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Martha & Niki
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Martha & Niki
IDFA 2015

Martha & Niki

Tora Mårtens
Sweden
2015
90 min
International Premiere
Festival history
In 2010, Swedish friends Martha Nabwire and Niki Tsappos were the first ever female hip hop dance duo to beat all their opponents (men included) at the most important international street dance competition, Juste Debout in Paris. Armed with boundless energy and huge amounts of talent, they annihilated the opposition. The two girls love to dance, to be together and to travel. They intuitively understand one another. But what happens when you don’t come out on top? After one such disappointment, the first cracks start to appear in their friendship. In spite of their shared passions, the girls have very different backgrounds, different lives and different personalities. Martha moved from Uganda to Sweden as a teenager, while Niki was adopted from Ethiopia as a baby. But whereas Niki wants to grow up together and sees her African side reflected in Martha, Martha increasingly feels the need to withdraw into her shell, alone with her homesickness. This documentary not only films two successful dancers in action, but also two young adults who are grappling with very different life questions. Where are your roots, and what elements of your culture do you bring with you from your homeland? How can you keep your cultural heritage alive, and how can you deal with all of these things within an ambitious friendship?

Credits
Screening copy
    Swedish Film Institute
    Swedish Film Institute
Sound Design
Involved TV Channel
    SVT
    SVT