The documentary takes on the persona of the island, talking about the glorious days when it was treated like a god.
With fine writing, Cini gives the island a female persona that in a sad voice reminisces the green and life that filled the small island.
“But all this is gone,” the voice says.
Akampene has for the past years been endangered; with water levels at Lake Bunyonyi increasing every day, it is possible that this island has a very short time before it is finally submerged and its existence and stories buried.
It is the fear of her story being buried with her that Cini uses to drive the storytelling in Punishment Island. From one shot to the next, Akampene is troubled and asking if there are survivors that can get her story told.
With the use of actors as well as a sketch artist, Cini’s film tries to give us a feel of how life must have been for girls that were abandoned on the island.
With the voice over, we learn that in the twentieth century, girls that had been abandoned at Akampene starved to death while others drowned while trying to leave.
All these girls had been deemed evil for getting pregnant before marriage and bringing shame on their families.
To avoid the shame, the father or older brother would sail the girl to Akampene in the wee hours of the morning and dump her there so that by dawn, they too could pretend they had no idea where their daughter or sister was.
The film tracks down three women, Mauda, Jenerasi and Grace, survivors saved by some poor men that frequented the island in search of free brides they did not have to pay bride price for.
Jenerasi was abandoned on the island when the practice was commonplace and witnessed women drowning themselves out of desperation, dying of starvation and others suffering miscarriages.
She reveals the way women would parade themselves on arrival of men in a canoe circumnavigating the island to choose the prettiest wife.
Mauda was probably one of the last women to be abandoned on Akampene. She notes that after realizing she was pregnant, she was badly beaten before being taken to Akampene.
It is probably because of the brutal treatment that she suffered a miscarriage as she notes that the child from the doomed pregnancy was never born.
Punishment Island thrives on a brilliant storytelling style that merges visual art and drama to drive the point home.
Cini’s choice of respondents that go from survivors to church elders adds color and information to the whole film.
In collaboration with African Movie Night Kampala, Punishment Island will screen at a yet-to-be- communicated location on Lake Bunyonyi on Independence day.
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