Softie

Boniface “Softie” Mwangi has long fought injustices in his country as a political activist. Now he’s taking the next step by running for office in a regional Kenyan election. But running a clean campaign against corrupt opponents becomes increasingly harder to combat with idealism alone.

This was my first feature film and it started like a short film or an activist manual. So, we were engaged with Boniface and he brought us together with the protesters. As we kept filming and time moved, I realized, there is a much bigger story behind it. A story of a family and a story of the country. In the process, we also got the opportunity to tell the beautiful story of the family.
In the beginning, the family was adamant on not sharing about their private life. The longer the story lasted, the more open the family, and particularly Njeri, became. Normally, in a lot of films this style, you never see that side. I several times asked Njeri to open up on her story and her experience. I believe that there is truth and there is honesty, in kind of understanding where activists come from and what they are fighting for. And to understand, that people who engage with them sacrifice a lot. When the family became more open and their story was filmed, it was clear that their story will be equally interesting as the activist story.

Sam Soko (interviewed for Cultureafrica.net, Hans Hofele)