When I joined the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin, I remembered one of my favourite short stories, written by the prolific Kenyan-Ugandan-British author Barbara Kimenye. After having dealt with racism in almost all my German-made films, I decided to tell a story that I could enjoy making, without thematizing racism. I chose to adapt Kimenye’s story and to shoot it in Kenya. It was rather daunting to write and organize the shoot, but I was determined. It worked. It remains my favourite film to date.
While writing and re-writing, I got a proposal together and started looking for support from television channels, producers, and funding organizations. I also went to Kenya to do my screenplay research, and to see how Kenya could assist. SFB and WDR provided some funds, along with the French Centre National du Cinema (through the Foreign Ministry of France). The proposed budget was completed by Birne Film Berlin, whose executive, Kristov Braendli, I had worked with for the ZDF KARFUNKEL program before.
The film premiered in FESPACO (Burkina Faso) to big crowds and travelled around the world, where it won a couple of awards at other festivals. In Germany, it was shown on WDR and SFB, at the House of the World Cultures and Feminale Köln, and I even went on a tour with it to different German cities.
Wanjiru Kinyanjui
