In villages across Kenya, elderly people accused of witchcraft are killed almost every other day. These "Witch-lynchings", many believe, are executed in order to dispossess them of their land. Family conflicts, superstitions and religious fundamentalism collide to lead to fatal consequences.
Maia Lekow & Christopher King's documentary, The Letter, brings to the fore this shadow pandemic. Their critically acclaimed film has been screened at some of the world's most prestigious international film festivals including DOC NYC, AFI Docs, IDFA, Durban and Docs Barcelona and now, we get to see it here at home.
 Maia and Christopher let us in on the making of the film, submissions to the Oscars and how they hope The Letter will impact lives.
KB:  Congratulations on The Letter being chosen as Kenya's official submission for the Best International Film Category to the 93rd Academy Awards. When you started out, did you imagine you'd get this far? Was this part of the vision board?
When we began this process in 2013 we never imagined where this journey would take us, we were simply curious to explore the oral history of the coast and learn more about Maia's Mijikenda roots.  As our first film, we had no idea how much hard work it would take to complete, but eventually the film would take on a life of its own. The fact it was selected to be Kenya's official submission to the Oscars was a complete surprise to all of us!
KB: 7 years ago, the two of you set out to research the story of the female freedom-fighter Mekatilili. Is this how you discovered the witchcraft accusations in Kilifi?
Yes.  We spent our first 2 years filming cultural groups and historians, including the Mekatilili Festival which was organized by The Malindi District Cultural Association (MADCA). Many of the elders we interviewed at the festival told us about the witchcraft accusations, and MADCA was one of the few organizations that was speaking out against the killings, and taking in elders who had been chased from their families.
Many of these interviews we conducted in Swahili, but the elders mostly spoke kigiriama.  When we started editing the footage, we asked around for a kigiriama speaker in Nairobi to help us translate.  We were then introduced to a young man called Karisa who spoke Kigiriama since he was brought up by his Grandmother. 
When we showed him the interviews with the elders, he was surprised to hear of the violence against elders, and explained that he had recently received a Facebook message from his cousins, saying that his Grandmother back home was a witch.  We told him about the wider film we were making, and he offered to take us home to meet his Nyanya, and that's how the film began.
KB: How were you able to convince the protagonists of the documentary Nyanya Kamango and her grandson Karisa to participate in the making of this film given that they faced extreme personal risk by openly discussing the taboos around witchcraft?
When we first met Nyanya, she was very welcoming and warm and we could see she had a beautiful relationship with her Grandson Karisa.  We spent several weeks staying at her place, getting to know each other and she began to open up about the accusations to us without the camera around.
Karisa told her about the other elders who were being killed every month which also surprised her.  Despite the threat against her life, she was adamant to tell her side of the story so that it may help the world know what she was going through, and also help the other elders who were living in fear of attacks.
KB: It took 6 years to make this film. Wow! That's a labour of love. Why did it take such a long time and were you at any point worried for the safety of Grandma Kamango before the documentary was complete?
The film took so long to make because it was following real life events, and also editing took a very long time.  As mentioned, the first two years we were filming cultural groups and elderly victims before we met Karisa and his Nyanya in 2015.  We then filmed them and the family over 3 years, and compiled about 300 hours of footage.  We then finished editing by the end of 2019.
There were many times we were worried about Grandma's safety, but it soon became clear that there was a strong circle of protection around her, including her daughters and church community of St. John's ACK Kaloleni, where Nyanya had been a leader of Mother's Union since the 1950's.
KB: Judy Kibinge is a big deal! She co-produced this documentary. Any great lessons you learnt from her?
Judy Kibinge has been our guiding star; without her and her organization Docubox, this film would not have been made.  It was Docubox that gave us our first support, and the encouragement to push through the challenges and get the film completed. 
They also connected us with mentorship and networks to international film festivals and funds.  What Judy and Mudamba have created at Docubox is more than just a film fund, it is a community of support and inspiration, and is putting Kenya on the global map in film. 
KB: Maia, The film's original score is beautiful! How were you able to get Emmy-award winning, Toronto-based composer Ken Myhr to work with you?
I was connected with Ken Myhr by our wonderful editor Ricardo Acosta, who is from Cuba but lives and works in Toronto.  Ricardo had worked with Ken on many projects, so when we showed him the film and my original compositions, he agreed to work with me on the soundtrack.  I learnt so much about composing for film, and his arrangements and experience took the music to a level I never imagined!
KB: What has the reception been like internationally for this film and why did it not debut in Kenyan theaters first?
Our original plan had been to premiere the film at NBO Film Festival in June 2020.  This is a festival run by Mbithi Masya, Sheba Hirst and Louiza Wanjiku, who had seen a roughcut in 2019 and invited us to be the closing night film. 
We had also been sending the roughcut to international festivals, and were surprised when International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (the largest doc festival in the world) invited The Letter to have it's international premiere there November 2019. Only problem is the film wasn't yet finished, so we rushed the final stages to have it ready in time. 
Straight after the Amsterdam premiere as we were getting ready for the Kenya release, COVID struck and completely derailed our plans for a cinema release back home.  In the meantime, many international festivals decided to go virtual, and the film was selected and won prizes at many of them, including Docs Barcelona, AFI Docs and DOC NYC in USA, Melbourne International Film Festival and Durban and Encounters in South Africa.
KB: Are there any plans to screen this important film to grassroots audiences in places where witchcraft accusations are prevalent?
Absolutely.  We have already begun community screenings before the official Kenyan release, and these were to small focus groups in Kilifi, Malindi and Mombasa in October.  The feedback was incredibly powerful and emotional, with many people sharing similar stories from their own families, we realized the need for healing across the community, as well as pyscho-social support for those having experienced trauma or violence.
That is when we realized the real power of film as a trigger for important conversations, and seeing the film gave many people courage to talk openly about the challenges, and agree on how important it was for the elderly to be protected.
KB: Any wild behind the scenes anecdotes?
By complete coincidence, it turned out that Maia's own relatives lived directly across the road from Grandma Kamango's house.  So making this film has helped me to connect with members of my own family, who I never knew before.
Motorbike accidents, camping in the bush and being eaten by Siafu, so many fascinating stories and people didn't make it to the final film!  We could make a whole film just on the making of the film.
KB: How did the making of this documentary impact your lives and what are you hoping Kenyans will take away from this film?
Making this film has changed our lives forever.  It has taught us so much about the power of family and community, as well as connecting me with relatives I didn't know before. 
Documentary is such a deeply personal artform, because you are interacting with the real lives of people, it forces you to work on yourself as a person and develop empathy for other people.  Without that empathy, it's impossible for someone to trust you to tell their life story, which is a huge responsibility.
We hope when Kenyan's watch the film, they take away a sense of pride in who we are, the power of community and the wisdom of our Grandparents. This is a story of a family that we can all relate to, and while it explores the challenges of living together, it is also packed with moments of happiness, laughter and the beauty of family life.
*The Letter premiered in Kenyan theaters on 11th Dec 2020. The venues in Nairobi - at Prestige Cinema, Westgate Cinema, Anga Diamond, Century Garden City and Unseen Nairobi; Mega City in Kisumu and Nyali Cinemax in Mombasa. Get your tickets on KenyaBuzz.
 *Featured Image Courtesy of Maia & Chris

About The Author

Author
Maureen Kasuku

Maureen is our resident cat lady and Beyoncé stan. She writes about spas, brunch and ballet recitals but has never been to any. Moonlights as a social justice activist in her spare time. She knows things and is obnoxiously opinionated on the internet but not in real life

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