There’s no stopping Kenyan film director Wanuri Kahiu.
After Rafiki, Wanuri is set to direct “Covers”, a romance set in the Los Angeles music world, for Working Title and Universal. She was signed after an international search for the job to direct first-time screenwriter Flora Greeson’s screenplay.
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Wanuri made history this year when her LGBTQ movie “Rafiki” became the first movie from Kenya to be selected to screen at the Cannes Film Festival.
Kahiu’s “Rafiki” was banned earlier this year in Kenya in response to its LGBTQ narrative; based on the short story Jambula Tree by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko, the film is a love story between two girls who have to choose between happiness and safety in a country where homosexual activity is against the law.
After Kahiu refused to alter the film and it was banned, the Kenyan High Court granted a temporary lift to allow the movie to have a seven-day Oscar-qualifying run in Kenyan cinemas for which it, unfortunately, missed the nomination.
Since its release at the Cannes on the 9th of May, the 82-minute film also was picked to screen at the Toronto Film Festival, London Film Festival, and AFI Fest, among others.
Working Title’s recent releases with Universal include the Oscar-nominated Darkest Hour via Focus Features, which also is releasing WT’s Mary, Queen of Scots. It also is behind Universal’s adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats.
