How to Build a Library
A film by Maia Lekow & Christopher King
SCREENER
CREDITS
Director: Christopher King & Maia Lekow
Producer: Christopher King & Maia Lekow
Edited by: Christopher King, Ricardo Acosta C.C.E., Maia Lekow, Michael Onyiego
Supervising Editor: Maya Hawke
Cinematography: Christopher King, Wambui ‘Bo’ Muigai, Emma Nzioka, Ronald Ronics, Nyasha Kadandara, Timothy Mwaura, Michael Onyiego, Leon Malu, Peter ‘Slim’ Gitonga, Stephen Ruiyi, Amit Ramrakha, Joe Mwihia.
Composers: Katya Mihailova, Maia Lekow, Ken Myhr, Daniel Hoffknecht.
Executive Producers: Roger Ross Williams, Geoff Martz, Judy Kibinge, D.D. Wigley, Maxyne Franklin, Nikki Heyman, Geralyn Dreyfous, Regina K. Scully, Tegan Acton, Emma Pompetti, Melony and Adam Lewis, Jamie Wolf, Nathalie Seaver
Co-executive Producer: Meryl Metni
Consulting Producers: Sonia Nzilu Maingi, Yvonne Welbon, Biki Kangwana, Peter Mudamba, Emily Mkrtichian, Megan Gelstein
Archival Researchers: Chao Taiyana Maina, Gioia Shah, Ruth Mwikali.
Consulting Archive Producer: Shanti Avirgan
Additional Editing: Mkaiwawi Mwakaba, Louiza Wanjiku
Assitant Editors: Peter 'Slim' Gitonga, Abel Waweru
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY | LENGTH: 98 min / 82 min / 52 min
PRODUCTION COMPANY: CIRCLE & SQUARE PRODUCTIONS & ONE STORY UP
LOCATION: NAIROBI, KENYA | LANGUAGE: ENGLISH, KISWAHILI
FORMAT: 2K COLOR - 25P - 16:9
WITH SUPPORT FROM
REVIEWS
“The unwavering determination of these two women makes for one hell of a protest story.”
“A captivating tale of perseverance in the face of adversities.”
“Beautifully-crafted … one of the year’s must-see films.”
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
As Nairobians, one born and the other bred, we share the frustrations of the creative community here, because we are them. This is why making How to Build a Library is so important to us. Working as a husband and wife team in Nairobi for the past 16 years, we are constantly struck by the infectious energy and talent of our peers, but also the city’s contradictions and struggles. For us, all of that comes together in this film.
Shiro and Wachuka have made it their mission to not only rebuild this library physically, but psychologically as well. They have given us incredible access to film their lives and work, which we feel is an important and untold story of the urban Nairobi we know. As filmmakers, it’s been fascinating to blend the past and the present by intertwining the historical archives found within the library, together with an intimate, verité approach to the film’s characters. We have also leant into formal interviews to explore the surrounding bureaucracy that encases the library.
We also love that the timely theme of decolonisation speaks gracefully to the global movements of ‘statues must fall’ and ‘black lives matter’, while Shiro & Wachuka’s story provides a powerful glimpse of a future that is young, visionary and female-led.
Maia Lekow & Christopher King
CO-PRODUCERS STATEMENT
How to Build a Library tackles the complicated legacy of colonialism in a fresh, intelligent and completely entertaining way. Maia and Chris expertly introduce us to two intrepid young Kenyan heroines, Wachuka and Shiro, who are fighting against the forces of evil and benign neglect to reinvent this dusty old relic of British oppression (for its first 30 years, Black people were not even allowed to enter it).
Like Miss Havisham's house in Great Expectations, it has been preserved just as it was on the day a jilted British Empire pulled up stakes--seemingly encased in amber in the heart of a vibrant new Nairobi.
Shiro and Wachuka battle corrupt officials, an Iago-like head librarian... and the actual King of England-- who arrives in Nairobi in the third act-- in their effort to turn it into a place of actual relevance. The film includes moments of laugh-out-loud delight, and moments of heart-catching pain. We are very proud to be associated with it.
Roger Ross Williams & Geoff Martz
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