Tanzania-born director Neema Ngelime is working on her feature documentary debut. And the essayistic project has a title with poetic vibes: The Ones With the Tempered Flowers.It was among the works-in-progress presented at the 2026 edition of Open Doors, the Locarno Film Festival‘s co-production platform and talent development program for filmmakers from equity-seeking communities and regions where artistic expression is at risk.
The Tanzania-Kenya co-production is being produced by Ivy Kiru. The filmmaker has so far made shorts, namely A Country In A Corner, Hooyo, Why Here and An Ode to A Time I Loved Bread. At the end of the Locarno Open Doors program, her new project won the Sørfond Award and the ARTEKino International Award .
THR has compiled highlights about the movie and insight from Ngelime about The Ones With the Tempered Flowers and the themes it explores.
SynopsisFor Neema, being a woman has always meant a script: school, marriage, babies. When a doctor tells filmmaker Neema that having children might be hard, she doesn’t expect it to confuse her. Those expectations wound her. Raised in a multi-religious home, her identity was forged by questions of what is haram and what would please Jesus. All Neema cared about was which hell she’d end up in.
