Katiba Banat: Sisters in Arms

This five-episode Dinka language docu-series explores the reflections of women who fought in one of Africa’s longest and bloodiest conflicts. These Sisters in Arms spent their teen years in training and combat, leading to their displacement and immigration to Canada, where they now live in cities from Ontario to BC. Now mothers and grandmothers, the women have remained close. They have organized a reunion to help raise awareness of their role in South Sudan’s history.

The series weaves together the past and the present through interviews, SPLA stock footage, animation depicting war through the eyes of a child, archival photos, and footage juxtaposing the beautiful people and landscape of South Sudan with the Canadian cities and towns where the women and their families now live. 

Women’s contributions to history are often overlooked. As we push outside the dominant narratives surrounding war, these stories create an opportunity for women who gave birth to a nation to write their own legacy.