Filmography

2018 I Had to Bury Cucu; short (script)
2020 Dad, are you ok?; short
2022 Shimoni (The Pit); feature film

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT 

I have always been fascinated by the ability of secrets to paralyze; their ability to consume individuals, families, and societies. SHIMONI was born from this curiosity about the things unspoken and the devastating power of silence. I have also often contemplated the idea of freedom and what it really means to be free. This curiosity led me to Geoffrey’s story-a man who was sexually abused in a society that has refused to recognize the sexual abuse of men and boys. A man who leaves a physical prison but has to try and break out of another prison, one that is unseen and one that has imprisoned him for much longer.  

Writing SHIMONI was very difficult because I could not find a way to be hopeful about the story. I researched a lot, and all the research did, was leave me with this feeling of dread because as I observed society all I kept seeing was broken men fighting silence, in silence. The film had to be a tragedy and though this was risky, anything else would be insincere. I knew from the get-go that I wanted the film to be in my mother tongue (Kikuyu) and to be set in a village in rural Kenya. There is a rawness in the way we speak when we are speaking our own languages, it feels like our tongues have been set free. This totally contrasted the idea of silence and a tongue held hostage by secrets. The juxtaposition of the large expanse of land in rural Kenya and the entrapment that the main character feels was also very interesting to me.  

Over and above its form as a cinematic piece, I hope SHIMONI sparks a conversation about the sexual abuse of men and boys. I hope that the kind gentleman who was brave enough to share his story of sexual abuse with me will start to see an out, of the prison that has been built around survivors of sexual abuse by stigma and silence.