They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music In Exile

The film 'They Will Have to Kill Us First', directed by Johanna Schwartz and written by Schwartz and Andy Morgan, focuses on events after the banning of music by Islamic extremists, which occurred in northern Mali in 2012.

This African country that considers music as one of the most important forms of communication, saw how all songs were banished overnight. But musicians instead of hide and leave their instruments behind, decided to fight making very clear that if they wanted to ban the music they would have to kill them first.

Johanna Schwartz follows Khaira Arby, a Malian who, despite living in the south, an area which is not that affected, lived with a mixture of strength and vulnerability.