“We Share a Common History”: Patricia Bbaale Bandak on Her Hot Docs-Debuting ‘Death of a Saint’

On Christmas Eve of 1989, a pregnant mother of nine named Imelda Bbaale was inexplicably shot and killed in her home. It was a shocking tragedy that forced Imelda’s husband to flee with his young children to a different continent with the murder remaining unsolved. Nearly a quarter century on, Imelda’s daughter Patricia Bbaale Bandak gave birth to her own baby girl (also Imelda) on that very same horrible yet holy date. The coincidence catalyzed Bandak, now an acclaimed Ugandan-Danish filmmaker, to return to her native land to seek answers — less about the circumstances surrounding her mother's death than about who this woman actually was. Unfortunately for this very direct and no-nonsense daughter, her mother was a saint. As are all deceased Ugandans — as speaking ill of the dead is not just unseemly but taboo. Luckily, the 2019 Nordic Talents-winning filmmaker proves extraordinarily attentive in her winkingly-titled Death of a Saint as she attempts to chip away at the cookie-cutter image of a flawless churchgoing Christian, while remaining highly empathetic to her reluctant family, including her still traumatized father who retired to the country of the crime. And while there are no easy answers, the dogged director, through utmost patience and unburied archive, ultimately does discover a crucial thing or two about her mortal mom — and thus, more importantly, about herself. Just prior to the film’s premiere in the International Competition of Hot Docs, Documentary reached out to the multifaceted director and screenwriter, whose work also includes an award-winning short (2019’s Villa Villekulla) and a critically-acclaimed TV series (2022’s Bad Bitch).

To read my interview visit Documentary magazine.