Nairobi Half Life Beats Major Films to Win Best Picture

Nairobi Half Life may have missed out on being the first Kenyan to ever get an Academy Award nomination but being the second ever official selection is  worthy enough feat for the well reviewed debut feature by Tosh Gitonga.

It swept the Kalasha Awards last year but it also getting awards abroad. Film site, Take One, has named it 2012’s best film. Nairobi Half Life was in good company as it beat out some of the year’s most highly regarded features, including Holy Motors (which just won the International Cinephile Society best picture award this week), Martha Marca May Marlene (the film that introduced the world to the discovery of 2011, Elizabeth Olsen) and The Hunt (which won the best actor award for Mads Mikkelsen at Cannes last year).

Take One said this about their winning film: “The first ever Kenyan submission to the Academy Awards opened both Film Africa and the Cambridge African Film Festival in 2012. Telling the story of young Mwas, who journeys to Nairobi in search of fame and fortune, the seedy underbelly of the Kenyan capital soon traps him in a vortex of crime. Putting a distinctly Kenyan spin on a classic tale, TAKE ONE declared it “a heartbreaking saga that will cross cultural boundaries with aplomb” after its Film Africa screening.”

Nicholas Winding Refn’s crime caper, Drive, won the best picture the previous year. Also of note, is Ugandan documentary about gay rights activism was only beaten by 5 Broken Cameras in the documentary category, beating out Grandma Lo-Fi and Marley.

Take One is an independent film magazine that covers the best in independent and festival cinema year round. Every September, Take One is responsible for the full, comprehensive coverage of the Cambridge Film Festival.