After screening at multiple international film festivals for a year, the film ‘One Woman, One Bra’, directed by Vincho Nchogu, will make its Kenyan debut on September 11 at Prestige and Diamond cinemas.
Developed through Biennale College Cinema, ‘One Woman, One Bra’ is one of four micro-budget features selected for the 2025 Venice Film Festival.
At the time of its presentation, the film was the first Nigerian-produced film to premiere at Venice, marking a milestone for producer Josh Olaolu and his Lagos-based company, Conceptified Media.
Speaking about its premiere in Nairobi, Mr Olaolu said in disbelief: “If anyone had told me just few years ago that I’ll have my film distributed in Cinemas across Kenya, I would have laughed it off as an expensive joke.”
According to the synopsis, “the film is set in the fictional village of Sayit and follows a 38-year-old Star, whose claim to her home is jeopardised by the lack of legal kinship ties. Her situation is further complicated by the fact that she is an unmarried orphan.
When a childhood photo surfaces, Star suspects that a local food vendor might be her long-lost mother. Her search for identity becomes mixed with a desperate effort to retain her land, leading her to consider many questionable options.”
Speaking at the film’s premiere in Venice, director Vincho Nchogu said she wanted to make a film about a woman without the titles society places on her.
“This film is about a woman and explores the idea of womanhood when a woman is not a mother, a wife or a daughter; can she stand by herself? Without a job…can she just be Grace, Mary or Joy? This film explores the idea of just letting women be.”
The film has screened in Italy and South Korea and won the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature at the BFI London Film Festival.
