Africa seen through the lense of a young film-maker

Every time you watch clips of Wanuri Kahiu’s films, it is as if she is recreating her world. 

Not that she has a problem with her looks or even identity.

But judging by what she says — and even how she says it — she hopes to sell the contemporary African story.  

And she is going places. We met at the Cannes festival and the Kenyan filmmaker, trained around the world, was still hard at her work.

Besides the screenings, the Mombasa-based film maker has won several accolades. 

Just last week, she clinched another one from Cannes (pronounced as Kan).

Her sci-fiction was declared the best short film at the Cannes Independent Film Festival.

The festival runs alongside Festival de Cannes but is an independent occasion to celebrate indigenous film-makers.

Wanuri’s win signals a new direction for Kenyan cinema: one that speaks the international cinema language but still speaks to Kenyans.

Cultural films

In the last decade, African cinema has suffered several blows, especially to do with financing.

The French, who used to throw some cash this way have put their money in EU pockets and the little that is left is spread a little too thin.

Even Anglophone African now benefits.

High end cultural films subsequently disappeared and the few that saw the light were too few and went unnoticed.

With Nigeria’s Nollywood and such experiments across the continent, Africa has churned out thousands of films that have appeal on the continent, but not necessarily in other parts of the world.