The Ford Foundation’s Just Films has supported this film as part of their mission to promote social justice issues.
THE BATTLE FOR LAIKIPIA
WED, 12/11, 5:00pm, 94 min
BAY STREET THEATER
Director Daphne Mitziaraki via Zoom for Q&A with Roger Sherman
Directors: Daphne Matziaraki, Peter Murimi
Producers: Toni Kamau, Daphne Matziaraki
Editor: Sam Soko
Cinematographers: Daphne Matziaraki, Peter Murimi, Maya Craig
Unresolved historical injustices and climate change raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven. As lack of rainfall wreaks havoc on plant life, the Samburu people struggle to find grazing pasture for their cattle. While past troubles have led the tribe and the landowners to occasionally cooperate, tensions now lead to chaos. Both sides feel the land is theirs.
Daphne Matziaraki is a Greek director, writer and producer. Her thesis film, 4.1 Miles, received a 2017 Peabody Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary, Short Subject. Peter Murimi is an award-winning Kenyan documentary director. He won the CNN Africa Journalist of the Year Award in 2004. His feature I Am Samuel screened at over a dozen film festivals.