Nairobi News

Kenyan film director Ng’endo Mukii has made her mark in the production of Enkai, one of the animated shorts featured in Disney’s ‘Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire’.

Mukii, renowned for her award-winning film Yellow Fever, an animated documentary exploring African women’s beauty ideals influenced by the West, expressed her delight at being part of the Kizazi Moto project.

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In a virtual interview with Nairobi News, she highlighted the competitive selection process she went through to secure her involvement.

“It has been an amazing journey. There was a competitive element to it, and I had to submit several ideas through certain processes before I got to the final,” Mukii shared.

She added, “As we continue to build up the animation industry in Nairobi, we can create more opportunities like this.”

Incorporating Kenyan culture and symbolism into her film, Mukii emphasized her gratitude for representing Kenya.

“I have brought some Kikuyu elements in Enkai and some other general Kenyan feel into the film. You are going to see part of our environment in the film and a lot of symbolic elements of our culture involved.”

Enkai follows the story of a young girl who resides in her peculiar gourd-shaped home. All she yearns for is to spend precious moments with her single mother, Shiro, a cosmic deity burdened with the arduous task of safeguarding Earth from the perils of human-induced destruction.

However, with Shiro’s health deteriorating, Enkai finds herself on a quest to unveil the enigmatic truths of creation and harness her own divine powers to forge a brand-new future.

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Mukii, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate and holder of a Master of Arts in Animation from the Royal College of Art in London, has received acclaim for her creative work.

Her first 360/Virtual Reality film, Nairobi Berries, won the inaugural Encounters Immersive Grand Prix.

Tendayi Nyeke, one of the executive producers of Kizazi Moto, also expressed excitement about the project and a desire to involve more Kenyan directors.

Nyeke shared, “We want to have more Kenyans on board, but animation films are still growing on the continent.”

Mukii echoed this sentiment, mentioning the lessons she learned from Ramsey, Nyeke, and Silverston, and how she applied them to her directing.

She noted the importance of interacting with her crew and sharing the same grace that was extended to them in developing their stories and bringing them to life.

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, a highly anticipated anthology of animated short films, is set to premiere exclusively on Disney+ on Wednesday, July 5.

Audiences can look forward to experiencing this extraordinary collection of stories.

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