Sam Soko is a director and producer based in Nairobi Kenya. His work on sociopolitical projects in music and film has allowed him to connect and work with artists around the world. He is co-founder of LBx Africa, a Kenyan production company that produced the 2018 Academy Award–nominated short fiction film Watu Wote. 

The film Softie is his first feature documentary project and focuses on activism in Kenya. Working on this film strengthened his belief to continue to expose elements of humanity through narratives that dare to defy the status quo and indeed ourselves.

Softie made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2020 where it won the Special Jury Award for editing. It was the Opening night film at Hot Docs and took Best documentary at the Durban International Film Festival in September 2020. 

In today’s episode we talk about the unexpected journey of making his award-winning documentary Softie, dealing with film censorship in a politically tense climate, the renaissance of documentary in East Africa, and how collaborations enrichen the experience of making a film and telling a story.  

See Soko’s work:

https://www.lbxafrica.com/

https://www.softiethefilm.com/

Connect with Soko:

• Instagram @soko_sam
• Facebook @Soko Sam

Watch the episode here: http://bit.ly/sunyoutube

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