Soul Boy

• Samson Odhiambo: Abila
• Leila Dayan Opou: Shiku
• Krysteen Savane: Nyawawa
• Frank Kimani: Macharia
• Joab Ogolla: Abis father
• Lucy Gachanja: Abiss mother
• Katherine Damaris: Aunt Susan
• Kevin Omondi Onyango: Bojo
• Calvin Shikuku Odhiambo: Kaka
• Abdul Ghani Nordeen: Willie

Soul Boy is the debut film of the Ghanaian- Kenyan director Hawa Essuman. It was built under the supervision of the German director and film producer Tom Tykwer in Kibera, one of the largest slums of the African continent - in the middle of Nairobi, Kenya.

Action

Nairobi, Kenya. The 14 -year-old Abila lives with his parents in Kibera, one of the largest slums in East Africa. On a very ordinary morning the boy finds his father before ill and out of his mind. They had stolen his soul, mumbles the father huddled in a corner. Abila, confused and shocked, wants to help him and embarks on a search for a possible cure.

Supported by his peers girlfriend Shiku, he finds out that the father has gambled his soul for a ghost woman. That really wants the boy because not believe, and sets out to search for the witch. When he finally tracks down these in the darkest recesses of the ghetto, she asks him seven challenging tasks to save the lost soul of his father. Abila embarks on an adventurous journey through the microcosm of his home town.

Background

In September 2008, Marie Steinmann and Tom Tykwer met with Ginger and Guy Wilson together (from the Nairobi-based film production company Ginger Ink) to lift a project off the ground, the work of One Fine Day eV and the British partner NGO Anno 's Africa should expand on the art of film. The concept for the pilot project was designed with a reasonable budget as possible to develop a film workshop in Nairobi.

Under the direction of Tom Tykwer a small team of professional crew members could be realized with a much larger staff of young trainees a medium length feature film in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum. The first objective was to integrate curious and hungry to learn, residents of Nairobi and of course especially the inhabitants of the slums in the practical work on an ambitious feature film, so as to convey technical knowledge to create career opportunities and of course to leave inspiring tracks.

The project quickly developed an amazing momentum. The Kenyan author Billy Kahora designed with Tykwer the concept for a movie ( Soul Boy ), which translates the mysteries and myths of this multi-layered social microcosm in a modern yet fairytale-like story.

The young Ghanaian- Kenyan director Hawa Essuman took over as director.

The screenplay claimed after a short, intensive research in Kibera about six weeks. The casting for the film stretched out over the whole city; in several slums was - with the support of Anno 's Africa - searched simultaneously at schools and in the streets on site after young actors.

Finally, Soul Boy was shot from 17 November to 1 December 2008.

Prices

• Dioraphte Audience Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam
• Veto Award, African Film Festival, Leuven, Belgium
• Signis Award, Zanzibar International Film Festival, Zanzibar, Tanzania
• Polish Filmmakers Association Award, Ale Kino! , Poznan, Poland
• Best Short Film, Kalasha Awards, Nairobi, Kenya
• Best Actor: Samson Odhiambo, Kalasha Awards, Nairobi, Kenya
• Best Screenplay: Billy Kahora, Kalasha Awards, Nairobi, Kenya
• Best Actor: Samson Odhiambo, Kenya International Film Festival, Nairobi, Kenya
• Best East African Film, Kenya International Film Festival, Nairobi, Kenya
• Special mention " Passeurs d' images" prize, Festival Ciné Junior ( International Film Festival for Young people), Paris, France
• Prize of the Young Jury, Festival Ciné Junior, Paris, France
• Best Children's Film, Film Festival Recklinghausen, Germany
• Spiritual Film Festival Award, Paris
• Best Editor: Ephantus Ng'ethe Gitungo, African Movie Academy Awards

Festival participation

Germany

• International Film Festival (Berlinale )

International ( selection)

• Göteborg International Film Festival ( competition entry Focus: Africa )
• Rotterdam International Film Festival ( competition entry signal - Where Is Africa and award Dioraphte Audience Award )
• African Film Festival ( competition entry and award veto Award)
• Edinburgh International Film Festival
• Durban International Film Festival
• Sydney Film Festival
• Cinemafrica Stockholm
• Nairobi, Kenya Premiere
• African Film Festival of Tarifa
• Sydney Film Festival
• Khouribga Maroc
• Seoul Intl Youth Film Festival
• Montreal World Film Festival
• Cinemas D' Afrique
• Cambridge Film Festival
• Montreal Intl Black Film Festival
• Films From the South OSLO
• Hamptons Intl Film Festival
• Warsaw Film Festival
• Carlow African Film Festival
• Discovery Film Festival
• Chicago Intl Children's Film Festival
• Carthage Film Festival
• African Diaspora Film Festival NY
• Palm Springs Film Festival
• San Diego Black Film Festival
• Adelaide Film Festival
• FESPACO, Burkina Faso
• Birds Eye View FF
• FEBIOFEST
• Toronto IFF for children
• ReelWorld Film Festival
• Ecrans Noirs - Cameroun
• Rwanda Film Festival
• Zanzibar Film Festival, Tanzania
• Zimbabwe International Film Festival
• Kenya International Film Festival
• Ethiopia Film Festival
• Festival du film de Dakar, Senegal
• Quintessence, Benin

• Cinema Le Bretagne (France)
• Plein La reel ( France )
• Addis Film Festival ( Ethiopia )
• Chennai Women In Films Festival ( India)
• Fiuggi Family Festival (Italy)
• Salaam Festival ( Denmark)
• Cine Sparks Festival ( Australia)