The First Grader Screening And Discussion #Iwill10

IN CELEBRATION OF 10 YEARS OF INSPIRATIONAL SCREENINGS AND POST-SCREENING DISCUSSIONS, THE IWT TEAM WILL BE HOSTING A SERIES OF 10 INTIMATE MONTHLY SCREENINGS OF SOME OF THE BEST FILMS OVER THE YEARS IN A COUNTDOWN TO THE 10TH I WILL TELL FESTIVAL IN AUG-SEP 2016!

COME AND CELEBRATE THE FIRST GRADER WITH US. #IWILL10

WATCH TRAILER youtube.com/watch?v=mD1bYbcxkrM

Directed by Justin Chadwick.

In a small, remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. He is Maruge (Oliver Litondo), an old Mau Mau veteran in his eighties, who is desperate to learn to read at this late stage of his life. He fought for the liberation of his country and now feels he must have the chance of an education so long denied - even if it means sitting in a classroom alongside six-year-olds.

Moved by his passionate plea, head teacher Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris), supports his struggle to gain admission and together they face fierce opposition from parents and officials who don't want to waste a precious school place on such an old man.

Full of vitality and humour, the film explores the remarkable relationships Maruge builds with his classmates some eighty years his junior. Through Maruge's journey, we are taken back to the shocking untold story of British colonial rule 50 years earlier where Maruge fought for the freedom of his country, eventually ending up in the extreme and harsh conditions of the British detention camps.