60 Sheep, 8 Camels, 100 Goats: ‘Nawi’ Shows Child Margarige Through The Eyes of A Gifted Girl in Kenya

“60 Sheep, Eight Camels, and 100 Goats.” THESE WORS FROM The PROTAGONIST OF Nawi: Dear Future MeA Kenyan-German Coming-of-Age Drama Film That Was Kenya’s Entry for the Best International Feature Film Race at the 2025 Oscars, Hit Home. After All, The Movie Tells of a Young African Girl Battling Child Margarige in Heps of An Education and Self-Dermination. The list of animals is the price a stringer is willing to pay for the young bride.

On Tuesday, The Film, Directed by The Brothers Toby and Kevin Schmutzler, As Well As Apuu Mourine and Valileine Chelluget International Film Festival.

Nawi Screens in the main competition of the Section of the Fest, WHICH RUNS THRUGH April 26. Chinese Actor-Director Jiang Wen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Let The Bullets Fly) Will Serve as the Head of the Jury, Which Will Hand Out The Fest’s Tiantan Award. The Other Jurors Are Chinese American Director and Actor Joan Chen (The Last Emperor), British Director David Yates (Fantastic Beasts and WHERE TO FIND THEM), Chinese actor ni, Finnish Director Teemu Nikki, Swiss Director and Actor Vincent Perez, and Art Director Tim Yip from Hong Kong.

Nawi Centers on a Girl Called Nawi, The Best Student in Her Region, Whose Aspirs of Attending High School Are Shattered Whored When She Learns that Her Father Plans to Marry Her. Substantial Amount of Livestock. Nawi’s Facher is entrenrenched in tribal traditions, While Her Three Mothers Are Limited by Their Traditional Roles. SO, Nawi Flees on Her Wedding Night.

Set in the Remote Turkana Region of Kenya, Nawi Stars Michelle Lemuya Ikeny As the Titular Character, A ROLE FOR WHICH She Won The African Movie Academy Award for Best Promising Actor. The Ensemble Cast Also Features Joel Liwan, Ochungo Benson, Ben Tekee, Michelle Chebet Tiren, Patrick Oketch, Nungo Marrianne Akinyi, and NyoKabi Macharia. Produced As a Collaboration Between Filmcrew Media and Baobab Pictures with The Turkana-Based NGO Learning Lions, Wich Focuses on Educeal Opports and Sociali EMPOWERMENT Based on a script that was the result of a National Writing Contest in a WHICH FIRST-TIME Writer Cherotich Shared Her Idea. Atlas International Film is Handling Sales of the Movie.

Watch a trailer for Nawi here.

Kevin and Toby Schmutzler Recently Talked to Thr About How Came to the Project, The Collaborative Approach Behind The Film’s Creation, Their Focus on Social Impact Filmmaking, and Howe Has Already Made A Different.

In 2017, The Two Were Approached by An NGO in Kenya About Making A Film, Likely a Short, and They Decides to Travel there and Meet People. “We TRIED TO COME UP WITH Stories with Different Writers from Germany, from Kenya, from The Us, But It Just Didn’t Feel Right Because It Was Always. “SO, The NGO UP WITH the IDEA to HOST A: And we received many submissions and short stories.

IT WAS FROM CHEROTICH, Who Ended Up Being The Writer of the Project. IT WAS The Story of Nawi and Based on the Real-Life Story of Her Sister. “Not All of It Is Accurate, But The Main Framework of the Story Is Based on Her Family,“ Explans Toby. “And we said: ‘This is not on only a short film, this is a feature film that we can do if we get her into in:

SO, Cherotich, The Schmutzlers, and Film Students Organized by the NGO, WHICH ALSO Trains People in Film and Videography, Worked on a Script Together. “We Developed the Script – US Maybe Bringing in More of the Framework and the Viewing Habits and Expectations of the Western Audence, and Milcah and Theater Kenyan Ladies Bringing, and Their Kenyan Ladies Real-Life, Cultural Facts, ”Toby Says.

This collaboration worked Really Well. “WE FIGURED OUT THAT MIX OF THE WESTERN GAZE AND PERSPECTIVE AND THE AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE IS ACTUALLY QUITE INTERESTING,“ Kevin Tells Thr. “Many of the Students Didn’t Know Hows A Film or Write A Script, But We Could Provide That Knowledge and Let Them Focus on Being Creative And Coming Up With Ideas. Mirror that Approach on Set with Directing Because we are au still two white men Telling a story about a black girl. ”

So, they loked for and found Two Women from the Region With Interest, Passion, and Creativity. “Valmentine Had Already Done a Short Film Before, But Apuu Graduated From The NGO Program in A Different Subject,” Kevin Recalls. “She did a lot of musical and a lot of sewing and work with material. She was crafing Bags and Baskers and Bringing Knowledge from the Smaller Communities to the Town and The Other Way ARAUK Rural People.

The Women Knew The Culture and “How Everything Should Look and Feel,” He Highlights, Recalling How He and His Brother Wanted to Put An African Actress on A CAIRIA. FEMALE DIRECTORS: “She CAN’T SIT ON A CHAIR. THAT’S NOT HOW WE DO IT.” He Continues: “They Knew to What Measure Women Wound Speak Up to A Man And Wen Wow Wow Retreat. Screw It Up Culturally. ”

One Scene That Cated Particular Debate Was One in WHICH Nawi and Fisher Boys Sell Fish on a Market Near A Church. “WitH the art department and dps Klaus Kneist and Mwode Renata, we had visualized the Scene and they spent Two Hours setting uping – all the this Dead Fish, Which Was Obiv. “And then apuu said: ‘no, we can’t shoot it here – is it’s too close to the church. They wouldn’t do this. The Bible Forbids it.’ You Can’t Trade in Front of God’s House. Well, We Ended Up Relocating The Whole Scene, About 100 Meters Away from The Church, to Accommodate The Conceerns, But To Still Have Nice Imagery As Well. ”

So, Making the Movie Was A Balancing Act That Required Doing The Splits Regularly. “IT was the Main Challenge of Everything, Knowing That This Movie in The End Wound Have Two Audiences – The Kenyan Audence and the Western Audence of You Need For the Global Scalet to Post. Marriage, ”Kevin Explans. “We Wanted to get this topic into Europe and American Societies, Get It Discussed, and in the Next Step Get To Policymakers and Raise Money.”

Making Sure the Movie Wuld RepreSent Kenya, Turkana and Their Culture and Be Acceptted There Was Key Because that’s Whore The Actual Change Hangens, The Schmutzlers Knew.

The Movie Was Released in Kenya Last Year. “We have the Second-Longst Cinema Run of A Local Movie in Kenya Ever,” Shares Kevin. “In nairobi, they loved it. And in turkana, the Youner Generation Was totally in Awe. ‘Finally, We Can Discussa This Topic.’ IT’s Amazing. ”

Cherotich Took The Film on a USB Stick and Organized Screenings in Remote Communities in the Country, Inviting Men at Markets to the Movie Without Detailing Itntent. “MOST of the Men in the Beginning Were Really Cheering for Joel, Nawi’s Brother, Because He’s So Funny,“ Kevin Shares Her Feedback. As the Film Continued, The Viewers Willd Realize It Was Addressing A Challenging Social Topic. “BUT they DIDN’T LEAVE. They WERE TOO HOUB.

One Man Even Told Her That HE HAD Married Off His First Daughter As A Child and Wound Now Check on Her, Even Thought Thormally there is no Contact Anymore. “If we get the movie to travel from community to community, there will be Many Small Changes, Eventuelly Creating A Bigger Wave,” Kevin Says.

Finding A Lead Actress Was, Of Course, Key, And Ikeny Shines in Every Scene. The Filmmakers Quickly Recognized Her Charisma and Presition. “We Went from School to School To Cast, Asking Girls to Say Antence or Two,“ Recalls Toby. “THEN WE HAD LITTLE RECALLS WITH THE ONES WEES INTERESTED OR BETTER IN A WAY. MICHELLE SOOD Out Out from the Beginning. We Knew It Wuld Be Her or The Girl Whoe. She Was 12 WHEN WE MADE THE FILM. School in Nairobi, Like Nawi Wants to Do. ”

ALSO HELPING HER UNDERDAND The Character Nawi Was The Fact The Actress Had A Good Friend Who Got Married Off. “SO she KNOWS THESE GIRLS, she KNOWS WHAT they would Say, she Knows How they would feel,“ Explans Toby. “We have a knyan acting for it for a couple of weeks before the shoot. But a Lot Came from Within Her. We’re Super Happy that we found her, Because.

Before the end credits of NawiThe Filmmakers Also Share More Information About the Topic of Child Margarige, Mentation That More More 640 Million Girls and Women Alive Today Were Married as Children.

“The Festival Run We’re Experienceing Is Really Incredible. And It’s Really Cool to Bring the Film to Beijing,“ Toby Tells Thr. “This is a universal Film, and Even in China, Obviously, It Triggers Something. That is Because this is not a Turkana Problem or A Kenyan Problem. This is a work.

How did the schmutzlers end up in Social Impact Filmmaking? “WHEN WE DRIFTED INTO FILMMAKING, BEING OF THE SPECies of Generation Y, We Thought, Yeah, Entertainment Is Cool, But There Has to Be Something ValUBLE. THERE HAS TOO MORA “If we do this, we have to do it for the right reasons. And that’s WHEN WE SAID WE WOULD ALWAYS LOOOK FOR SERORIES AND MESSAGES THAT ALSO HAVE A MEasurable Real-life ImPac. Group of People.

Adds Kevin: “It’s Always About Entertaining and Engaging. And We Noticed Super Early That Is Actual Possible and The Right Thing to Make Entertainment that MOOR Nawiwe attacked a campaign for donations and a call to Action Before the Closing Credits. ”

In the Case of NawiThe NGO Created An Initiative To Fund Education and School Projects and Emergency Rescue Projects for Girls in Danger. “We Want to Channel the Awareness that the Film Hopeful Generates on’s Really Out there,” Explans Toby. “After The Movie, People Are Usaral Very Emotional. We Had A Lot of Screenings WHERE PEOPLE WIPING Their Tears and Say, ‘OH My GOD. I DIDN’T KNOW THAT HA. SO JUST BEFORE CREDITS, WE REFER to the LINK TO The NAWI INITIATIVE.

IT Sounds Like A Cinematic Warning. “The Movie Pictures A Society Water Is Not A Commodity Anymore, Whore You Have To Really Afford and Earn it. I like a Currency, ”he explays.“ The Film Looks at How a Society and the Rich-Poor Gap Wound Evolve in Such a World, One Where Were Headed, by the Way. In the southern hemisphere, this is already a Huge Issue Today. In 10 years, there are going to be water wars – Hopeful not. ”

That is also reflected in the Next Project that the Schmutzler Brothers Are Are Developing. “IT’s Called Beyond Day Zero”Shares Toby.“ It’s on the Topic of the Water Crisis and Water Privatization, and It Is Also Written on the African Continent, in South Africa. ”