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I Shot Bi Kidude
Director: Andy Jones
Rating: 4/5
Bi Kidude was a Taraab singer from Zanzibar who gained global acclaim in her eighties, delighting audiences with her charisma and crackly voice. At the height of her career, after performing everywhere from Japan to Finland, reports surfaced that she had been kidnapped by a family member known only as Barak.
Newcastle-born Andy Jones, who had “shot” Kidude for a documentary before her kidnapping, returned to Zanzibar to track down Barak and make sense of the circumstances surrounding the abduction.
Jones’ film, I Shot Bi Kidude, manages to capture the charisma of this strong woman, who was 102 when she died. She was able to draw people in with her music and her voice.
We are conditioned into believing that there is a certain cutoff age when it comes to working, but Kidude’s life shows us that, as long as one has the willpower and stamina to carry on, there need not be any reason to hold back from living your life to its greatest potential.
For me, this was a film about emotions evoked through the strong imaging of close-up shots of Kidude’s eyes. Her wrinkled skin and weathered face told a story of its own and, as the viewer, I saw familiar faces of elderly women in my own life through her eyes.
The irony of the film lies in the fact that Jones shot it in a style that showcased his personal relationship with Kidude, yet the crux of the story was that her life had become a free-for-all, including for those who documented her.
