Kenya: ‘Between the Rains’ film spotlights climate change and pastoral conflict

Moses Thuranira wanted to make a film about the Turkana-Ngaremara, a pastoral community that lives 30 minutes away from his home, and how they are grappling with the consequences of a chronic drought. His idea led him to Andrew H. Brown, an American documentary filmmaker who had some experience working with rural Kenyan communities, and whose work he admired.

Brown insisted “that we involve the villages and get collaboration and access from the elders so that is what we did. We sat with the elders and the households until they accepted us and agreed to make the film to showcase their culture and stories”, Thuranira tells The Africa Report.

At the time, Brown was knee-deep into building relationships with the film’s target community when Thuranira reached out about working together on a project that would turn out to be Between the Rains.

Co-directed by Thuranira and Brown, the documentary is a ravishing and clear-eyed look at the direct effects of climate change on a patch of the developing world.

Between the Rains premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June where it was awarded Best Documentary Feature by the jury.

Compelling protagonist

Loosely adapting the structure of a coming-of-age film, the filmmakers follow Kole James, a shepherd and member of the Turkana community in Ngaremara village as he prepares for his tribal rites of passage, all the while coping with drought-related clashes with neighbouring communities.

“What drew us to Kole was that unlike the other young boys that we talked to who all wanted to be warriors, we saw that Kole was questioning that path expected of him by the community,” says Thuranira.

We could step back to revisit Kole to see how he was internalising all these older men engaged in the tribal conflict. This focus helped us not look like we were celebrating the turmoil between neighbours

“He was this orphan in the care of his elder brother ,but who was choosing not to follow the same path as his brother. It was very clear that he wouldn’t be a warrior and it felt right and interesting to follow him,” he says.

Between the Rains trails Kole for four years as he observes his kinsmen engage in a drawn-out conflict over fast-disappearing resources with the neighbouring Samburu people. The dispute occasionally tips into violence.

However, Thuranira and Brown make a point to step away from that depiction of tribal conflict.

“We liked that we just didn’t see Kole becoming a warrior because we thought that if we followed him and he didn’t get involved, we would be able to pull back whenever we felt like we were getting close to sensationalising the violence within the story,” Brown explains to The Africa Report.

“We could step back to revisit Kole to see how he was internalising all these older men engaged in the tribal conflict. This focus helped us not look like we were celebrating the turmoil between neighbours,” he says.

Identifying a protagonist and starting principal photography took a lengthy year-long period of joining the Turkana community, getting to know the people closely and convincing them to be active participants in sharing their culture on screen. This was perhaps the most important part of the process.

“Moses led the way on laying the foundation. We were interested in making sure the entire village understood what we were doing and that there was an open line of communication to share concerns, input, ideas throughout the production because we knew that it would take at least a couple of years to create the story,” says Brown.

The whole process took a total of five years.

Authenticity is key

Thuranira would lead conversations on the ground while they were with the community, but was helped by Kole’s oldest cousin, Samuel Ekomol, who lives in the village. Kole’s next door neighbour, Ekomol joined the team as a producer.

Naomi Lapana, a member of a neighbouring community, was instrumental in getting across the oft-overlooked voices of the women.

We wanted to create a film we could take to America, but also play in East Africa and have local audiences feel like this is their story and it wasn’t sensationalised or made by a Western crew

This collaboration set the tone for the authenticity that the crew was striving for.

“We wanted to create a film we could take to America, but also play in East Africa and have local audiences feel like this is their story and it wasn’t sensationalised or made by a Western crew,” says Brown.

“Moses really ensured we remained anchored to that authenticity. My focus was making sure the technical side was done at a level that we could be competitive anywhere in the world,” he says.

Beneath the Rains also won Best Cinematography prize in a documentary feature at Tribeca Film Festival for Brown’s breathtaking work.

The Turkana people called on the filmmakers to not focus on poverty or the typical tropes used for pastoral communities.

The onus was on Brown to ensure the film would highlight the resilience of the community in spite of the challenges they were facing. This meant adopting a respectful, observational gaze while showcasing not only the natural beauty of the landscape, but also moments of community as people come together to celebrate their culture.

“People focus on the negative in the northern region because of the conflicts, but there is a natural beauty there that is stunning and makes it a very easy place to film,” says Brown.

“Instead of making the Samburu or any other neighbouring community the villain, we wanted to allow nature to be the villain in this story,” he says.

“We looked for places in nature where it felt menacing, like nature was turning on itself or where it seemed broken and that is how we shot it through the Turkana’s perspective,” he says.

While the film continues its festival run post-Tribeca to attract the attention of distributors, Thuranira and Brown insist that their plan is to bring it to Kenya as soon as is feasible rather than at the end of a lengthy festival run.

The filmmakers are also invested in helping to deliver the Zawadi community initiative, an intertribal collaboration to establish a community centre on seven acres of non-tribal land.

The goal is to promote skills and knowledge sharing among the different communities as they try out local solutions to the clear and present climate crisis.

“The community requested us to do this, so it is a very big responsibility,” says Thuranira.