Award-winning Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu has been selected to direct a new movie in the United States based on the novel The Black Kids.
Sharing on Twitter, Kahiu who is famed for her controversial, locally produced movie, ‘Rafiki’, shared the new project alert, expressing her excitement for the major, upcoming task.
“New project alert: Excited to be working with Gotham on this,” she tweeted.
The novel, to be published September 1 via Simon & Schuster, is a coming-of-age story of a wealthy African-American teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
In the film, Wanuri, who is under Gotham Group’s management, will share the stage with world-renowned producer and writer, Allison Davis a who will be adapting it.
Kahiu’s previous film, Rafiki was banned in Kenya ahead of its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it made history as the first Kenyan film to be selected.
In September 2018, however, the High Court temporarily lifted the ban imposed on the film to allow it to be considered for an award at the Oscars. However, it missed out on the nomination.