Karisa’s city-life is interrupted when his Grandma back home is called a witch.Returning to his rural village to investigate, he finds a frenzied mixture of consumerism and Christianity is turning hundreds of families against their elders, branding them as witches as a means to steal their ancestral land.

This richly layered documentary unfolds, exposing tensions caused by a volatile mix of Christianity, consumerism, and misogyny. Young Kenyan men accuse their female elders of witchcraft to steal their land, begrudge them for their property because they are women.

The Letter investigates the colonial triggers and the lingering structural injustices that give life to this unfortunate phenomenon. This event is part of the “African Screen Worlds: Decolonising Film and Screen Studies” project, funded by the European Research Council (grant agreement number 819236), and the regular seminar series at the SOAS Centre for Creative Industries, Media and Screen Studies.

With pre-recorded introduction from one of the Film Africa’s curators Katarina Hedrén.

This film is in English and Swahili with English subtitles.


Single seats
We will be releasing more single seats an hour before each screening. Please call box office on 020 7613 7498 or pop in to the box office to book. We’re trialling this in order to make the most of our limited capacity but hope to have a simpler way of booking soon.

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This film is distributed by Circle & Square Productions Ltd.