The Al-Hadji and His Wives

Original title The Al-Hadji and His Wives

The Al-Hadji and His Wives is a 50-minute film portrait of a Mbororo Fulani patriarch, Al-Hadji Isa, his savvy wives, and their rebellious daughters. The documentary provides a glimpse into their everyday lives, religious and moral practices, as well as the political opinions the Al-Hadji has to offer from his particular corner of the world. With a critical but sympathetic gaze, it also chronicles and investigates the process and rationale by which Amina, a 16-year-old daughter of the family, is forced into an unwanted marriage. While her attempted escape had been in vain, Amina has inscribed her silent protest on the walls of her mother’s hut and onto the film, serving as a testimony of women’s resistance and resilience under an oppressive patriarchy.

Author/s Jie Li

Jie Li grew up in Shanghai and New York City and is now a graduate student in Chinese literature and film studies at Harvard University. Her documentary films, “A Village Across the World” and “The Al-Hadji and His Wives,” have been broadcast on television and screened in film festivals around the world, including the Bilan du Film Ethnographique, The Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival, Parnu Film Festival, and The Mostra International Ethnographic Film Festival. Apart from making films, she is a published bilingual writer of fiction and non-fiction and is currently working on her Ph.D. dissertation.

Research Jie Li
Photography Jie Li
Sound Jie Li
Editing Jie Li