GRAMNet/BEMIS Film Series Ouaga Girls

In a country with youth unemployment at 52%, jobs are a hot issue. The young girls at a mechanics school in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou are right in the middle of a crucial point in life when their dreams, hopes and courage are confronted with opinions, fears and society's expectations of what a woman should be. Using interesting narrative solutions, Theresa Traore Dahlberg depicts their last school years and at the same time succeeds at showing the country's violent past and present. This is a debut feature and coming-of-age film with much warmth, laughs, heartbreak and depth.