Lusala

Psychological thriller about masculinity, urbanization and how traumas from Kenya’s violent past live on. Mugambi Nthiga’s well-made debut was produced by Tom Tykwer among others.

Lusala runs away from their violent father as a child and is taken care of by a wealthy Christian family in Nairobi. They treat him like their own son and everything seems good, but the trauma from childhood haunts him. When the family deems that he is old enough to get by on his own, they set up a job at a mechanic’s workshop and an apartment nearby. But the move to Lusala is incredibly distressing and when the family’s youngest daughter runs away from school to be with him, things get complicated. Because it is their daughter after all?

• Maja Kekonius