Shiro and Wachuka are two Nairobi women who attempt to transform the McMillan Memorial Library, a whites-only library until 1958, into a modern and vibrant cultural hub. Their attempts to navigate local politics and Kenya’s colonial history is tracked in How to Build a Library, husband-and-wife duo Christopher King and Maia Lekow’s follow-up to The Letter. King, besides co-directing, also served as the film’s cinematographer. Below, he explains the importance of capturing a Kenyan point of view and why working as a two-person crew helps build trust with their subjects. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? One unforgettable day was following our subjects into the basement of the decaying McMillan Library and witnessing them unearth from a pile of junk a miniature photograph of the first hanging in Kenya, in 1907, conducted by the Imperial British East Africa Company. We all got chills and, in this tiny photograph, found a […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025