President Uhuru Kenyatta has hailed the cast behind Kenyan film, Watu Wote, despite missing an Oscar award.
Well done @KrysteenSavane and the great Watu Wote film crew. You did Kenya proud. You won our hearts as a Nation, motivated many creative artists and set the bar so high. Keep telling our stories through your camera and you will win next time. #Oscars @TheAcademy pic.twitter.com/rl9gg7bDo1
— President of Kenya (@PresidentKE) March 5, 2018
KENYAN MOVIE WATU WOTE STILL THE BEST:
Kenyan film #Watuwote which is based on the 2015 Mandera Bus Attack failed to win the coveted #Oscars Award in USA on 5/3/18. Over the past year, @Watu_Wote has won over 20 Awards Globally including the Student Academy Award. pic.twitter.com/Wg19U9OXJi— Ministry of Sports (@moscakenya) March 5, 2018
“#WatuWote may not have won at the #Oscars but this was such an inspiration to us all to keep on aiming for the stars. #Oscars2019 here we come. Congratulations to all the winners. Never stop believing and trying,” Africa Digital Media Institute tweeted.
Congratulations to The Silent Child for winning Best Short Film & to “Watu Wote” (“All of Us”) for your nomination. It tells the story of a terrorist attack on a bus in Kenya& how Muslims shielded Christians from militants who planned to murder them: https://t.co/onmPJBOtDO
— Journey to Justice (@freedomandjobs) March 5, 2018
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Proud of the “Watu Wote” team for representing Kenya at the #Oscars It’s not always about the win.
— Christine Mbithi (@NthuleMbithi) March 5, 2018
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The film had been nominated for an Oscar for the Best Live Action Short Film category during the award’s 90th ceremony that held on Sunday night at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
The award in that category went to The Silent Child, a film set in rural England about the life of a deaf four-year-old girl.
Watu Wote was based on a true story where Muslim passengers in a bus shielded their non-muslim counterparts from an attack by Al-Shabaab militants as they were travelling to Mandera from Nairobi in December 2015.
Apart from the winning film, the Kenyan Oscar entry was battling it out with DeKalb Elementary, The Eleven O’Clock and My Nephew Emmett.
Kenya’s superstar Lupita Nyong’o made an appearance on stage alongside Pakistani-American stand-up comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani to award the Best Production Design.
While making a case for immigrants, the Black Panther star received wild applause when she announced that “I’m from Kenya”.
The cheers seemingly caught Kumailn by surprise as he exclaimed: “Kenya’s in the house?” to more cheers and laughter.
“Like everyone in this room and everyone watching at home we are dreamers. We grew up dreaming of one day working in the movies. Dreams are the foundations of Hollywood and dreams are the foundation of America,” she said.
Lupita is the only Kenyan who has ever won an Oscar so far, having scooped it under the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in 12 Years a Slave in 2014.
