Kenyan Dystopian Fable ‘Memory of Princess Mumbi’ and Kenyan-Nigerian Co-Production ‘One Woman One Bra’ Head to Venice 2025

Two Kenyan projects – Memory of Princess Mumbi and One Woman One Bra – are headed to the 82nd Venice Film Festival, running from 27 August to 6 September 2025.

Memory of Princess Mumbi, written and directed by Swiss-Kenyan filmmaker Damien Hauser, is a dystopian fable blending sci-fi, animation and mockumentary. Set in 2093 in an imaginary African country, it follows a young filmmaker who travels to a remote village to capture life after a devastating war, where he must create without technology, discovering beauty in fragile humanity. The film stars Shandra Apondi (Where the River Divides), Samson Waithaka, Luisa Wolf and Abraham Joseph.

The film will have its world premiere in competition at Venice’s parallel section Giornate degli Autori, making it the first-ever Kenyan feature to be selected in this category. It will also screen as a Centrepiece title at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Memory of Princess Mumbi follows Hauser’s After the Long Rains, which premiered at the 2023 Red Sea Film Festival and later screened at IFFR 2024, BFI London 2024, and the 2024 New York African Film Festival. Recently it was announced that its worldwide sales rights have been acquired by Paradise City Sales.

Also premiering at Venice is the Kenyan-Nigerian co-production One Woman One Bra, one of four features developed and produced through the Biennale College Cinema, a mentorship program supporting emerging filmmakers. Written and directed by Kenyan filmmaker Vincho Nchogu, the film follows Star, a 38-year-old woman in the village of Sayit, whose fight to secure her home amid land reforms leads her on a search for identity, kinship and belonging that pits her against her own community.

In her director’s statement, Nchogu describes the project as a “political commentary that evolved into a feminist narrative,” one that “explores the tensions of personal ambition, cultural reclamation, and ethical dilemmas.”

Produced by Nchogu’s Nigerian collaborator Josh Olaoluwa, the film stars Sarah Karei (Sarah), Irungu Mutu (Power), Norng’aruani Kipuker, Amos Leuka, Boniface Saitabau, and Davina Leonard (Poacher).

One Woman One Bra is Nchogu’s feature debut after a series of short films, including Resurrect which was showcased at Cannes’s Cinema du Monde in 2009.

Watch trailer for One Woman One Bra.

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