Cannes: Wanuri Kahiu's "From a Whisper": Revisiting the 7 August 1998 Nairobi terrorist attack

Cannes: Wanuri Kahiu's "From a Whisper" : Revisiting the 7 August 1998 Nairobi terrorist attack

 

Excerpt from a report from special correspondant Kèoprasith Souvannavong at Cannes translated from French featured on Radio France International - rfi.fr (15 August 2010)

https://www.rfi.fr/fr/contenu/20100515-le-film-kenyan-from-whisper-revisite-attentats-nairobi

 

From A Whisper presented at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival as part of “Cinémas du monde”, the first feature film by Kenyan Wanuri Kahiu, is inspired by the bomb attack against the United States Embassy in Nairobi in 1998. Wanuri emphasizes that this tragedy has left an indelible mark on the minds of Kenyans more than ten years later.

 

She states:

“More than ten years after the fact, we seem to be only interested in statistics. We still mention the number of dead, estimated at 200, and the injured, forgetting personal stories. Nonetheless, 252 families were also the victims. Even today, some still cannot forgive. In this drama, I preferred to focus on human relationships, on emotions.”