Kena and Ziki long for something more. Despite the political rivalry between their families, the girls resist and remain close friends, supporting each other to pursue their dreams in a conservative society. When love blossoms between them, the two girls will be forced to choose between happiness and safety.
To save their real estate agency, an ambitious businesswoman and her entitled boss must convince an investor they're married -- despite hating each other.
For a decade Kenya has been targeted by terrorist attacks of the Al-Shabaab. An atmosphere of anxiety and mistrust between Muslims and Christians is growing. Until in December 2015, Muslim bus passengers showed that solidarity can prevail.
Jo, a witty 9-year old terminally ill girl is taken back to her rural village to live out the rest of her short life. Her only comfort during these dull times are her dreams of being a superhero, which prove to be something her rebellious teenage sister Mwix, overprotective mother Kathryn and the entire village of Maweni think they can fulfill.
As word spreads that there is a serial killer at large who continues to commit murder, an off-duty police officer must return an elderly witness who lives in a remote part of Uganda back to town. Along the way, the policeman gives a ride to an injured man. On the way to the city, the passenger tells the policeman the events that led him to end up injured in the middle of the road. But as we travel with these mysterious characters in the car, director Loukman Ali shows us that the stories they tell are only fragmentary and partial versions of the events that took place, and that perhaps there are truths buried beneath each of their words.
Bereft of earthly memories, a new arrival in the afterlife struggles to recover the past, in this poetic fantasy that offers a dark reflection on personal atonement in the shadow of Kenya’s violent past. Imagine waking up one day in a barren wasteland. Amnesia leaves you clueless as to your whereabouts, your identity, and how you arrived. A small group of strangers welcomes you to a nearby oasis resort, and they reveal to you the nature of this new reality. You are dead. And this is the afterlife. This is what happens to Kaleche (Nyokabi Gethaiga) in the enigmatic opening sequence of Kati Kati, writer-director Mbithi Masya's poetic first feature film.
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.
Mashoto’s life in the city is a hustle. It’s a fast life in the fast city of Dar es Salaam. There’s no time to stop and Mashoto likes it this way. There’s no time to think about the people he left behind in the village. Until silence cuts through the city racket with three words: mother has died. With those words Mashoto’s life changes forever. He returns home, to the place he abandoned, to bury his only ally. Yet his mother has left behind a gift. Her voice, her unseen presence, a gentle whisper urging him to open his eyes and strain his ears- to learn the lessons of nature, of the earth and the roots that draw their nourishment from it. Cast out by his father after losing the little money his mother had left, Mashoto must learn to survive from the land. He must learn to face old enemies and forge new alliances, to fight and to love. Most of all, Mashoto must discover what it is he is fighting for.
Pili lives in rural Tanzania, working the fields for less than $1 a day to feed her two children and struggling to manage her HIV-positive status in secret. When she is offered the chance to rent a sought-after market-stall, Pili is desperate to have it. But with only two days to get the deposit together, Pili is forced to make increasingly difficult decisions with ever-deepening consequences. How much will she risk to change her life?
Since 2008, albinos in Tanzania have become human targets. Witch doctors offer huge sums of cash for their body parts to be used in magic potions. From 2008 to 2010, more than 200 witch-doctor inspired murders occurred. As a local saying goes: “Albinos do not die, they just disappear.” This is the story of Alias, an albino boy on the run. After his father’s murder, his mother sends him to the city. His uncle Kosmos, a truck driver, takes care of him. Alias learns fast in the city, selling sunglasses, DVDs and cellphones, it will not take long before the boy experiences at first hand the difficulties of life and of being different.
A woman single-handedly shoulders her family's burdens, without reward or thanks, to farm her husband's land and keep the family fed and cared for. She finds herself training her daughter to walk the same path she does. No school, all work. Pests threaten her harvest and are exterminated using a loan from the local women's Co-op. But when Manyusi squanders her prized harvest and schemes to marry off their daughter, Fatuma must enlist the help of her fellow ladies at the co-op to make things right.
After the passing of her estranged father, Fatima makes an unlikely friend at a hospital, Maria. Bound by pain, Fatima keeps coming back to hear Maria's tale of the T-junction where she found love and loss in a ragtag community.
Nawi is a Kenyan film that explores the intricate themes of love, identity, and cultural heritage, set against the vibrant backdrop of modern-day Kenya. The narrative centers on a young woman who is caught between the traditions of her upbringing and the pressures of contemporary life. As she confronts the weight of familial expectations and the pull of her own dreams, she embarks on a transformative journey of self-discovery.
Shooting on 16mm film in Mozambique, director Ico Costa explores the textures of human behaviour as he follows young men who wonder what lies beyond their immediate surroundings. In the fragments of conversations captured in the Maputo market, a recording studio and on coconut trees, we find daily routines and tedium lead to chit-chat on desire, money and hope. In the interplay between performance and document, poetry emerges from fleeting everyday moments.
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.
Eleven-year-old Aisha wants to fish for a living, but her mother thinks that fishing should be left to men. Aisha’s life transforms when fisherman Hassan decides to teach her how to fish.
A young Congolese woman, forced to work in an illegal mineral mine, escapes her captors. She finds a new life for herself after joining a renowned all-women boxing club in the border city of Goma.
When Kev, a super talented footballer's dream come crushing down, he is left with no choice but to join the criminal world. In the process of trying to win the battle, he loses the war.
Mbeu Yosintha was made to help farmers and rural communities cope with the effects of climate change and in particular the ever changing rain patterns in South East Africa. The film is a drama using local actors and was devised with Malawian writer Jonathan Mbuna following extensive research with various agricultural NGOs in Malawi. Following successful drama like Mawa Langa this film has already been seen in Malawi by over 10,000 people in rural areas using a pedal-power cinema kit.
Apostles of Cinema follows Frank, DJ Black, and Rehema — three devoted film workers in Tanzania — as they reintroduce a classic piece of the country’s film history to their audiences of working class cinephiles. We join them, alongside Maangamizi: The Ancient One (2001), on a journey through the labyrinth of informal libraries, studios, and cinemas that exist to keep film and film culture alive. A testament to the profound cultural value of film when made truly accessible.
