Wanuri Kahiu

Wanuri Kahiu was born on Jun 21, 1980 in Kenya. Wanuri Kahiu's big-screen debut came with 500 Years Later directed by Owen Alik Shahadah in 2005.

Wanuri's first feature film From A Whisper, based on the real events surrounding the 1998 twin bombings of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania won Best Narrative Feature in 2010 at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, as well as five awards at the African Movie Academy Award, including Best Director and Best Screenplay.In 2009 Wanuri produced TV documentary For Our Land about Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai for MNET, a pan African cable station. In 2010, her short science fiction Pumzi premiered at Sundance film festival and went on to win best short film at Cannes Independent Film Festival and the silver at Carthage Film Festival (Tunisia). Pumzi also earned Wanuri the 'Citta di Venezia 2010' award in Venice, Italy. Her second feature film Rafiki based on the short story "Jambula Tree" premiered at Cannes 2018 and was nominated for the Queer Palm.Wanuri is the creator of the Afrobubblegum genre, fun, fierce and frivolous black content that celebrates joy and hope. Wanuri is a TED fellow and a World Economic Forum cultural leader.