Gabriel e a montanha

Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa : 2017
Gabriel and the Mountain

Before entering a prestigious American university, Gabriel Buchmann decides to travel the world for one year. After ten months on the road with his backpack full of dreams, immersed at the heart of various countries, he arrives in Kenya determined to discover the African continent. Until he reaches the top of Mount Mulanje, Malawi, his final destination. Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa's second fiction feature was winner of the France 4 Visionary Award when it premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Stories of Our Lives

Jim Chuchu : 2014

Members of the multi-disciplinary art collective The NEST spent several months travelling in Kenya collecting stories of young LGBTI people – stories about their experiences and their lives in a country that is still extremely homophobic. Based on countless anonymous interviews, they developed five screenplays for short films which provide an insight into the current situation and the problems of these sexually marginalised young people. The episodes, which address topics such as the search for identity and self-determination, enforced heterosexualisation and the struggle for acceptance, have one thing in common: they all describe the need for love and the fear of fulfilling this love openly. Time and again, their fears prompt the question: is it better to hide away, resign oneself to the situation and leave the country, or to stay and fight openly for sexual diversity? In spite of the film being banned from public screenings in Kenya, the members of The NEST have opted for the latter and are determined to continue their struggle for recognition. Their feature debut premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2014, and won the Teddy Awards Special Jury Award at its European premiere in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2015.

A Thousand Times Good Night

Erik Poppe : 2013
Tusen ganger god natt

Rebecca is a photojournalist obsessed with reporting in dangerous war zones. She documents a group of female suicide bombers in Afghanistan. She accompanies one of the suicide bombers to Kabul, where the premature detonation of the bomb severely injures her. While recuperating at her home in Ireland, she is confronted by her husband Marcus and her daughter Steph, who force her to choose between covering war zones, or prioritising her family. She chooses her family. Steph is intrigued by her mother's photographs and interested in humanitarian work in Africa, so Rebecca proposes a photography trip with her daughter to a refugee camp in Kenya. Marcus agrees, assuming that the trip will be safe. Instead, the camp is attacked by an armed group that begins murdering people in their tents. Rebecca's obsession with documenting violence returns, and she again recklessly exposes herself to danger, taking photos in rhythm with the gunfire. Erik Poppe's fourth feature is inspired by the director's own experiences as a war photographer in the 1980s. His film premiered at Montréal World Film Festival 2013 where it received the Special Grand Prix of the Jury.

The Constant Gardener

A film by Fernando Meirelles, adapted from the novel by John le Carré.

British diplomat Justin Quayle meets the impulsive human rights activist Tessa when she heckles him after he has presented a lecture. When she learns that he is about to embark on a diplomatic mission in Kenya she proposes to him in order that she may accompany him as his wife.

In a remote area of northern Kenya, Tessa Quayle is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, Dr Arnold Bluhm, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle, will leave the matter to them. But haunted by remorse and jarred by rumours of his late wife's infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him across two continents.

Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his own life, stopping at nothing to uncover and expose the truth – a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined, involving members of the British High Commission and the sinister business practices of a leading multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company. In the process of learning the secrets of his powerful enemies, Justin must uncover all of his wife's many secrets as well.

A very poignant and thought-provoking story of conspiracy, deception and treachery.

Out of Africa

A film by Sydney Pollack

Out of Africa follows the life story of Karen Blixen, an amazingly strong-willed woman who moves from Denmark to run a coffee plantation with her philandering husband in Kenya around 1914. To her astonishment she soon discovers herself falling in love with the land, its people and a mysterious British adventurer and idealist.

Karen Blixen is the daughter of a wealthy Danish family. When Hans, the man she expects to marry is no longer interested in her, she proposes to his twin brother Bror, both for his friendship and for the title of Baroness, and since she has money he agrees. It is decided they will buy land in Kenya and start a dairy farm. Karen follows Bror out to Kenya where they marry and take up residence but she then finds that her husband has decided on his own to grow coffee instead, even though the land they have purchased is considered too high to support this crop.

When the First World War breaks out and most of the men go south to Lake Natron, Karen leads a long and dangerous supply run to them herself. Learning much about survival, resourcefulness and leadership, she also gains the respect of the men. Her marriage, considered merely one of convenience by Bror, is put to the test when he has other relationships, eventually transmitting syphilis to Karen. After the diagnosis she leaves for Denmark, returning to the farm after a successful though lengthy period of treatment. She decides that Bror must move out for good, which he does, returning only to solicit one last sum of money from her.

Karen continues to develop the coffee plantation, enlisting the local Kukuyu to work on the farm. Eventually much of the tribe is employed by her and she provides them with some of the uncultivated land on which to live. She also builds a school and hires a missionary teacher to educate the children, despite the disapproval of both the tribal chief and many of the English settlers. As a result, she gains a greater understanding of African culture which brings a mutual respect and affection.

Eventually Bror wants to remarry and Karen consents to a divorce. Her long friendship with Denys Finch Hatton, a free-spirited big game hunter, begins to blossom as they are drawn to each other and Karen falls in love with him. He is honest and loyal but lives an independent life of adventure in the wilderness and while Karen wishes for the security of marriage, Denys tells her that he can never give up his freedom – she feels herself to be the one who must pay the price for his freedom.

The coffee plantation is still only barely surviving as she is forced to mortgage it further, but just as success is within her grasp with a first bumper crop, a fire devastates the processing buildings and the entire crop is lost. Having no insurance Karen faces bankrupcy, loses her home and land to the bank, and is forced to sell her remaining personal possessions.

A few days before she is due to leave, Denys appears and offers to fly her in his plane to Mombassa from where she will sail to Denmark. Before he returns for her he is tragically killed when the plane crashes and catches fire. She buries his body on the eastern slopes of the hills overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Her home and lover gone, her life in Africa is over and she leaves, never to return. "I once had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills."

Karen Blixen returned to Denmark and went on to write a number of books about her adventures in Africa under the pseudonym Izak Dineson.