Pumzi: a return to African sci-fi

Award-winning Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu (From A Whisper) has teamed up with South African film producers Simon Hansen (Alive in Joburg, District 9, Spoon), Hannah Slezacek and Amira Quinlan of Inspired Minority Pictures in a new sci-fi film titled “Pumzi”, which takes its name from the Kiswahili word for “breath”.

The film was written and directed by Kahiu, who owns film company One Pictures.

Pumzi is a 20-minute short film set in a futuristic Africa, in a “water war”, 35 years after World War III. It was funded by the Goethe Institute, the US based Focus Features (Africa First Program) and Changamoto Fund (Kenya). Focus Features and Goethe Institute will handle distribution. The film was completed in September, and will play as part of Sundance’s New African Cinema segment at Park City.

The film stars first timer and South African actress Kudzani Moswela as Asha. The 22-year-old filmmaker, Kahiu, is thrilled by the star’s portrayal of the character. “She breathed into the film unimaginable softness and courage. She became the heart of my heart. Her interpretation of Asha and the story was painfully tender and through it new, undiscovered layers of the film came alive.”

She explains the origins of the film’s idea: “The film was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend about living in a world where we bought bottled air, only to find out that oxygen bars have been created and exist in some places in the world.”

Wanuri Kahiu was born in Nairobi, Kenya and attended the University of Warwick, UK where she earned a BSc degree in Management Science in 2001. She enrolled in the Masters of Fine Arts programme in Directing in the School of Film and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles where she received the Motion Pictures of America Associates Award and the Hollywood Foreign Press Award for distinguished director.

Keep an eye out for this filmmaker – and this film!

Check this exclusive interview at Jamati.com!