I will be heading to Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of “Kikuyu Land”, a film I co-scored with Keir Vine, which is competing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the festival!

The film digs into the topic of exploitation and land in the tea farms in Kenya, and one of the things that stands out about it to me is that it looks very honestly in to the role of “middlemen” in the ways that they were bought and sought to serve and perpetuate colonial and imperial systems — both in the colonial period, right after, and especially now.

A very deep thank you to directors Bea Wangondu and Andrew H. Brown for being so sure about me and my work. It was an immense honour to write original music for the documentary and to contribute to its teeming sound world, once more alongside Keir (after scoring The Shadow Scholars together in 2023!).

There are many beautiful voices and important perspectives that are highlighted in the documentary, and I am so very excited that it is coming out into the world for people to engage with. We have to continue asking questions about what it really means to confront these colonial-era policies that still define the ways that our systems are built to work against its own people.

Screenings:
Premiere - The Yarrow Theatre, Park City (JAN 25, 12:00 PM MST)
Other Screenings at Sundance:
Megaplex Redstone - 1, Park City (JAN 26, 9:00 AM MST)
Holiday Village Cinemas - 3, Park City (JAN 29, 6:00 PM MST)
Broadway Centre Cinemas - 6, Salt Lake City (JAN 30, 6:30 PM MST)

Follow the film’s page @kikuyu.land.film for more updates on future screenings!