An insightful and powerful documentary, Kikulacho – The Bite Within, was premiered at the Silverbird Cinemas in Nairobi, Kenya, this week. The screening made possible by A24 Media and Camerapix, in collaboration with Transparency International-Kenya.
Kikulacho, Kenyan documentary, examines how corrupt systems and policies have impacted on the common people by dealing with how elections are organised. It is also a story of hope and triumph that aims to look at how institutions and leadership can be shaped by the people themselves to realize their dreams.
The film will be broadcast on Nation Television on Saturday July 17th at 9.45 pm and will then be followed by a global release.
The film has been launched at a critical time in Kenya’s history as the country is just a few weeks away from voting in a referendum on whether to adopt a new constitution. The last time a referendum took place on the same issue it bitterly divided the country and sowed the seeds for the discord and violence that rocked the country and shocked the world in the December 2007 elections.
In examining the issue of how elections are organised, the documentary uses powerful, historical archive, interviews with people across the country and a haunting music score. Much of the material in the film was drawn from Camerapix’s own rich and authoritative library and gives perspective to the tale of corruption in Kenya.
The film was directed by Kenyan filmmaker Murad Rayani and produced by the same team that created such award winning documentaries as Refusing to Die Mo & Me which won over a dozen best documentary awards including the New York International Film Festival, the Chairperson’s prize at the Zanzibar International Film Festival and was screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
A24 Media is Africa’s first online delivery site for material from journalists, African broadcasters and NGO’s from around the continent and its production arm, Camerapix, founded by the legendary photo-journalist Mohamed Amin, is one of the continent’s oldest independent production houses.
Speaking during the launch of the film, A24 Media Chairman Salim Amin
said: “This film is meant to serve as an eye opener. It basically is a stop sign, for people to pause and think, before literally stampeding into yet another crushing pitfall,’ referring to the 2005 referendum and the 2007 post-election violence. “It was so clear after the 2007 elections that the image we portrayed of Kenya as a land of peace was a sham that brutally turned to a mess in the eyes of the whole world,’ he added.
The film’s trailer and behind the scenes footage can be viewed online under the link
http://www.a24media.com/kikulachothefilm.
