Film Countries Archives: Kenya

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Shorts 3: Black Perspectives

  Various

  Kenya, Nigeria, U.S.     87 minutes

Synopsis

Close ties abound in these short films spanning Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, and the U.S. These six shorts explore the complicated relationships between parents and children, aunts and nieces, artists and their craft, and even former lovers.

In Breastmilk, first-time mother Aduke confronts societal expectations and the dynamics of her closest relationships as she struggles to breast feed. When a college student returns home for her grandmother’s repass, she gets a heavy dose of the best and worst her family has to offer in Them That’s Not. History and tradition live through contemporary musician Brandee Younger as she plays a specialized harp made for Alice Coltrane, gifted to Brandee by Alice’s children in Isis & Osiris. Not Dead displays modern-day exploration of W.E.B DuBois’s seminal work, portraying the heartbreaks of the Black experience across space and time. Victoria is a clear-eyed portrait of a single mother and businesswoman making it work in Nairobi, Kenya. The enemies-to-lovers trope jumps from page to reality when two voice actors butt heads in Narrated By.

 American Sign Language, English, Portuguese 

Content Considerations

Screenings & Events

There are currently no upcoming screenings of this film.

Sponsors

Documentary Program Partner

Logo: WTTW (2019)

Documentary Program Patron

Cynthia Stone Raskin

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A woman with intricate braids stands in front of a gate, with a colorful balloon display by her side.

Victoria

  Sam Soko

  U.S. Kenya     12 minutes

Synopsis

We join Victoria during the most hectic week of her year as a helium balloon saleswoman. As we follow her from one children’s birthday party to another, we also get an intimate look at her new beginning in life as a divorced, single mother.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 3: Black Perspectives.

  

 English 

Film Credits

  •   Mike Paterson, Heidi Fleisher
  •   Sam Soko
  •   Sam Soko
  •   Nyasha Kadandara
  •   Will Fich
  •   Jessica Harrop, Patrick Hurley
  •   LBx Africa
  •   https://www.lbxafrica.com/film/victoria

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Shorts 6: Departures

  Various

  Kenya, U.S.     86 minutes

Synopsis

Unique perspectives and fresh stories drive this program of shorts by filmmakers new to the Festival who are reinventing cinema in ways both subtle and overt.

A young doctor has a series of strange experiences in Now, Be Still, a beguiling, unclassifiable and continually surprising film. In Transaction, as a 25th birthday present to herself, a woman decides to hire a male sex worker so she can lose her virginity. In The Non-Actor, a young woman travels to Los Angeles to treat her hearing loss and stays at her ex’s house with his new girlfriend. all the love I could handle tells the story of a mother struggling to balance her artistic career with parenthood.

 English, Kikuyu, Kiswahili 

Content Considerations

Screenings & Events

There are currently no upcoming screenings of this film.

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Over the shoulder shot from the point of view of a receptionist who is looking at a woman taking out money from her wallet.

Transaction

  Wanjeri Gakuru

  Kenya     20 minutes

Synopsis

As a 25th birthday present to herself, a woman decides to hire a male sex worker so that she can lose her virginity. This short film is a powerful exploration of vulnerability and our ability to overcome the things that haunt us.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 6: Departures.

 Kikuyu, Kiswahili 

Film Credits

  •   Wanjeri Gakuru, Judy Kibinge, Susan Mbogo, Oluwaseun Babalola
  •   Wanjeri Gakuru
  •   Carla Wanyika, Oprah Oyugi
  •   Geoffrey Mwangi
  •   Gashiki Gashiki, Elsaphan Njora, Fish Chege, Salome Ng’endo
  •   Mawazo Mengi Factory, Docubox East Africa and Kosinima Inc

Rafiki

A tender tale of forbidden first love told in an electric, colorful Afropop style, Rafiki tells the story of the tender but illegal and taboo romance between Kena, a skateboarding tomboy blessed with great grades and soccer skills, and Ziki, the charismatic daughter of a conservative local politician.

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