Lusala

• Brian Ogola as Lusala
• Alyce Wangari as Joma
• Stycie Waweru as Bakhita
• Mkamzee Mwatela as Beatrice
• Alan Oyugi as Onesmus
• Eddy Kimani as Max
• Charlie Karumi as photographer
• Nice Githinji
• Gitura Kamau as Sospeter

Lusala (Brian Ogola), a young man who is rescued from his abusive alcoholic father and moves in with an affluent family in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi. His uncle Onesmus (Alan Oyugi) and his aunt Beatrice (Mkamzee Mwatela) adopted him from thr rural Kenya about twelve years ago. They raised him together with their only daughter Joma (Alyce Wangari). Once when Beatrice comes to know about the sibling affection of Lusala towards Joma, she requests her husband to guide Lusala to start a life on his own will. Lusala soon obtains a job and moves into an apartment in Nairobi quite close to his workplace with the help of his uncle. Things turn swiftly as Lusala's younger sister Bakhita (Stycie Waweru) who was in a boarding school figures out the flat where Lusala lives.[3]

The film director made his directorial debut through this project who returned to Kenya after enrolling in Film Academy Baden-Württemberg for a brief period of five months.[1] The film was jointly produced by German production studio company One Fine Day Films and Ginger Ink Films Africa.[4] The project was also funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The film was initially released on 6 June 2019 at the 3rd edition of the Nairobi Film Festival and opened to positive reviews from critics.[2][5] The film was also selected to be premiered in few other film festivals. It was also premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on 27 January 2020 and also had its premiere at the Göteborg Film Festival in Sweden on 31 January 2020.[6][7]

It was also screened at the Toronto Black Film Festival on 16 February 2020 and it was also selected to be premiered at the Montreal International Black Film Festival in September 2020.[8][9][10] The film was also screened at the 2020 Durban International Film Festival.[11] It was also streamed via Showmax on 17 December 2020.[12][13]

The film also received few awards and nominations at few international film festivals. In November 2020, the film notably won the Rimbaud Award at the Les Rimbaud du Cinéma festival which was held at the world's oldest active cinema in France.[14]

• Lusala at IMDb