Rainbow Circle Films and
3rd Eye Multimedia present;

SISTREN
Women in Rastafari.
A Nhlanhla Hlongwane documentary film.

Background
Although in and of themselves Rasta women are an unknown entity in most societies, in South Africa as in most other communities, they add a unique dimension to the triple oppression suffered by most African women. Even as their struggle is really the struggles of African women in general, their lot adds a twist to gender based discrimination, which is ironically they suffered at the hands of their non Rastafarian counterparts.

“Rasta women have had to cope with some of the frustration and desolation caused not only by chauvinist men, but by the states incarceration of an inordinate amount of young Rastamen. While struggling to maintain a sense of dignity and decorum, in their robes and wrapped heads, Rasta women have had to grapple with mistreatment, while ensuring that there’s no deepening rift between Rasta men and women”.
Rasta and Resistance:
Horace Campbell.

Further, the decision to embrace Rastafari cause strain on some Sistren’ mother - daughter relations. Engaged in their own gender war within a recognised and an accepted male - headed religious hierarchy, we hear of polygamy as a politic of socio-religious conformity and survival.

Concept
Because Rastafarians are still viewed by opinion leaders and certain members and pockets of society as pariahs and anomalies, the decision to be and embrace the faith and way of life is often greeted with dread and disappointment. The same is true for Sistren; a Biblical term used to address believing women in Rastafari. In Sistren, we learn of the little known faiths guiding principles and norms, also an area of conflict and struggle for Women in Rastafari.

Treatment
Through a personal account by Sistren Lulu, the film looks at the attraction and decision for some young women to be Rasta. We hear of how the absence of an Africa centred perspective in her history classes led her on a personal journey of self - discovery. We hear of how their decision to be a part of an African based faith frustrates relations with loved ones around them, mainly their mothers’. We situate the centrality of Africa to Rastafari and depart from certain African cultural practices and traditions. Through rarely seen Nyabinghi sights and unheard sounds and utterances, we enter the socio – religious world of Sistren. We also explore the dynamics and dictates of polygamy within Rastafari as well as the South African term and tendency to ‘vat en sit’ as opposed to getting married. In Sistren, the Woman in Rastafari begin to have their say.