Bel (15)

In 2021, Kenyan-Scottish, singer and songwriter Beldina Odenyo is on the cusp of stardom.  Hailed as a fierce talent, she is working on her eagerly awaited debut album, under her stage name Heir of the Cursed. In October that year she headlines in Edinburgh. Barefoot and cloaked in black, Bel delivers a career-launching performance that leaves the audience spellbound. Two weeks later, Bel takes her own life.

Filmed over three years, this intimate film is guided by Bel’s older sister Leah, who inherits Bel’s notebooks, journals, songbooks and a hard drive of recordings labelled ‘passable demos’. Leah makes a promise: she will finish the album and release it to the world.

Bel is both a tribute and a reckoning for an uncompromising artist and the personal and cultural struggles that shaped Bel’s short yet defiant life. Bel may be gone, but her story and her music survive. And for audiences discovering her now, the experience is unforgettable. 

Screening dates TBC.