Discoveries from Kenya World Cinema

A hearty film in Kamba about two gentlemen and a pan of food.

Queen Elizabeth's younger and only sibling, Princess Margaret, went on a 5-week tour of Mauritius and East Africa in September-October 1956.

A young woman forced to clean up a murder discovers a deadly secret that puts her in a fight for survival.

Inspired by a true story, the film explores the journey of a Kenyan girl forced to confront a maze of complex decisions no teenager should ever have to make. Charity’s story gives us a rare front-row seat to the challenges and barriers many Kenyan girls and women face in their usual quest for love, care, and justice.

A local company owned by a shrewd millionaire, Thabiti, offers young people the opportunity to find work abroad. Mvera, a self-centred woman who is on a mission to search for her lost mother, and also one of the applicants, soon discovers they are all trapped in an organ trafficking ring. She is forced on a hero’s journey as she tries to make it back home to warn the villagers about Thabiti.

A blind man and a deaf woman fall in love with each other, but their disabilities cause major communication problems.

On New Year’s Eve, a brother and sister living on the streets look for warmth and safety in a cold, festive city. A stranger’s kindness seems to give them hope, but it puts their trust to the test.

A poor but ambitious fisherman enslaves a mermaid-like water spirit and exploits her and her abilities for wealth and power.

MIEZI KUMI (TEN MONTHS) is a short documentary of the love between Zacharia Mutai, his family and the last two northern white rhinos, which he has to take care of for ten months in a year.

Afraid of losing the woman of his dreams, Muntu, a small fry criminal, pretends to own a profitable market stall. His honest attempts to turn his lies into reality fail, due to the ubiquitous local corruption. Impersonated as "Captain of Nakara", wearing a stolen military uniform, Muntu manages to succeed in defending his rights, his happiness - and ends up elected as Kwetu's president!

A humorous satire about a Kenyan charlatan who claims to be a “miracle healer”.

On board a commercial airplane, Ruwe, an African intellectual, sits next to a white man named Walter. In their conversation, which is utterly brutal, honest and to some racist, Walter blames the 'Intellectuals' as to why Africa is in such a deplorable state.

The “Voice of Kenya” is the radio that symbolizes the country’s independence. Which means that being a producer there is no small issue. To get a children’s chorus to rehearse in a church, to put together a programme with champagne, or to prepare a recording of a musical edition for Christmas, these are just some of his numerous tasks…

In this humorous and biting film, an eclectic group of people living in Nairobi gathers over Zoom for a court-ordered anger management class. As they swap stories and trade barbs, deeper issues with their lives and local government come to light.

When the US embassy opens the green card lottery visa, Assad writes hundreds of stories about imaginary families running away from the war and submits them. When one of the stories is accepted, Kamal, a repatriated Somali-American, helps him to find the right characters for the embassy interviews. The two have sent hundreds of fake families to the US but now their scam is about to be discovered.

Now an aging couple, Wanjiru and Kimani navigate the routines of marriage amid Kimani’s early-onset dementia. A wedding outing brings unexpected closeness, reminding them of love, memory, and shared history.

The story of Nashulai Maasai Conservancy in Maasai Mara, Kenya and their quest to open the longest wildlife migration corridor in East Africa while protecting Maasai culture.

After 139 years, a comet with the power to manipulate time and space passes by earth, bringing nothing but chaos. A complex narrative involving multiple versions of characters named Matthew and Sarah. They experience strange occurrences related to a passing comet, leading to a loop of tragic events.

16mm film, colour, no sound, 2’25” colaboration with lamu palm oil factory, production museo marino marini

Subira, is a young, free-spirited girl from the rural areas of Kenya. She seems to have her whole life ahead of her, that is, until the death of her loving and encouraging father. Life hits her hard afterwards, with traditional submissive expectations preventing her from leading the life she desires.

In the Kenyan slums of Kibera, a ten-year-old boy hustles to provide for his family, taking him away from his crush on her birthday.

When Suki’s fiancé takes her to an isolated farm to buy a goat, she immediately wants to leave, but soon realises the ancient Mugumo tree is demanding she pay back a debt she didn’t even realise she was carrying.

Upon experiencing her first menstruation at school, June, a twelve-year-old Kenyan girl, grapples with the harsh reality of unawareness, exclusion, and shame. "IMPURE" is a thought-provoking coming-of-age story that addresses the stigma of "period shaming", drawing inspiration from tragic real-life events.

Follow the dramatic stories of three Kenyan women: a laundress with memories of a past sin, a young student from Nairobi facing an abortion problem, and Atisana, a lady musician who lives a beautiful life even if she suffers in the streets.

Peter, his wife Nyathon, and his children endure his political imprisonment, a near assassination, asylum, and his many foiled attempts for a fair and free election in the world's youngest country. A child soldier from South Sudan turned Harvard graduate and democracy activist, Peter is forced to reconcile his commitment to his young country versus his young family, to nonviolent means versus whatever it takes, and a self-defined identity versus an inherited one as protector and leader of his people. We witness the family's personal and intergenerational costs but also their resilience as Peter makes choices which ultimately leads to his incarceration as a criminal in the US.

16mm film, colour, no sound, 2'00"

To save their real estate agency, an ambitious businesswoman and her entitled boss must convince an investor they're married -- despite hating each other.

A young man encounters an unusual occurrence in his apartment

A fantasy film, which mixes fact and fiction, based on director Michael Kohler's time living among the Samburu people of Kenya.

A chance meeting between an alienated young woman and the village outlier leads to an extraordinary meeting with her dead grandfather.

The stakes escalate in a longstanding conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, as unresolved historical injustices and the impact of climate change come to the forefront.

After she and her husband struggle to conceive, a woman asks her best friend to be her surrogate -- which ultimately puts their friendship in jeopardy.

In June 2024, Generation Z in Kenya is making history by protesting against a new law that calls for drastic tax increases across all areas of life. Using social media, young people across the country are sharing information and coordinating their efforts. Thousands take to the streets. In the end, President Ruto does not sign the law. B.O.

Pots and Pans (2024) is a short historical drama reenacting a key scene from Schindler's List (1993). It follows Oskar Schindler as he proposes a wartime business deal to Itzhak Stern, his Jewish accountant. What begins as a profit-driven plan subtly foreshadows Schindler's moral awakening and his journey toward saving lives during the Holocaust.

When fish begin to vanish, community members are quick to blame Dani, the elderly woman rumoured to be a witch. Daisy, a fisherman’s daughter, must decide whether to stand by her friend or heed the warnings of those around her.

Behind the Behind the Scenes is a mockumentary comedy that dives into the beautiful chaos of student filmmaking. It follows The Director, a self-proclaimed visionary convinced his short film will redefine cinema.

In a rural village, an orphaned girl named Star races against time to prove her family lineage and claim her land deed, facing obstacles from hostile neighbors and shady organizations while unexpectedly finding romance along the way.

The Masai are cattle herders living in the East African rift valley: they grow no crops and are proud of being a non-agricultural people. Cattle are the all-important source of wealth and social status, and Masai love their cattle, composing poems to them. However, it is the men who have exclusive control over rights to cattle, and women are dependent, throughout their lives, on a man – father, husband or son – for rights of access to property. A woman's status as 'daughter', 'wife' or 'mother' is therefore crucial and this film examines with depth and sensitivity the social construction of womanhood in Masai society, concentrating upon women's attitudes to their own lives.

A shy, young dreamer escapes the confines of his rural home to join a fearless girl on an adventure through the Kenyan wilderness.

Kim and his friends Dante and Ryan fight against corrupt officials and dangerous thugs to reclaim their land in Kenya. As they seek justice for Kim's father's murder, they must also confront their personal demons.

Thirteen-year-old Grace lives with her parents and eight siblings in rural Kenya. Rain means everything to this family because it makes the crops grow and provides food.

Mumbi leaves Nairobi for her ancestral village and gets into a quarrel with a Christian women’s group seeking to eradicate the remains of pre-colonial belief systems. Wanjiru Kinyanjui graduated from the DFFB with this smart comedy shot in Kenya.

Amidst a catastrophic plastic waste crisis in her hometown of Nairobi, Nzambi Matee risks everything to pioneer revolutionary technology that transforms plastic waste into sustainable paving bricks.

In the search of a livelihood, Juliana, a young mother, holds on to sanity by a thread, as her world is turned upside down.

Water is a commodity not to be wasted in Africa. See what Toto goes through to fetch a pot of water!

Weekend in Hell is a tightly edited archival documentary that plunges viewers into the horror of the 2013 Westgate Mall siege in Nairobi. Told entirely through authentic raw footage of security cameras, cellphone videos, and emergency response clips, the film unfolds in real time, as shoppers and hostage takers collide in the mall's corridors. Without voiceover or interviews, the documentary relies on visual rhythm and cinematic pacing to build suspense. Each shot escalates tension: the initial confusion, the sudden eruption of violence, the terror-stricken faces of those hiding or fleeing, and the harrowing moments of police and rescue intervention. The editing stitches these fragments into a seamless timeline that immerses the audience in the unfolding crisis. Instead of explanatory narration, viewers are placed in the shoes of those trapped, feeling their fear, disorientation, and hope, all unfolding in "real time

Mino's refusal to be married through traditional rite plunges her village into an oppressive tyrannical rule by a rogue chief's son driving her deep into the forest, but her return changes the destiny of her people. The death of the chief of the village institutes more trouble than expected.

A protestor is kidnapped by the police and asked to use is influence to sway the protests in the governments way.

After a fisherman is attacked and killed by a crocodile, his vindictive spirit stays behind to battle against a rival night runner's antics in order to avenge his unjust death.

Joe, a people-pleaser, tells a small lie to his boss in order to please his girlfriend. This lie eventually blows up to magnitudes of biblical proportions.

Dadaab: The largest refugee camps in the world. Situated in Northeastern Kenya, it accommodates approximately 500,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia. A great number of these people have lived there most of their lives, trying to survive in congested and seemingly hopeless conditions. For those who know little more than life inside the camps, the outside word is just an 'abstract thought', far away from daily reality. Both the invisible and the real gates of Dadaab have made hundreds of thousands of people feel like prisoners, losing hope for the future.

Jay is a young man in his last year of campus . Raised in a strict Christian family, he is exposed to the betting world landing him in trouble with his family and ends up losing his property

Film by Geneiva Arunga

After successfully pulling off a heist, six university students live a life on the run as jealously and greed put their friendships to the test.

Footage of Carl and Mary Akeley filmed during the AMNH Eastman-Pomeroy-Akeley East African Expedition, 1926. Short scenes from campsites and wildlife in Nairobi, Uganda, and Tanganyika (now Tanzania)

17-year-old 'antisocial butterfly' Hawi has one goal – to join her classmates on a school trip to Mount Kenya. But her father wants to take a holiday to his rural childhood home, which is close to the mountain. While plotting her escape, her Aunt Sulwe shows up, still nursing a grudge over her brother’s scandalous memoir. Soon, a quiet family visit swells into a simmering battleground.

A troubled man, Marcus, seeks redemption in a church but finds himself entangled in a dark web of crime and corruption led by Father Thomas, a priest with sinister secrets. As Marcus tries to escape his past, he becomes an unwitting pawn in a dangerous game of power, betrayal, and faith. With the help of Sister Maria, who harbors her own scars, and the relentless Agent Nyakundi, Marcus must decide whether to embrace his sins or expose the corruption within the holy grounds. But redemption comes at a cost-one that might claim his life.