Mzizi
Short Documentary
Super 8mm
Two years ago, I travelled to Kenya to explore a potential documentary with a group of acrobats based in Diani. There wasn’t a fixed plan. Just time with the troupe, a borrowed Super 8 camera, and the hope that something would take shape. I shot four rolls of Kodak, recorded an interview in Swahili with the group's elder, and spent days living alongside Tetez and Dickson — training, performing, and talking late into the night.
But the project stalled. Life moved on. The rushes were shelved and the idea sat still. Still, the memory of that trip stayed close. Riding mopeds through coastal streets lit by passing headlights, with camels on the roadside. No one commissions that kind of moment. It sat outside the pitch but it’s what separates how I work.
Recently, I decided to revisit the footage. This short film is not the documentary. It is not a trailer. Just a fragment. A sketch. A memory shaped into something watchable.
The story follows a group of men. Their love for acrobatics, and the brotherhood it creates, offers a way to endure hardship. Through movement and craft, they carve out identity and dignity in a world that often denies them both.