I suppose somewhere I must have known that MUIGWITHANIA (a Gikuyu word from the Kikuyu people of Kenya, variously translated as 'reconciliation' or bringing two opposing points of view together), my first feature 'film' was always going to be a difficult project to 'sell' or 'market'.
You have to be realistic: its a story about an Asian shopkeeper caught in the midst of the Mau Mau freedom struggle in Kenya. It was marketed purely to the Asian market in Kenya by my producers-the market they knew. But that ended up hurting its prospects and the movie never really got its due (at least according to me).
The Indian markets were never explored by my producer, so that's a new territory.
The Western markets were interested, but the overall inferior quality of the movie's 'finish' let it down. For Western markets, the technical finish is a 'must'. Add to that the subject- no 'great white man come to rescue the natives' narrative!
All that was then.
Now, suddenly, on Madaraka Day (June 1st), Kenyan TV Station NTV showed the movie across Kenya, reaching far more people than it had ever done.
And today, I embark on the Indian leg of the journey- with a screening in Meerut at the Indian Institute of Film and Television. So sudden excitement.
Long tail or just a movie that refused to die?
A movie with a universal story, a multi-cultural narrative deserved more and now it seems to be slowly coming along. Google for MUIGWITHANIA the movie, see the results for yourself.
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