing to be separated from her son.

Rose realises only she can give her baby the love, nurture, support, and acceptance he needs. Her husband's negligence and cold indifference highlight commonly experienced gender imbalances in African households, providing a moving critique of gender roles, as well as ableist attitudes. 

Indeed, the film positions mothers as anchors, painting a picture of how much women support and uphold their families. Tumaini's mother, a tailor, comes with her to the store on the last day to help her pack up. Seeing her daughter longing for the life Angel has, she assures her daughter of her future success. When Angel leaves her violent fiancé, she goes back to her mother's house, and it's her who helps her procure the abortion herbs. Rose's mother also agrees immediately to take care of her special needs grandson. 

Self-love comes first

Film director Seko Shamte says, "I really enjoyed making this film, telling women stories. I think the most important thing is for us is to be kind to ourselves. Don't think that you are in a state of unhappiness because of something external. There's never going to be a man. There's never going to be children, money. There's nothing external to you that's going to bring you happiness. You can have everything, yet not be happy now, because you're still waiting for something outside yourself to complete you."

As the film ends, a fiercely feminist spoken-word monologue plays rapidly in the background, reiterating that a woman does not need a man to survive, to find meaning, or to experience love.