LOST AND FOUND

Logline
After her mothers’ murder, Neema, a 26 year old, travels across the country to find her elder sister, who ran away from home years earlier due to domestic violence.
Synopsis
Act 1.
NEEMA, a successful accountant, monthly visits a witch doctor in a deep forest near the city where she lives in one of her desperate attempts to find her sister. Neema is kneeling down near the largest tree in the forest while the witch doctor behind her guides her to the world of the spirits. But her mind travels to her dark past times. Flashbacks of violent nights when her parents had verbal and physical fights bounce in her head.

Neema can not stand the feelings and walks away furiously and disappointed. But she gets lost when trying to find the way out of the forest. So she climbs a tree to find a mobile phone signal to call her boyfriend, PASCAL. He has been against the whole mission of Neema finding her sister. Pascal believes that an elder sister should be responsible to care for the young one and not otherwise. Neema is irritated with his long speech in the car and she decides to get off and walk home.

The same night, after a shower and when she is about to go to bed, Neema gets a phone call from her private detective who claims to have bad news about the whereabouts of TABU, Neema’s sister.

The detective tells Neema that Tabu was shot dead by her husband many years ago. He says there is not much information about the incident as it happened long ago, when there was no internet and social media. Neema asks for the name of the place where her sister was killed and the name of her husband. With tears in her face, she shakes hands with the detective and walks away.
Act 2.
The next day, armed with nothing but a backpack, her phone and earphones, Neema gets on an old small mini bus heading to SOKOLOKO, a village where her sister, Tabu, was living with her husband. After a few hours of traveling, the bus breaks down and after fixing it the journey continues. But it catches on fire and smoke not long after. Neema and all the passengers run for their lives. While waiting for it to be fixed, Neema takes a walk to admire the beautiful countryside, nature and waterfalls of the place. She hears the car horn and all of a sudden the bus leaves her.

As she chases the bus without success, SABRI emerges from the bushes behind her. He is also left behind as he was making short calls. Sabri is a doubtful teacher reporting for work in the village. As he introduces himself to Neema he says he struggled to secure a job in the city because of his dreadlocks. So he believes he will be well received in the village where there is a shortage of teachers. Sabri makes a phone call to his host known as MWALIMU to come and pick him up.

In the village Neema struggles to find a place to sleep for the night. As she comes across TUMAINI LODGE, a local lodge which is the only one in the village. But it turns out to be mainly for prostitutes. She asks for a room and she is given a room which has a man inside (FRANK). Frank warmly welcomes her in, but she manages to walk away in peace. As she seeks refuge, FARIDA, a random woman with a small bar, agrees to accommodate Neema in her bar. The next day she continues with the mission with the help of Farida. But the mission is cut short by Frank, who is also Farida’s boyfriend. He remembers Neema from their first encounter at Tumaini Lodge.

Following instructions from Farida, Neema finds an old woman who helps her to find what she thinks is TABU’s grave. Neema pays her respect and decides to build a proper grave for her sister. When she is at the hardware store on the phone with her angry boss, two kids on a motorbike, FUKO and GIFT, grab her phone and run away. Fuko and Gift walk into a bar owned by BRIGITA (TABU). We see Frank sitting next to her eating. Frank finishes eating and is about to leave when Tabu insists to him not to switch off his phone and to stay away from women. Tabu opens her wallet and she stares with love at a one sided photo folded into it. It's a similar photo to the one Neema has on her stolen phone.
Act 3.
Farida sees Frank arriving but he remains in the car for a moment. She runs off and takes his phone, finding out that he has been deleting messages from his wife Tabu. Frank is not happy about it and they start a fight. Neema comes in and tries to break the fight but she ends up helping Farida to beat up Frank. Farida packs her belongings and leaves Frank at his bar. Neema asks her to call the boys who stole her phone with the intention to trade the picture of her phone for money. But the thieves reject it. Farida decides that she will go back to the city and Neema decides to go to Mwalimu's house. She meets Mwalimu and Sabri again and she is well accommodated. Neema and Sabri sit outside and watch the stars together while contemplating about life.

The next day Neema gets a chance to call the thieves again and this time they agree to meet in an anonymous place. But when they meet so she can unlock the phone and send herself the picture, the phone has a dead battery. They run away on a motorcycle and Neema chases them down to their hiding place, Tabu’s bar. They ask Tabu to charge the phone. Neema comes in and starts a fight with them all. Shortly after, Frank comes in and joins the fight to beat Neema. They throw Neema outside a few times before she gives up the fight for her phone and decides to walk away.

Franks asks the boys where the phone is and Tabu unplugs it from the charger to show him. But at that instant she sees the phone screen saver photo. She is in shock and quickly opens her wallet to compare both images. IT’S THE SAME PHOTO. Tabu runs for Neema and the rest follow her. Tabu finds Neema and they both hug in tears. The next day Tabu and Neema are washing clothes in the river. Tabu takes off her dress and Neema sees scars on her back. Neema asks what happened, but Tabu refuses to share the story. As they talk, Neema asks if Tabu will be willing to go back to the city with her, but she refuses. She claims not to be educated enough to find a job in the city. That evening they are back home when Neema sits down with Tabu and tells her what she knows about Frank and his affairs with other women. Surprisingly, Tabu says she is aware of everything and that she doesn't care. As they talk, Frank's car can be heard outside approaching and Tabu asks Neema to leave because there is no space for three people in the house. Neema packs and leaves. Frank comes in and Tabu starts interrogating him. Tabu grabs Frank's phone and runs into the room. Frank is not happy about it and takes a glass bottle and follows her. He beats her several times in the face with the bottle until Tabu falls down unconscious. We are in montage of Neema knocking on Mwalimu's house and Sabri opening the door. Neema getting on a bus and saying goodbye to Sabri and leaving the village. The bus speeding, she stops the bus and decides to go back. She is entering her sister's house and we hear a loud scream. Opening shot of a car speeding, with Tabu inside unconscious. Nurse and doctors running Tabu to emergency.

Neema leaves the hospital with blood stains everywhere. She looks confused and depressed. She doesn’t have her belongings. She meets MAMA TENGENEZA who takes her home to shower and clean up. Mama Tengeneza washes Neema’s shirt and gives her a coach to sleep. Neema can't sleep in peace and early in the morning she wakes up and runs to find Frank. She goes to Tumaini Lodge and opens every room until she finds him in bed with Farida. They fight in the corridors. Frank stabs Neema with a knife at the back. Also Neema manages to stab Frank a few times and he dies. Neema walks off bleeding. She walks in the village while in pain, holding her stomach and falling down at the bridge. We see blood coming out of her mouth. She faces up and the camera on bird eye view pulls back up slowly until the big river and the bridge can be seen as small as a stream. Neema in white shirt looks as small as a pillow and the screen fades to black. That is the end.
LOST AND FOUND