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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