Diary of an African Nun

A nun in Uganda weighs the emptiness she finds in her supposed union with Christ, whom she promised to be poor, chaste and obedient. Night after night, while listening to the drums far away on her cot, the fears and doubts grow inside her. Adapted from a short story by Alice Walker, the film was a deliberate first move by its director toward narrative filmmaking, though its graphic simplicity and pantomimed performance by Barbara O. Jones give it an intensity that anticipates Julie Dash’s work on Daughters of the Dust (1991). (Filmfest München)