‘Promised Sky’ explores themes of sisterhood, resilience, migration and solidarity among women searching for a better life. 

The film follows Preacher Marie (Aïssa Maïga), Naney (Debora Lobe Naney) and Jolie (Laetitia Ky) three very different women who share a home in Tunisia as they search for a better life. Their lives change when Kenza (Estelle Kenza Dpgbo) an orphaned child washes up on shore and enters their lives. Kenza’s arrival  serves as a catalyst for each of them as they confront their hopes, memories and fears. 

Erige Sehiri captures their journey in a real and relatable way. She doesn’t just show us what their life looks like but what life is like for Ivorian women navigating a new country, the solidarity, loneliness, resilience, dreams and acts of kindness. I’m keeping this review spoiler-free as ‘Promised Sky’ needs to be seen to be understood. 

Aïssa Maïga as Preacher Marie brings a calm, loving and quiet authority to the trio as she seems to be the one grounding everyone around her through her faith and compassion. Debora Lobe Naney as Naney brings a vulnerable, maternal and hidden pain that makes you realise that she feels and hides more than she shows. Laetitia Ky as Julie brings a strength, youth and determination to be and achieve great things. Together although different in their own ways the portraits of womanhood are complex and felt. 

What stood out to me is that Sehiri doesn’t romanticise these women’s experiences but she shows them as they are, with vulnerability and rawness and never shies away from the harsh realities they have endured and continue to endure. Although we learn a lot about the characters I found myself wanting more. I wanted to know more about their lives before Tunisia, their life, memories, family. There were moments where I wished we knew a bit more about what shaped these women into who they are and how they were. But as I write this I’m wondering if that was done on purpose. Maybe Sehiri didn’t want ‘Promised Sky’ to be only about Marie, Naney and Jolie, maybe she wanted to be for all the other migrants whose stories go untold and unseen. 

Even now I still think about what ‘Promised Sky’ showed the many people who crossed borders and oceans in search of safety, hope, belonging and search for a better life. With how things are around the world at the moment ‘Promised Sky’ shows the reality that we don’t often see and understand as well as we should. We are often shown numbers and headlines but not the stories and realities that many face.