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Kahiu Wanuri , director. Pumzi . 2010. 22 minutes. English. Kenya. Africa First: Volume One. Africa First. $14.98.
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FEATURE FILMS
Pumzi, directed by Wanuri Kahiu, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010 as part of the New African Cinema program, and later earned the award for Best Short at the Cannes Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. Described as Kenya's first science fiction film, Pumzi tells the tale of Asha (Kudzani Moswela) who lives in an authoritarian society thirty-five years after World War III, also known as the "water wars." As evidenced by the name of the war and the scenes in which guards distribute water to individual citizens or show Asha collecting and purifying her own urine as a method of recycling water, water is now an exceedingly rare resource. Earth no longer retains sufficient environmental stability to sustain human life due to the combined effects of climate change, capitalist exploitation, and global warfare.
The postwar society exists in a massive aboveground shelter where Asha works as the curator of the Virtual Natural Museum, dedicated to the preservation of life and culture. Awakened from a dream--an automated voice jostles her from sleep commanding her to take her...