The base material that the team worked on was the recordings of interviews with Kenyan women, which were made by Ruby Kangethe and Justyna Celeda in the previous edition of Duos Festival. These are recordings of stories about the lives of women visiting barbershops in Kiliffi. They include a woman who was thrown out of her home by her husband, a mother who gave her children to their grandmother to earn money to support them, a girl who rides a motorcycle to earn money for college. Their stories, in a cross-section of society and class, show the position of women of modern Kenya. They depict the extremely different attitudes of women, determined by their education, family and economic background, determination and self-confidence. The recording of interviews with them is the starting material for the work of the young Kenyan directors, who will create short stories of each of the women from their selected recordings.
The group’s work was based on regular pre-production meetings, during which concepts for making short documentaries were developed. For the purpose of editing the films, 2 shooting days were realized in Kiliffi, as well as catch-ups with the film’s heroines. English subtitles were also developed for the films, which were originally made in Swahili.
The final stage is the post-production of the films. Regular meetings with the group extended to online meetings are feedback sessions relating to subsequent editing layouts. The final result of the stationary work in Kiliffi and remote work will be a screening of the films at an exhibition at the National Museum in Szczecin in June 2023.
students participating in the project :
William Chengo, Joseph Tuva, Kelvin Makau, Bildad Nyaboga Ondara
Ruby Kang’ethe
Ruby has worked in Kenya’s film & television industry for over 20 years. In the early years Ruby’s extensive experience was through commissioned work that covered documentaries, TV commercials, game shows & series. Ruby has worked as a Line Producer, Assistant Director & Director on short & feature length films, but remains compelled by the urge to visually explore reality-based human interest stories. Since 2010, Ruby’s passion to explore people’s cultural expression & its meaning has led to a focused dedication to reportage/ documentaries that not only inform but also engage. Believing that resonance & connection is found in the detail, a keen combination of research-led, instinctual & unassuming listening makes the experience of her stories both memorable & meaningful.
Magdalena Szymków
Filmmaker, director, documentary filmmaker, screenwriter. Graduate of the law department of Szczecin University, journalism at Warsaw University and the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing. Scholarship holder of the Polish Film Institute and the Amsterdam Art Fund. She is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Film, Television and Theater Directing in Lodz.
In her projects she develops visual forms relating to the past and memory. She combines the documentary tradition with the processing of archival materials, home movies and found footage.
She is the author of the documentary film “My Home” (Wajda Studio, Pomerania Film, Vezfilm, 2012, 28′) and “Kolaudacja” (Wajda Studio, 2014, 25′). Writer, editor and director of the film “Occupation 1968: I’m writing to you, darling” (Silver Frame, Peter Kerekes, 2018, 25’/90′). Second director of the documentary film “Escape to the Silver Globe”, directed by K.Mikurda (Silver Frame, 2021, 75′).
Formed the London-based VezFilm production team, which produced the films Anita, Train to Moscow, among others. Awarded a nomination for the 2019 Focal International Awards in London for best use of archival footage in film production.
Assistant director and scriptwriter of the films “Open Your Eyes” by A.Jadowska, A.Panek, “In the Forest Today No One Will Sleep” by B.M.Kowalski, “Sweet End of the Day” by J.Borcuch, “Eastern” by P.Admaski, “Viarolom” by P.Zlotorowicz, “Empty” by A.Trzebuchowska.