Bel

In the summer of 2021, Scottish-Kenyan singer-songwriter Beldina Odenyo was on the cusp of stardom. Hailed as a fierce, uncompromising artist with a voice that could silence a room, she was working on her eagerly awaited debut album. In October, she headlined at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, delivering a performance that left the audience spellbound, and promoters and musicians convinced it would launch her career. Two weeks later, Bel took her own life at just 31.

This is the story of the artist behind the voice and the sister determined to ensure Bel’s music continues to live on after her death. Filmed over three years, this intimate documentary is guided by Bel’s older sister Leah, who inherited Bel’s notebooks, journals and songbooks as well as a precious hard drive containing a folder of recordings labelled ‘passable demos’, and vows to finish the album and release it to the world.

As Leah pieces together Bel’s recordings, the film unfolds through video diaries, phone recordings, audio files and candid footage that Bel left behind. Through these fragments, Bel begins to narrate her own story.