The Woman Who Poked The Leopard

Uncompromising and revolutionary, The Woman Who Poked the Leopard is an intimate portrait of Ugandan poet and scholar Dr Stella Nyanzi, who resists state repression through bold acts of defiance. Through performance and protest, Stella confronts dictatorship and patriarchy. Facing threats, imprisonment, and exile, she fights to reclaim her independence — both for her country and for her family.

When Stella Nyanzi enters a room, you know something is about to happen. A Ugandan feminist, gender scholar, anthropologist, and poet, she pulls no punches in her fight against state oppression. In 2017, she was imprisoned for a profane poem mocking President Yoweri Museveni, who had been in power for nearly 40 years. After her release, Nyanzi ran for parliament without the money for a campaign. Together with her children, she printed and distributed posters and leaflets in the slums of Kampala. Her daughter did her makeup and styled her hair before public appearances. At times, her nearly grown-up children simply wanted more time for themselves. The family repeatedly experienced police violence before eventually emigrating to Germany.

Shot handheld with a mobile camera, the film channels the energy of its protagonist, its rhythm echoing her angry words. What emerges is a portrait of a woman who has made radicalism and provocation a way of life. We meet an activist who constantly pushes boundaries — her own and those of the people around her. Yet despite everything, it is hard not to be swept up by Stella Nyanzi’s energy.