AISSA'S STORY

SYNOPSIS

Aissatou Bah is an African immigrant housekeeper and single mother recovering from an encounter with Henrik Keppler, a wealthy hotel guest who sexually assaulted her. When the District Attorney decides not to go to trial—due to a lie she told to get asylum—Keppler moves on, a free man, while Aissa is plagued by flashbacks to the assault. But when her daughter Rama gets bullied, Aissa must find a way to regain her daughter’s trust and repair their broken relationship. How will she find justice and her lost dignity?

Aissatou Bah est une femme de ménage immigrée africaine, mère célibataire et la récupération d'une rencontre avec Henrik Keppler, un hôtel riche client qui l'a agressée sexuellement. Lorsque le procureur de district décide de ne pas aller au process—due à un mensonge, elle dit de demandeurs d'asile—Keppler se déplace sur un homme libre , alors que Aissa est en proie à des flashbacks de l'agression. Mais quand sa fille Rama se intimidation, Aissa doit trouver un moyen de regagner la confiance de sa fille et de réparer leur relation brisée. Comment elle trouver la justice et sa dignité perdue?

WATCH THE TRAILER

ABOUT THE FILM

Inspired by the New York v. Strauss-Kahn case, Aissa’s Story is a short film about an African immigrant maid moving on with her life after the case against her assaulter is dismissed. Written and directed by Iquo B. Essien; produced by Emeka Obi, Belynda Hardin, and Sue-Ellen Chitunya; starring Jennifer Tchiakpe, Hadiza Adam, and Ebbe Bassey. Full cast and crew info on IMDB. Running time: 15 mins.

Aissa's Story is an essential teaching tool for subjects like:

• Gender and immigration

• Immigrant women in popular culture

• Women, sex, and the media

• Race, gender, class, and justice

• "Ideal" vs. "real" victims of sexual violence

• Race, rape, transnationalism, and justice

• Gender-based violence, politics, and power

• Contemporary labor problems

This award-winning short film is also a great addition to all public library collections.

REVIEWS

PURCHASE

INSTITUTIONAL USE
Aissa’s Story is available in English and French, with English and French subtitles, as a DVD with a public performance license, or for screenings at universities, colleges, nonprofit groups, and libraries worldwide. Running time is 15 minutes. Be advised the film contains mature sexual themes and sexual violence. For purchase or screening requests, including in-person Q&A, contact the director. Download the discussion guide.

WORLD SALES
Contact the director for television licensing, theatrical distribution, festival enquiries, interview requests, speaking engagements, and other matters.

PERSONAL USE

Aissa’s Story is available for purchase, stream, or download on Amazon Instant Video in the United States and U.S. territories. If you live elsewhere, please contact the director for purchase.

AWARDS

Aissa's Story was nominated for the 2013 Student Academy Awards, 2015 Africa Movie Academy Awards, and the 2015 Panafrican Film & Television Festival of Ouagadougou. It has screened at prestigious global festivals including the Durban International Film Festival, New York African Film Festival, Africa International Film Festival (Best Student Short), Ecrans Noir, and bfm International Film Festival.

We are currently in development on a feature-length version of the film with support from the Spike Lee Film Production Fund. Visit Fractured Atlas, our fiscal sponsor, to make a tax-deductible donation. Thanks to our Indiegogo donors for supporting the short film.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

In June 2011, I saw a news story about then-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, jailed on charges of sexual assault against a housekeeper at a Manhattan hotel. He allegedly forced the woman, a political asylee, to perform oral sex on him before he checked out and boarded a plane on which he was later arrested. I was in Lagos at the time, working on a memoir about my late mother. In the wake of the Arab spring and Japanese tsunami, the DSK case confirmed what I strongly suspected: that the world had been turned on its head.

It seemed like poetic justice for an African immigrant to incriminate a man—a would-be President, at that—who held the purse strings on development in Africa. But when inconsistencies arose in her story, the District Attorney pushed to dismiss all charges. Initially portrayed as a hardworking single mother, her credibility issues gave rise to allegations of prostitution and even HIV/AIDS.

In spite of all this, Nafissatou Diallo emerged and stood tall before a battalion of news cameras, detailing the abuse she met at the hands of DSK. Her face graced the covers of international newspapers, reporters descended in droves on her village in Guinea, and her life would be changed forever.

AISSA’S STORY is a film about a fictional woman, Aissatou Bah, recovering from sexual trauma while simultaneously picking up the pieces of her life. It depicts the psychological impact of rape, her flashbacks to the assault and an injustice that seems as inevitable as it is intractable. Such acts of harassment and violence are common among housekeepers—mostly single, immigrant mothers. Hotel unions report that these assaults mostly go underreported because housekeepers are scared to lose their jobs--until Mrs. Diallo came forward publicly. 

I found myself captivated by her life, her courage to come forward, the criminal case, and how her life imploded in its aftermath. I had several friends, working with African women immigrants in the city, who watched first hand as opinions on the case divided the Guinean and Muslim communities along ethnic lines.  There were media reports that Ms. Diallo was humiliated and depressed, that the DA had refused to let her move even after death threats.

I did my research, read court transcripts, and interviewed representatives of Unite HERE, the hotel workers’ union to which she belongs. In the end, given the constraints of our short film project, I couldn’t cover nearly as much ground as I’d wanted to and found myself hungry to expand the short into a feature. 

Through the film, I wish to explore how two people from such different walks of life can become inextricably bound in a moment, how the truth changes depending on how much money you have, and how this money, given in exchange for Aissa’s complicity, brings with it freedom and also a huge sacrifice—silence. The film gives voice to an aspect of a high profile story that isn’t being told—what happens to a woman’s life behind the scenes when the media has long forgotten about her.

IQUO B. ESSIEN, WRITER & DIRECTOR

Thanks to our Indiegogo Donors

Ime Essien-Lewis

Jalylah Burrell

Ngardy Conteh

Eniola Dawodu

Carmen Gill

Bryan Green

Maria Huff

Adewunmi Ogunfowora

Ikeogu Oke

Nnenna Ozobia

Minna Salami

Mirenda B. Watkins

Anderson Zaca

Afua Annor

Chijioke Asomugha

Jolene S. Crowley

Khaly D. Diatta

Christina Farinacci

Norma Kirkland

Abena Knight

Ellen McLaughlin

Amy Moran

Lucas Munoz

Eto Otitigbe

Ron Ragin

Umar Riaz

Andrew Simons

Christopher Drake

Esosa Edosomwan

Kelly Diaz

Chitra Aiyar

Flora Amwayi

Mario and Gloria Arthur

Linda Blacken

Anjulie B. Knowles

Tarsha Luke

Katharine Nevins

Fayelle Ouane

Grant Patterson

Janelle Poe

Roy Sirengo

J'Leise Sosa

Audrey and Major Capers

Anniedi Essien

Richard Korley

Melynda Barnes

Winifred Cooper

Ugo Edu

Christopher Kwaja

Sarah Manyika