Living The Dream: Germany Nationalist Fulfils His 15 Year Dream Of Shooting Cinema Movie In Turkana

By Sefu Sabila

Ludwig Prince, a Germany nationalist and co-founder of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Startups Learning Lions in the desert county of Turkana is a man over the moon.

After settling in Kenya almost two decades ago, his dream of shooting the movie and showcasing the beauty of Turkana finally came into reality, as his efforts yield to the success of a movie production Nawi set to premier in Nairobi on Saturday.

“Since coming to Kenya 15 years ago, I dreamt of shooting a cinema movie here. I was impressed by the culture and region, I wanted to share with the Western World, But it took over a decade for that dream to become a reality,” Prince said.

Despite the remoteness of the county from the country’s capital where there is ease access of modernized cinema production equipment, this did not kill his dream, his co-founder Kenyan Brizan Were said.

“Turkana is very remote; the government in Nairobi is so far away and vice versa. There is no established infrastructure to shoot with a big crew and heavy equipment. We also wanted to integrate our other project while shooting the movie,” he explained.

However, according to Prince, learning from each other and the zeal to grow together through Startups Learning Lions fueled his zeal for his dream.

“When we then witnessed the team not only work together but also grow and learn from one another, it validated our core beliefs at Learning Lions,” he said.

His contribution in shooting the movie Nawi, a feature cinema movie revolving around the Nawi a (Michelle Lemunya Ikeny) a teenage girl who is being forced to marry a stranger Shadrack (Ben Tekee) by his father Eree(Ochungo Benson) for wealth.

Shot in an area that fully practices child marriage and discards the future of the girl child in the community, the writer of the film Milcah Cherotich says it was an opportunity to spark the discussion on neglected topic of early marriages.

Also living her dream, is Mourine Apuu the first female director from Turkana working with Prince and native of the Turkana says, the movie gave her an opportunity to show case her culture and other harmful practices within her community, as well as tell African stories opportunities for others.

“To me Nawi’s journey is a vessel for the untold stories of my people, carrying the responsibility to inspire positive change and eliminate harmful practices. Being the first woman director in my community to complete a full-length film is monumental. Words cannot capture the honour and hope I feel,” she emotionally told Mt. Kenya Times.

Bring film enthusiasts from various parts of Kenya, Valentine Kinaga a filmmaker from Kisumu brought in her experience a seasoned screenwriter with passion in training and empowering youths in film making and storytelling, to effectively tell the untold stories from slums where she largely grew.

Aside from successfully producing a movie, Prince through Nawi funds has been able to support and rescue girls in Turkana at the danger of early marriages through building schools, with the first high school Wakanda Girls already completed with an enrollment of more than 300 girls.

Through the funds, the girls are able to receive stipends and supporting families to send their daughters back to school after long holidays.

While Prince and Apuu are living into their dreams, the residents of Kalokol in Loporio are also living their dream of having a campus Learning Lions NGO at shore of Lake Turkana, accessing computer literacy and education.

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Sefu Sabila

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