On June 30, 2013, we began collecting and archiving the stories of persons identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex from Kenya. We called this project 'Stories of Our Lives' (the resulting archive is contained in this book) - and we wanted to do this project for many reasons, but mostly because we wanted to tell stories that are not often heard, stories that characterize the queer experience in Kenya.
After several months of touring and collecting hundreds of vivid, compelling stories, we decided to turn some of these stories into short films. We wrote the scripts based on some of the stories we’d recorded, and we shot the films over the course of eight months using ourselves as the crew. The resulting shorts were strung together into this: an anthology film based on true stories about queer life in Kenya, and our first feature film as a collective in Partnership with Uhai/EASHRI and Big World Cinema.
Production Credits—
Directed by Jim Chuchu
Screenplay by Jim Chuchu and Njoki Ngumi
Produced by Wangechi Ngugi
Starring Kelly Gichohi, Paul Ogola, Tim Mutungi, Mugambi Nthiga, Rose Njenga,
Janice Mugo, Allan Weku, Maina Olwenya, Louis Brooke and Judy Gichohi
Executive Produced by George Gachara and Steven Markovitz
Cinematography and Edit by Dan Muchina and Jim Chuchu
Production Design and Wardrobe by Sunny Dolat
Sound by Mars Maasai and Noel Kasyoka