Differently abled and definitely able: Resilience and inspiration in the films and life of Zambia’s Musola Cathrine Kaseketi

By Elastus Mambwe¹
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¹ University of Zambia
Source: Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting , pp 31-48
Publication Date: September 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835951590_4
Language: English
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In 2009, Musola Catherine Kaseketi released her ground-breaking film, Suwi: Faith Beyond Limit. The film became Zambia’s second narrative feature film released in cinema after several decades of a proclivity for didactic documentary filmmaking. Suwi follows the story of the eponymous character Suwi, whose life is turned upside down when she is left disabled after a tragic traffic accident that kills her fiancé. Against all odds, Suwi resolves to still pursue her dreams, but she quickly learns that she must overcome social stigma that sees her disability as an inability and a shame. Perhaps even more significant than its message, its critical and awards acclaim or its impressive festival run, is how Suwi was for Kaseketi an important personal story that needed to be told as it partially represented her own experience as a disabled woman in a poor African country with few opportunities. Since Suwi, Kaseketi has continued to develop stories that challenge the status quo and engage with other societal issues. She established a long-running film festival, created training opportunities that have elevated other female writers and directors, and has established herself as an authority in film for development in Zambia and Africa. This chapter engages with Kaseketi’s work and her contribution to the emerging Zambia screen culture. It highlights the inspiration for and in her work, including Suwi, and her approach to storytelling. The chapter establishes Kaseketi as a creator who has had to overcome countless social biases and hurdles, and whose work contributes immensely to the development of her community.

Keywords: disability ; Global South ; Musola Catherine Kaseketi ; Suvi ; Zambian filmmakers

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References

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Garland Thomson, R. (1997), Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature, New York: Columbia University Press.
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[Google Scholar]
Petty, S. J. (1996), ‘“How an African woman can be”: African women filmmakers construct women’, Discourse, 18:3, pp. 72–88.
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Quinlan, M. M. and Bates, B. R. (2009), ‘Bionic Woman (2007): Gender, disability and cyborgs’, Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 9:1, pp. 48–58.
[Google Scholar]
Rice, C., Chandler, E., Harrison, E., Liddiard, K. and Ferrari, M. (2015), ‘Project Re•Vision: Disability at the edges of representation’, Disability & Society, 30:4, pp. 513–27, https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2015.1037950.
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[Google Scholar]
Sanogo, A. (2011), ‘Colonialism, visuality and the cinema: Revisiting the Bantu Educational Kinema experiment’, in L. Grieveson and C. MacCabe (eds), Empire and Film, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 227–45.
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[Google Scholar]
Smith, L. S., Pieper, K. and Choueiti, M. (2013), ‘Exploring the barriers and opportunities for independent women filmmakers’, Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles Women Filmmakers Initiative, pp. 1–43.
[Google Scholar]
Smyth, R. (1979), ‘The development of British colonial film policy, 1927–1939, with special reference to East and Central Africa’, The Journal of African History, 20:3, pp. 437–50.
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Smyth, R. (1988), ‘The British Colonial Film Unit and Sub-Saharan Africa, 1939–1945’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 8:3, pp. 285–98.
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Sutherland, A. T. (1981), Disabled We Stand, London: Souvenir Press.
Wilde, A. (2020), Film, Comedy, and Disability: Understanding Humour and Genre in Cinematic Constructions of Impairment and Disability, London: Routledge.

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