Something Necessary

A gangster movie from Kenya: funny, sad, brutal. It was the first Kenyan film ever entered into the Best Foreign Film Oscar race. Produced by German Star Tom Tykwer. Election violence based on ethnicity is a recurrent phenomenon in Kenya, but the destruction in 2007 was unparalleled. Youth gangs egged on by politicians roamed the country for three months, plundering, raping and murdering. Some 1200 people were killed. Over 300,000 Kenyans fled. The International Court of Justice in The Hague is still investigating. Anne is one of the victims. Her life is in ruins: her husband dead, son in a coma, farm destroyed and she hospitalized. For the sake of her child, she wants to rebuild her life, whatever the cost. She meets Joseph, who was on the side of the culprits during the riots.

Keywords

  • Arthouse
  • Decolonize
  • Kinoherz
  • Made in Germany
  • Young Talent
  • Africa
  • social drama

Actors

  • Susan Wanjiru
  • Walter Kipchumba Lagat
  • David Koprotich Mutai
  • Anne Kimani

Director

  • Judy Kibinge

Drama


1h 21min


12 FSK

SW


DE

Kenya
Germany
2013
A gangster movie from Kenya: funny, sad, brutal. It was the first Kenyan film ever entered into the Best Foreign Film Oscar race. Produced by German Star Tom Tykwer.

A gangster movie from Kenya: funny, sad, brutal. It was the first Kenyan film ever entered into the Best Foreign Film Oscar race. Produced by German Star Tom Tykwer.


Election violence based on ethnicity is a recurrent phenomenon in Kenya, but the destruction in 2007 was unparalleled. Youth gangs egged on by politicians roamed the country for three months, plundering, raping and murdering. Some 1200 people were killed. Over 300,000 Kenyans fled. The International Court of Justice in The Hague is still investigating.

Anne is one of the victims. Her life is in ruins: her husband dead, son in a coma, farm destroyed and she hospitalized. For the sake of her child, she wants to rebuild her life, whatever the cost. She meets Joseph, who was on the side of the culprits during the riots.

Festivals

Cast & Crew