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Screenings
Our Land, Our Freedom tells the story of two extraordinary Kenyan women — a mother and daughter, Mukami and Wanjugu Kimathi. Mukami was a freedom fighter in Kenya’s 1950s independence movement, and was married to its iconic leader, Dedan Kimathi. He was hanged by the British in 1957, his body disposed of anonymously. Since then, Mukami has been searching for Kimathi’s remains, and is joined by her daughter Wanjugu. Along her journey, Wanjugu learns of a buried history of colonial brutality, including concentration camps and the vast theft of land that left hundreds of thousands of Kenyans destitute.
Directors Spotlight
![A black-and-white picture of a woman named Zippy Kimbundu. She has a bright wide smile in contrast to her dark skin, wearing an intricate shape patterned button down top. She has tightly coiled 4c hair pulled back against an outdoor background.](https://wp.blackstarfest.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FeatureDocumentary_OurLandOurFreedom__zippy_kimundu-e1719972623997-278x278.png)
Zippy Kimundu
Director
Zippy Kimundu is a renowned Kenyan filmmaker who has worked in film and television globally. She co-directed a short documentary, A Fork, A Spoon and A Knight with Mira Nair for Tribeca Film Institute’s ‘Power of Word Series’. Zippy holds a masters in Fine Arts from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is a film educator for under-represented communities at I’ll Tell You My Story, who give storytelling workshops in Africa for teenage refugee girls. She is the founder of Afrofilms International, a women-led film and TV production company based in Nairobi and Kilifi, Kenya.
![A picture of a woman named Meena Nanji posed gracefully surrounded by a garden of greenery and pink florals, her neck adorned with a necklace. She wears a matching pink button down top, brown sunglasses matching the color of her short hair and smiles warmly turned looking off towards something to the right.](https://wp.blackstarfest.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FeatureDocumentary_OurLandOurFreedom__meena_nanji-278x278.png)
Meena Nanji
Director
Meena Nanji is Kenyan-born of Indian heritage, based in Los Angeles. She is an award-winning director/producer of feature documentaries, experimental and fiction shorts. Her work has been recognized by the Sundance Documentary Fund, Just Films, Perspective Fund, IDA, IDFA Bertha Fund. Her films have screened on television and at film festivals internationally and have focused on social-issue and gender rights and representation, including projects filmed in India, Afghanistan and Kenya. She is the Co-director/Co-Producer of the newly completed documentary, Our Land, Our Freedom, about a woman unearthing British colonial atrocities in Kenya, and her ongoing struggle for land rights.
- Runtime 96 minutes
- Country Kenya, United States, Portugal, Germany
- Language English, Swahili, Kikuyu
- Director Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu
- Cast Wanjugu Kimathi, Mukami Kimathi, Faith Alubbe, Swaleh Githinji
- Cinematographer Andrew (Dru) Mungai, Steve Ruiyi
- Composer Ibrahim Sidede
- Executive Producer Eliane Ferreira, Mira Nair
- Producer Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu, Eliane Ferreira
- Screenwriter Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu
- Co Producer Paulo de Carvalho, Gudula Meinzolt
- Editor Jordana Berg (edt), Franki Ashiruka
- Music Vivek Maddala
- Premiere North America