Shimoni

After seven years in prison, 35-year-old Geoffrey (Justin Mirichii) returns to his home village in Kenya. His career as a respected English teacher is over, and so he has to start all over again in his hated homeland. He keeps to himself and retreats into silence. But one day, a man who has been haunting his nightmares for years suddenly appears before him... In her dramatic debut film, Angela Wanjiku Wamai tells the story of a man who is in conflict with his surroundings and struggles with his inner demons. Justin Mirichii delivers a moving portrayal of this tormented man, caught between the vulnerability of the victim and the guilt of the perpetrator. ‘Shimoni’ is a moving meditation on the timeless consequences of unspoken trauma. Angela Wanjiku Wamai relies on balanced visual imagery and the symbolic power of essential details to build the slowly unfolding narrative. Themes such as gender roles, religion, tradition and modernity, community and isolation flow subtly into the action. Shimoni powerfully addresses the deep, inescapable pain of open wounds suffered by people who find no recognition and no prospects.