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THE LETTER Feature Films

Description

Virtual North American Premiere

Following the film, watch a recorded discussion with directors Maia Lekow and Christopher King and subject Karisa Kamango.

Karisa lives in Mombasa, one of the largest cities in Kenya. He gets a call and discovers he has a delicate family problem: his grandmother has been accused of being a witch. Fearing for her life, he returns to his family’s village to figure out who wrote the letter accusing her of witchcraft and why. Using Karisa’s family as the jumping off point, we visit other elders accused of being witches and uncover the violence inflicted on them. What starts as an almost absurd family situation gets exposed to be a complicated human rights issue. Exploring unique modern cultural and religious clashes, Maia Lekow and Christopher King’s film is still able to achieve an intimacy and charm, that is, in many ways, magical. –Eric Moore

Closed Captioning available

Bios

Maia Lekow (Kenyan) and Chris King (Australian living in Kenya for 13 years) are an award-winning husband and wife co-directing team. Their feature documentary debut, THE LETTER, was filmed over 6 years on the coast of Kenya and has been a profound journey of self-discovery especially for Lekow, whose coastal heritage was an enigma for most of her life, having been born and raised in Nairobi city, some 600km away.

Lekow, also a prominent Kenyan musician performing with her band Maia & The Big Sky, composed an original score for the film featuring vocals woven into the rhythms and everyday sounds of the tropical landscape. Lekow was named a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR in 2013 and received an African Movie Academy Award for her song “Uko Wapi” in 2009.