In 2010 Martha Nabwire and Niki Tsappos took part in the biggest international Street Dance Competition, Juste Debout in Paris. It was the first time ever two women became World Champions in Hip Hop. The two friends start a life of travelling and dancing.
Director Tora Mkandawire Mårtens followed the two friends on their path over the course of five years. Her film depicts their love of dance, how their relationship evolves and how their friendship is put to the test. »Martha & Niki is also a film about the friendship between two young women of diverse backgrounds. Rather like a Hollywood fantasy it starts out as a success story: their dance battles in the world’s major cities and the flights that take them there.
We get to know Martha and Niki in the beginning of the film almost wordlessly via gestures, movements and body language. Only when we see their first defeat does the street dance fade to reveal problems that they experience away from the stage. There was no other way, they were at the top right from the outset. People said: they’re world champions already, what more is there to say? There’s a tendency towards fixed ideas about how a story should be told, but I think you can do it in many ways. Yet there is only one way from the top, and that’s down. You can’t be on top all the time. Success produces a sense of saturation, and issues surrounding their situation, different origins and characters start to surface.«
– Tora Mkandawire Mårtens

In cooperation with Kino in U

Awards for ›Martha & Niki‹
Guldbagge Award for Best Documentary Film & Best Editing – Swedish Film Institute 2017 | Young Onion Award – MakeDox, Republic of Macedonia 2016 | Best Documentary – Durban International Film Festival, South Africa 2016 | Tempo Documentary Award – Tempo Documentary Festival, Sweden 2016 | Honorary Mention, Best Nordic Documentary Award – Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, Malmö, Sweden 2015