Kenya and Germany / 1995 / 80mins / Comedy / English and Kikuyu

Traditional African beliefs come into conflict with missionary zeal in a Kikuyu village. There, life revolves around a sacred tree that exerts a strange power over everyone around it. Needless to say, Christian ladies see the tree only as a reminder of a pagan past. Standing against their plan to cut the tree down is Mumbi, daughter of an old-fashioned medicine man, who has returned from the city and an abusive husband. Her Polaroid snapshots of "the most dramatic occasion of the Feeling of the Sacred Tree" reunite the community in healing laughter.

Wanjiru Kinyanjui

Wanjiru Kinyanjui was born in Kenya in 1958. Before becoming a filmmaker, she was a writer, poet, and radio journalist. Her work has been influential within Riverwood, Kenya’s homegrown film industry and also to Kenya’s up and coming film culture. She obtained her master’s degree in English Literature and German in Berlin before enrolling in the German Film and Television School in Berlin. During her studies, she directed A Lover and Killer of Colour (1988), The Bird with the Broken Wing (1990), Black in the Western World (1992), and Clara Has Two Countries (1992). Since then, she has directed numerous fiction and documentary films. Kinyanjui also teaches filmmaking at Kenyatta University. Learn More