COUNTRY: Kenya, United States, Greece YEAR: 2024 RUNNING TIME: 94 min
DIRECTED BY: Daphne Matziaraki, Peter Murimi
LANGUAGE(S): Swahili, English, Samburu
SUBTITLES: English, German
PRODUCER: Toni Kamau, Daphne Matziaraki
EDITED BY: Sam Soko
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Daphne Matziaraki, Peter Murimi, Maya Craig
MUSIC: William Ryan Fritch
Screenings
Panel Discussion: Climate Crisis and Colonialism
Synopsis
Unresolved historical injustices and a devastating drought raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between indigenous farmers and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.
For centuries, Kenya’s Laikipia region has been a grazing route for indigenous pastoralist communities. It is also home to white ranchers and conservationists who settled there during the British colonial era and stayed after Kenya’s independence in 1963. Laikipia has been feeling the ravaging effects of climate change for decades; the pastoralists, the ranchers and conservancies rely on Laikipia’s grasslands to sustain their cattle and the wildlife. When drought and elections collide, conflict erupts.
Filmed over a span of five years, THE BATTLE OF LAIKIPIA goes beyond the headline grabbing conflict and explores identity, the complicated legacy of British colonialism, and the intersection with climate change, all while happening during the most fragile moment of our planet.
Director
Daphne Matziaraki
Biography
Daphne Matziaraki is a Greek documentary filmmaker who lives between Greece and the San Francisco Bay Area. She studied journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and international relations at the University of Bristol. Her short film 4.1 MILES, which she made for the New York Times, earned her an Oscar and Emmy nomination as well as the Peabody Award. Her work, which deals with social, political, and environmental issues in Europe, Africa, the US, and the Middle East, has won numerous awards.
Filmography
Selection: 4.1 MILES (2016), Container (2020), The Battle for Laikipia (2024)
Peter Murimi
Biography
Peter Murimi is a multi-award-winning Kenyan documentary filmmaker focusing on hard-hitting social issues. His feature film I AM SAMUEL has been screened at international festivals such as Hot Docs, BFI London Film Festival, and Human Rights Watch. In 2004, he received the CNN Africa Journalist of the Year Award, followed by further awards for his investigative work at BBC Africa Eye, among others. Murimi has made films in over 30 African countries and is one of the most prominent documentary filmmakers in his country.
Filmography
Selection: Walk to Womanhood (2004),The Baby Stealers (2020), I Am Samuel (2020), The Battle for Laikipia (2024)
Links /Contacts
PRODUCTION: Toni Kamau, We are not the machine
WORLD SALES: Ella Pham, MetFilm Sales