Shimoni
by Wanjiku Wamai
2022, Kenya, 97 mins
4:25 pm on Sept 23, 2023
About the movie
English— After 7 years in prison, Geoffrey, 35, has to restart his life in Shimoni. There, he stays hiding in the local Catholic Church. Then, one Sunday after Mass, Geoffrey sees him. Petrified, he pees his pants and, in a moment of rage, kills a calf. The monster has found him.
About the director
English — Angela Wanjiku Wamai has been working as a film editor in Nairobi for 8 years. She loves to edit documentaries because it allows her to observe human beings. She was recently awarded Best Film Editor by the Women in Film awards-Kenya. In 2017, she wrote I had to bury Cucu, which premiered at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Her directorial debut Dad, are you OK? premiered at International Female Film Festival, Malmö (Sweden). In 2022, she completed her feature debut Shimoni (The Pit) which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and has shown at among others IFFR, FESPACO, and the Red Sea International Film Festival. The film was awarded the Etalon de Bronze at FESPACO 2023 and the Golden Film Award at the Luxor African Film Festival. Angela is drawn to stories of broken men and is often exploring the themes of fatherhood, grief and loss in her work. She studied film at EICTV in Havana (Cuba).