Trailer For Kenyan Sci Fi ‘Pumzi’

Directed and written by Kenya’s Wanuri Kahu, Pumzi will be the nation’s first science fiction film. Visual effects artist and co-producer of Neill Blomkamp’s short film Alive In Joburg will be producing the short, and it will premiere this week at Sundance. Kahiu told Wired.com that the project “started off as a small script about what kind of world we would have to be if we had to buy fresh air,” It certainly sounds interesting enough, and actually draws on some close comparisons to 2009’s Mexican sci fi thriller Sleep Dealer, which was a look at third world nations after globalization turns even clean water into a corporately owned business. Apparently the film was made with grants from Focus Features’ Africa First program, and is one of the first in what Kahiu hopes will be a new wave of African film, especially thanks to the success of Blomkamp’s District 9. Check out the trailer below.

-William Gutheil