PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, 9 Oct 2025, 15:00 EAST 

The Woman Who Poked The Leopard – Directed by Patience Nitumwesiga 

On Uganda’s Independence Day, Dok Leipzig has announced the inclusion of our documentary film The Woman Who Poked The Leopard in its program. 

The Woman Who Poked The Leopard is a documentary film that follows the extraordinary life and activism of Ugandan feminist scholar and political dissident, Dr. Stella Nyanzi. The film provides an intimate and uncompromising look into Stella’s fight for freedom, while highlighting her resilience in the face of political oppression. 

The Woman Who Poked The Leopard explores Stella Nyanzi, not only as a courageous activist, but also as a mother and a daughter. The film digs beyond the reductive narratives and perceptions of who Stella is, revealing the complexities of her personal and political life. It also sheds light on the personal tolls she pays for the risks she takes—effects on her family, the challenges of exile, and the wounds to her body. 

We felt it was important to make this film for many reasons, but I’ll highlight four: 

First, we need more documentation of the lives of African women revolutionaries… Our women have been mostly erased from the liberation struggle for our continent, and others have been given the role of the woman behind the husband. Stella is a revolutionary in her own right, like many other African women.

Second, we need to tell more stories from our own perspectives, as Africans… Most of our stories are told with a Western gaze, and this film was an attempt to tell the story from our own point of view. 

Third, we need to demonstrate that films can be produced by our own communities. We need to develop an attitude that we are not always reliant on colonial financing. We need to show our people that even though there are obstacles fomented against us, we have the ability to create despite the odds. This film received only 30% grant financing. 70% of the money that made this film came from our comrades, friends and relatives, and even the grants we received were largely from East Africa. 

Finally, it’s imperative to say that this film matters because the situation in Uganda is worsening severely. It shows that we Ugandans and Africans more broadly have the power to stand up to brutality and repression. Uganda is not a place of ethnic supremacy: we are all oppressed by a dictatorship that does not care about us—a dictatorship that hates those who tell the truth… We would like to remind you that while Stella is free, many of our comrades are still in prison or their whereabouts are unknown. Comrades like Eddie Mutwe, Sam Mugumya, Dr Kizza Besigye, and many others are not free. 

We believe it is important for the true independence of Uganda to share this film across global stages where it will be welcome. This day marks the beginning of that journey, which we invite everyone who yearns for such true independence to join. 

Thank you, and happy Independence Day.

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For more information about The Woman Who Poked The Leopard, contact:

thewomanwhopokedtheleopard@gmail.com,

+27 78 822 12 44