12A
1hr 34mins

Unresolved historical injustices and a devastating drought raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between indigenous farmers and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.

Unfortunately no Audio Description track is available for this feature.
Daphne Matziaraki, Peter Murimi
12A
Documentary
images of real dead bodies, moderate threat, violence
English

In Kenya’s Laikipia County, climate change, alongside unresolved historical injustices, escalate tensions in a long-standing dispute between the region’s Indigenous pastoralists and white ranchers.

Severe droughts have intensified the conflict over the use of Laikipia’s historically rich but declining grassland – an issue deeply embedded in the country’s colonial past.

Filmmakers Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi set out to understand both sides of the fight, from the pastoralist herding community struggling to feed their cattle to the white owners of the county’s private ranches who are determined to guard their territory.

A complex picture emerges of a region in crisis, with the filmmakers navigating the tensions around the livelihoods of Indigenous farmers, land ownership, wildlife conservation, national politics, and the bitter legacy of British settler rule.

The Battle for Laikipia provides a poignant and unflinching examination of the increasingly contentious issues surrounding land and power in an era of profound climate change.

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Tue 15 Oct
Wed 16 Oct