THROWBACK INTERVIEW: WANURI ON WANGARI MAATHAI’S BIOGRAPHY

I did this interview with Wanuri Kahiu some years back, like in 2009 when she was working on a documentary for M-Net.

Filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu is currently working on a new M-Net series called Great Africans where they choose different leaders from around the continent and get filmmakers to tell their stories.

Wanuri is “focusing on one significant moment of Wangari Maathai’s life and how that moment was influenced by different memories, in addition, how other people speak of her will be used as her memory," she said, "It’s like a collection of memories, an album.”

This will make Wanuri, the first Kenyan to do a documentary on the Nobel Laureate winner. “It’s intimidating, I was really scared because I really want more than anything to be able to tell a beautiful story about Wangari Maathai. Something that will inspire people the same way I was inspired when I read her book,” adding, “I’m a tree girl myself, I’m passionate about Eco lifestyle, what she does inspires me.” So far, she is doing interviews "but the professor is really really really busy so whatever she can accommodate we are 120% ready for her."

Other personalities who are featured in the show include Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkurumah, Julius Nyerere, Patrick Lumumba and Wole Sonyika.

The documentary was aired on M-Net on April 5, 2009.

CALLING ALL FILMAKERS: AMAA COMING TO NAIROBI

Africa Film Academy invites Kenyan filmmakers to submit their feature, short, and documentary works for consideration by the 7th African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA or AMAA Awards), the Premier Africa Film Awards.
AMAA is calling for nominations from the public and stakeholders in the film industry for winners in nearly 30 film categories. The deadline for all submissions is December 30, 2010; a late entry deadline is January 7, 2011. Nominations will be announced in Kenya in February 2011. Submission forms can be downloaded from the Awards Web site.


Lead actor in Hawa Essuman's Soul Boy.

The 7th edition of the AMAAs will be held in April 2011 and will be televised globally. Only films produced and released between December 2009 and December 2010 may be entered for this celebration of African cinema.
The African Movie Academy Awards were founded in 2005. Held annually in Nigeria, the AMAAs is without doubt becoming the most prestigious and glamorous African entertainment industry event of its kind on the continent. Evolving from a one day event -- televised live -- to a diarized annual African event, the AMAA Awards are now an established engagement platform for filmmakers, industry professionals and all creative industry stakeholders.


Hawa Essuman

The primary aim of the AMAA Awards is to facilitate the development and showcase the social relevance of African film and cinema. The awards are presented to recognize and honor the excellence in professionals in the African film industry, including directors, actors and writers, as well as at to unite the African continent through arts and culture.

GIRL POWER RULES AS KENYAN FILMMAKERS WIN BIG IN RWANDA

This year's edition of the 6th Rwanda Film Festival was punctuated by top Kenyan filmmakers walking away with coveted awards.
Wanuri Kahiu, Hawa Essuman, Ravneet Chadha and actress Ruth Mueni all won awards at held in Kigali.
Wanuri’s Pumzi and Ruth’s role in Chasing Moses won of of them the Peace Basket Award for their contribution in Kenyan cinema.
While Hawa's film Soul Boy and Ravneet's Subira bagged the Best East Africa Film Award.
Jitu Film's Ruth played the role of a witch in Chasing Moses.
She told Hot Secrets, “It was a great fun event. The festival organizers and volunteers were very welcoming and they were great hosts, during my short stay in Kigali and I was treated like a Hollywood Star. The screening was well received by the audience and in the Q&A they asked to submit more Jitu Films in the festival.
"I also felt very proud when all Kenyan women filmmakers that participated in the festival got an award. I would like to thank Jitu Films for giving me the chance not only to act in their movies but also to reprehend them in film festivals abroad and gain all these new cultural experiences.”

NOLLYWOOD COMES TO NAIROBI

This year’s Broadcast & Film Africa Conference will see a host of Nigeria’s leading film producers showcasing their latest productions.
AITEC Africa, the event organiser, has announced an exciting programme, including a Nollywood Pavilion in the exhibition running alongside the conference to be held in Nairobi from July 28 - 29. Over 20 Nollywood film-makers will participate in the conference, to promote their products to broadcasters and distributors that will be attending the event from throughout Africa. Nigerian films have become increasingly popular among East African TV viewers.
The conference will include a session entitled After Nollywood, What Next? – African Film Distribution Across the Continent.
Speakers on this topic include Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu,Imruh Bakari, Savannah Films, Tanzania; Lola Sanusi, Director of Operations, Continental TV; Trushna Buddhev Patel, GM Africa, Pan-African Film Distributors; Professor Emevwo Biakolo, Dean, School of Media & Communications, Pan-African University, Nigeria; Mike Dearham, Head M-Net Library Acquisition and Sales
Over 60 African and international broadcast and film leaders will make presentations on a wide range of broadcast and film industry topics in the two day conference, sharing knowledge and experience with industry managers and professionals from throughout the continent.

WANURI KAHIU FEATURES IN VOGUE MAGAZINE

Celebrated director Wanuri Kahiu has been featured in this month’s Vogue Italia, the Italian edition of Vogue magazine. In the interview, Wanuri discussing both her personal and public life.
Wanuri also pays tribute to Hollywood director Philip Noyce whom she worked with on movies like The Italian Job and Catch a Fire. “He inspired me and in that film I really learned more than in any film school and I realised what it means to work with actors and directing it was my really first training."
Anyhow, read it all huuuuur.

BOMB BLAST MOVIE STARS WIN AT TARIFA FESTIVAL

The awards of the 7th edition of Tarifa African Film Festival saw four Kenyan films screened and three Kenyan actors win the coveted best actor award.
Ken Ambani, Abubakar Mwenda and Godfrey Odhiambo, all who starred in Wanuri’s bomb blast movie From a Whisper took home the coveted prize for Best Actor.
The three walked away with a cash price of €2500 (Sh291,237) and a trophy. A speechless Ken who received the news from Wanuri said, “It means a lot to be recognised internationally.”
He added, “I will use this platform to give back to my employers (Posta) by articulating our products as well as raising awareness on the rights of actors across the country to ensure that we are appreciated for our craft.”
The three were awarded for their collective work, which enables viewers to experience the internal conflict of a society torn apart by terrorism.
Also selected for this year’s festival are Wanuri Kahiu’s From a Whisper and Pumzi, Hawa Essuman’s Soul Boy and In my Genes by Lupita Nyong’o.

WANURI KAHIU’S PUMZI FILM: THE TRAILER

WANURI'S SCI-FI SCREENED AT SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

Filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu's science fiction film, Pumzi will be screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival as part of it's New African Cinema program. This being Kenya’s first science fiction film, we hope it will shade some much needed light to the talented minds in the country.
Pumzi will play a total of five times at Sundance between January 22 and January 30. The 29 minute-film is about survivors of an ecological devastation, as a result how they live in a controlled environment, the Maitu Comunity.
Since they believe there is no life outside, no one is allowed to leave the comunity. But a young woman, Asha, who is in possession of a germinating seed struggles against the governing council to plant the precious seedling on Earth’s ruined surface.
The short film was made with grant money from Focus Features’ Africa First short film program, the Goethe Institut and the Changamoto arts fund.
Mentors from Focus Features introduced Wanuri to South African producers, including Simon Hansen, who worked with Neill Blomkamp the director of the controversial hit sci-fi District 9
In a recent interview with Wired.com Wanuri revealed that she has future plans to expand Pumzi to a feature length as well as nurturing her local film community.
“I would like to work and build an industry, so that everyone walks away well-paid, with great hours,”Wanuri said. “Just a humane society, of sorts.”

WANURI: I WANT MAATHAI TO SEE MY SCI-FI

Kenya’s first science fiction movie Pumzi produced by Wanuri Kahiu was launched at the opening of the Kenya International Film Festival at the National Museums’ Louis Leakey Auditorium.
After the 29 minute-film was over; it was evident that the audience was wowed. Even Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, the chief guest of the night, was “at a loss of words.” He said, “Wanuri is a candidate for a Nobel Prize, she has taken Wangari Maathai’s concept a notch higher.”
To this Wanuri who had earlier on in the night described the making of the movie a “labour of love” said, “I would like Wangari to watch it because she inspired me.”
She dedicated the movie to her young niece Karimi who is part of Kenya’s future generation.
Pumzi is about Kenya at a time when water is a scarce resource and everyone lives inside Maitu community. The lead character Asha, a bald headed girl, works as a curator in the natural virtual museum. She is the only one who dares to escape from the community because she believes there is life on the outside.
Hollywood actor Giancarlo Esposito lauded Pumzi as “creative, very inviting and well shot.”
“The idea of it links a very dramatic idea to a reality of what is happening in the world. I think this is what film is all about. This is why I make movies to raise people from one consciousness to another to allow them to know that you may take for granted the glass of water you have to drink, but you shouldn’t anymore.”

Photos/ Duncan Ndotono

More on Wanuri
(((((((())))))DISTRICT 9 CREW WORKED WITH KENYAN FILMMAKER

((((()))))))(((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))(((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))

DISTRICT 9 CREW WORKED WITH KENYAN FILMMAKER

Filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu has just completed shooting Kenya’s first ever science fiction movie. The film, Pumzi (Air) was shot in South Africa. It is a futuristic short film about Kenya at a time when water is a scarce resource and everyone lives inside The Maitu Community. The lead character, Asha, is the only one who dares to escape from the community because she believes there is life on the outside.
Wanuri said she worked with Inspired Minority Pictures the same production team that worked on the Sci-Fi movie District Nine currently showing in cinemas.
Africa and as such it looked like a logical choice. It’s a beautiful film as a result.”
Pumzi will be screened at the opening of the Kenya International Film Festival (KIFF) on October 21.