The Woman Who Poked The Leopard

An intimate portrait of Ugandan poet-academic Dr. Stella Nyanzi. Without apology or restraint, she defies state repression with bold acts of resistance. Through poetry, performance, and protest, Stella confronts dictatorship and patriarchy. Despite threats and imprisonment, she does everything to reclaim autonomy both for her nation and her own family.

It is a telling moment in The Woman Who Poked The Leopard, the thrilling documentary about Ugandan poet and academic Stella Nyanzi: at the start of her campaign for member of parliament, a reporter asks her if her bold language will not get in her way. ‘My language applies to many situations,’ she explains. When she needs to be peaceful, her language will be peaceful. ‘But,’ she adds fiercely, ‘when one needs a firm tongue that lashes and slashes and bashes, I have that tongue, honey…’

She certainly does. When Stella Nyanzi is feeling angry or disdainful, she will not hide it. A poem about Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni – in which she describes his mother’s vagina and states: ‘You should have died at birth’ – got her sentenced to prison. But this did not stifle her in any way. The documentary follows her on the campaign trail through the neighborhoods of Kampala after her release from prison. We see her tirelessly meeting people, debating opponents and campaigning against the corruption of the Museveni government, against poverty and unemployment, and for basic human rights. But while Nyanzi bravely defies a violent government crackdown of all opposition, the relationship with her three teenage children is getting increasingly strained.