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10 Songs for Charity

Karin Junger
Fri 22 Apr 22 - Sun 1 May 22
  • Caution with children up to 16 years of age

Director Junger depicts how the dreams of two Nigerian girls collide with the tough reality in Brussels in this colourful denunciation, with a pinch of voodoo and ten fantastic songs.

Via Nigerian women traffickers, two sisters from Lagos end up in the Belgian illegal prostitution network. Their false passports state the names Charity and Happy. They share a flat in a bleak suburb in Brussels with three other women, who are looking for more prosperity and happiness, just like them. They endure the exploitation and humiliation with humour, resilience and music until one day they cannot bear it any longer, rise up and channel their rage through ten musical songs, performed by the actresses themselves. This lightens the tone of the film. You could think of these songs as a modern version of the songs sung by slavery victims in the past. Happy and Charity find themselves in an equally hopeless situation: they are being exploited and abused. Only music offers comfort and empowerment. Nevertheless, it is not a polished Hollywood musical. It is a raw film that wishes to show the issue in all its violence and intensity.

direction
Karin Junger
duration
114 min
year
2021
country
Netherlands, Belgium, Nigeria
language
Dutch, English
Subtitles
Dutch
  • Caution with children up to 16 years of age

Quote A convincing musical fairy-tale about the bitter reality of women trafficking and illegal prostitution.

NRC