Kitale Film Week 2024 Lineup: ‘Shimoni’ and ‘Mvera’ Unveiled As Opening and Closing Films

The second Kitale Film Week has announced its 2024 lineup which includes feature narrative, documentary, short and animated films after a successful first edition in 2023. This year’s festival, which takes place from 4 February to 11 February, will showcase some of the best emerging talents from across Kenya and Uganda alongside established household names and a curation of a few films outside the two countries.

The 2024 program includes 21 feature films selected from the submission process involving 169 filmmakers from Kenya and Uganda. The fifty short films selected include seven student films, fifteen animated and documentary films, nineteen films directed by women and ten from returning filmmakers.

Angela Wamai’s critically acclaimed film Shimoni, starring Justin Miriichi, is the opening film for the eight-day festival, with Daudi Anguka’s Mvera, Kenya’s entry to Oscars 2024, as the closing film. Also screening at the festival is the 2023 highly-acclaimed feature and Belgium’s Oscar 2024 entry, Omen, from Belgian-Congolese director Baloji.

“The Kitale Film Week is a community celebration of cinema, and we want to honour storytellers and uplift our audiences while also building on the work we did last year, where we had eight thrilling days. We invite audiences to explore African storytelling as a powerful tool for community revitalisation, social awareness and democracy,” says festival director Peter Pages Bwire. “We are also working on a special events and masterclasses programme which will help our audiences to interact with subjects that are close to them and get skills that can help them progress their careers.”

See the full lineup below:

*Film not eligible for competition and awards

NARRATIVE FEATURE FILMS

Agonda – Bill Jones Afwani, KENYA, 1h 8m

Atonement – Patrick Lorimo, UGANDA, 1h 30m

Bangarang – Robbie Odongo, KENYA, 1h 29m

Bazenga – Bilal Wanjau, KENYA, 53m

Crystal – Leonard Amanya, UGANDA, 1h 35m

Eastzuu – Clerik Morgan, KENYA, 1h 16m

Gacal – Mohammed Ali, KENYA, 1h

*Lost in Time – Peter Kawa, KENYA, 1h 45m

Medicine Man – Simiyu Barasa, KENYA, 2h

Middle of Silence – Mutebi Andrew Elvis, UGANDA, 1h 26m

Mtaa Yangu – Likale Muyonga, Trushna Patel, KENYA, 1h 49m

Mukisa – Geoffrey Kasozi, UGANDA, 1h 30m

Nalwawo – Eric Emokor, UGANDA, 1h 30m

*Omen – Baloji, DR CONGO, 1h 30m

Pieces of Me – Nicholas Nsubuga, UGANDA, 1h 30m

Rishai – Omar Hamza Hassan, KENYA, 1h 13m

Shimoni – Angela Wanjiku Wamai, KENYA, 1h 37m

Visasi – Bruno Oduor Tanya, KENYA, 1h 48m

Why You Hate – Wanju Kase, KENYA, 1h

Zahma – Mwinyi Mohammed Sururu, KENYA, 1h 22m

SHORT FILMS

*15 Years Later (2022) – Sally Thitu Muiruri, USA, 16m

87th Victim – Daniel Mwendwa Muindi, KENYA, 12m

Act of Love – Eric Mwangi, KENYA, 26m

Closure – Sanchez Sanchez Marley, KENYA, 9m

Corrupted File | A Charlie Charlie Found footage – Trevor Sagide Saisi, KENYA, 12m

God Forbid – Yvan King Mukunzi, KENYA, RWANDA, 16m

*Here Ends the World we’ve known – Anne-Sophie Nanki, GUADELOUPE, 25m

Influenced – Wanyuru Muiruri, KENYA, 11m

Itifaki – Omar Hamza Hassan, KENYA, 9m

Kanairo – Cecimercy Wanza, KENYA, 13m

Kikulacho – Joshua Kasyu Wambua, KENYA, 6m

Kimya – Omar Hamza Hassan, KENYA, 7m

Last Supper – Karanja Ng’endo, KENYA, 10m

Maama Wange – Masadde Isaa Yusuf, UGANDA, 10m

Mairia : Encroaching Darkness – John Waiganjo Muriithi, KENYA, 29m

Marry-Edge – Casper Anachoni, KENYA, 5m

Melita – Daniel Mwendwa Muindi, Samuel Kariuki, KENYA, 30m

Milango Zetu – Hillary Muchesia Ambalwa, KENYA, 13m

*Mirror Mirror – Sandulela Asanda, SOUTH AFRICA, 9m

*Mulika – Maisha Maene, DR CONGO, 14m

My Dad’s Funeral – Mercy Wambui Kamau, KENYA, 14m

Offline – Mucia Njeri, KENYA, 3m

Orison – Trevor Saisi Sagide, KENYA, 19m

Pieces of Us – Carl Gordon Mbaja, KENYA, 15m

Reed – Tracy Gimase Amadi, KENYA, 4m

Sandstorm City – Rey Egide Bulambo, DR CONGO, KENYA, 24m

Seems Like Old Times – Ochieng Oneko, KENYA, 11m

Somewhere to Stay – Ronald Owen, KENYA, 8m

Spider – Peter Niwagaba, UGANDA, 19m

Taama – Arthur Nsubuga, UGANDA, 15m

Teka – Samuel Oduor Otieno, KENYA, 32m

*Terra Mater – Kantarama Gahigiri, RWANDA, 10m

The Chasm – Jemima Wanja Kamanda, KENYA, 13m

The Click – Cheruiyot Byegon Amos, KENYA, 7m

The Collector – Andrew Evans Omolo, KENYA, 12m

The Cut – Omar Hamza Hassan, KENYA, 8m

The Package – Omar Hamza Hassan, KENYA, 6m

The Whole Nine Yards – Victor ‘Viboks’ Omondi, KENYA, 14m

*Under the Bed – Kelvin Kagambo, TANZANIA, 15m

Undugu – Victor Obok, KENYA, 22m

Unspoken – Karanja Ng’endo, KENYA, 8m

Where the River Divides – MD Neely, KENYA, 30m

STUDENT FILMS

Bees – Tracy Muthoni Teta, KENYA, 26m

Find Me Online – Brian ‘Vons’ Mukisa, UGANDA, 19m

Kikulacho – Allan Kamau Kabesa, KENYA, 8m

Kwani si Kesho? – Cheruiyot Byegon Amos, KENYA, 10m

Mapacha – Artsy Solomon, KENYA, 7m

Mistaken Identity – Fabby Grace Njongoro, KENYA, 1h

Requiem Of Burden – Don Otieno Okinyi, KENYA, 5m

Why Me? – Rey Egide Bulambo, KENYA, 17m

ANIMATED FILMS

Kuhu and Babu: The Cult – Ross Franks, KENYA, 12m

The King’s New Way – Steven Mochengo, KENYA, 4m

Ttula – Mwesigwaa Benjamin Enoch, UGANDA, 7m

Our Territories, Our Voice – Beatrice Mutegi, KENYA, 8m

DOCUMENTARIES

A Better World – Priscilla Muthoni, Dylan Habil, KENYA, 6m

*A Story of Bones – Joseph Curran, Dominic Aubrey de Vere, SAINT HELENA, 1h 35m

Food Security Champion – Rey Egide Bulambo, Wanjira Wamaina Tabitha, KENYA, 5m

*Esther & the Law – Tatiana Scheltema, NIGERIA, THE NETHERLANDS, 1h 13m

Kiswahili Kitukuzwe – Omar Kibulanga, KENYA, 15m

*Lobola, A Bride’s True Price? – Sihle Hlophe, SOUTH AFRICA, 1h 35m

Mr 125 – Bruno Oduor Tanya, KENYA, 3m

*My Culture My Music – Fanney Tsimong, SOUTH AFRICA, 49m

Sleeping Warrior – Janet Wells, Mwaura Timothy, KENYA, 1h 30m

Suki – Pauline Namakwa, Nathaniel Mbugua, KENYA, 10m

The Pink Champions – Omar Kibulanga, KENYA, 26m

*This Stolen Country of Mine – Marc Wiese, Carlos Andrés Vera, ECUADOR, CHINA, 1h 33m

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