“Posthumously honouring a great lost Scottish artist with sensitivity, warmth and nuance, Louise Lockwood’s film, like Bel’s music, is humane, intimate and raw. I can think of no better way to close this year than with this wonderful film.”

Paul Ridd, EIFF CEO and Festival Director

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

Closing Film at 79th Edinburgh International Film

Closing Night Gala:

Wed, 19 Aug 2026, 18:00 at Cameo 1 Public

Screenings:

Wed, 19 Aug 2026, 21:00 at Cameo 1
Wed, 19 Aug 2026, 21:30 at Filmhouse 1
Wed, 19 Aug 2026, 22:00 at Cineworld Screen 2

Find tickets here


Touring UK cinemas in September and October - dates to follow

October 2021. SAY AWARDS Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.

“This is it everyone is seeing the truth of her and I can't wait for the rest of it”. Kathryn Joseph

THE FILM

In 2021, Kenyan-Scottish, singer and songwriter Beldina Odenyo is on the cusp of stardom.  Hailed as a fierce talent, she is working on her eagerly awaited debut album, under her stage name Heir of the Cursed. In October that year she headlines in Edinburgh. Barefoot and cloaked in black, Bel delivers a career-launching performance that leaves the audience spellbound. Two weeks later, Bel takes her own life.

Filmed over three years, this intimate film is guided by Bel’s older sister Leah, who inherits Bel’s notebooks, journals, songbooks and a hard drive of recordings labelled ‘passable demos’. Leah makes a promise: she will finish the album and release it to the world.

BEL is both a tribute and a reckoning for an uncompromising artist and the personal and cultural struggles that shaped Bel’s short yet defiant life. Bel may be gone, but her story and her music survive. And for audiences discovering her now, the experience is unforgettable.

“I got my first guitar age eight. It’s the same guitar I play now, 22 years later. I love the tone of it, the shape of it. It’s never let me down. It’s very heavy, but it feels like my armour”
Bel

filmmakers

  • Louise is a multi-award-winning documentary maker, specialising in redefining and retelling complex biographies including GRIERSON/BAFTA Scotland/Rose d’Or nominated BECOMING FRIDA KAHLO; and PARALLEL WORLDS, PARALLEL LIVES with E from US rock band Eels won Grierson/ BAFTA Scotland/BAFTA Craft/RTS/Celtic Media awards and was nominated for BAFTA best single documentary. She also won multiple awards, including a RTS Craft for her cinematography on the observational series FAIR ISLE: LIVING ON THE EDGE. Louise has been making television documentaries for over 20 years, BEL is her first feature documentary for cinematic release. 

    “I never knew Bel but Leah, her sister, is my friend. We live in the same village outside Glasgow, our children go to school together and I witnessed the impact Bel’s death had on her family and friends. When she died Bel was still relatively unknown, I want to help Leah change that. The talent was and still is there - hopefully this film will help give Bel a platform to share it from.” Louise Lockwood

  • Producer / Director Sarah Howitt is an award-winning documentary-maker who has built a career telling important human stories, particularly those of Scottish communities, women and minorities. Credits include Mhairi Black: Being Me Again [Broadcast Digital Awards / Celtic Media / RTS nominated]; Being Jewish in Scotland [RTS nominated]; The Trial of Alex Salmond [BAFTA Scotland & RTS nominated] and The Bridge Winner BAFTA Scotland best single documentary.

  • Audrey McColligan is a multi-award-winning editor, who is extremely versatile and has worked across many genres, but her particular skill lies in constructing beautifully paced observational films dealing with deeply sensitive subjects. She takes complex narratives to produce visual, powerful storytelling with emotion and warmth. 

    Her work on the series MURDER TRIAL, MURDER CASE and single film YOUNG, BRITISH AND ANTI-ABORTION have won multiple BAFTA and RTS awards. BEL is her first feature documentary for cinematic release.

  • John Archer produces global feature documentaries from Scotland. This year The Story of Documentary Film premiered in Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Sheffield and Karlovy Vary. Other premieres in the last five years include Cannes, Story of Film New Generation, TIFF, Women Make Film, Telluride, My Name is Alfred Hitchcock, Sundance, My Old School and The Story of Documentary Film, Venice, Bill Douglas My Best Friend, and Locarno, Bogancloch. Awards include BAFTA, Peabody, European Film Award for Innovation in Storytelling, RTS and Bafta Scotland 

  • Nancy Bornat is a double BAFTA award winning doc maker. Notable credits include: BAFTA winning series The Yorkshire Ripper Files and Uprising co-directed by Academy Award Winner Steve McQueen. The Windermere Children (BBC/PBS), a drama about child survivors of the Holocaust, chosen for a UN special screening. And Becoming Frida Kahlo (BBC), a series as rich, complex and genre-breaking as the artist herself.

  • Jackie Kay is an award winning Scottish poet, novelist, playwright. She is best known for her award-winning works Trumpet and Red Dust Road. From 2016 to 2021 she held the honorific ‘Makar’ - Scotland’s poet laureate. 

    Jackie writes extensively for stage screen and for children. Her drama The Lamplighter is an exploration of the Atlantic slave trade. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.

    Jackie’s work, constantly exploring questions of personal, racial and sexual identity, is not merely autobiographical, but considers wider applications of multiculturalism and gender confusion. Born in Edinburgh to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father, she was adopted by a white Glasgow couple, an experience that heavily influenced her work, particularly her debut collection, The Adoption Papers. 

  • Joe has worked professionally as a musician since 2009, playing bass in Scottish band Admiral Fallow and as a session musician and collaborator with many other artists. He has recently started creating music for theatre and film and works as Venue Programmer at St Luke’s in Glasgow. 

    Joe adapted and arranged Beldina Odenyo's music for this film’s soundtrack from hours of stems, samples, and recovered songs from Bel’s harddrive. Joe also appears in the film, as he was friends with Bel and also worked with her professionally.