Jump directly to the page contents

A Lover & Killer of Colour

Still from the film „A Lover & Killer of Colour“ by Wanjiru Kinyanjui. Close-up of a woman. In the background, pictures hang on the wall.
© Source: Deutsche Kinemathek

  • Director

    Wanjiru Kinyanjui

  • Federal Republic of Germany / 1988
    10 min. / 16 mm / Original version

  • Original language

    English

A young Black woman played by Alida Babel walks through Berlin on her own. It is midnight, her heels click against the steps leading down to the U-Bahn, the train has just left, the empty platform becomes a space of anxiety. Twelve minutes to wait, the voiceover spoken by the director herself complains: “This impatience!”

Wanjiru Kinyanjui made A LOVER & KILLER OF COLOUR (1988) during her studies at the DFFB. This short film miniature revolves around the experience of sexist and racist harassment – and the anger which emerges in response. What can be done with all the aggression that finds no release during such humiliating moments? The film watches as rage is translated into artistic work. The night scenes alternate with footage from the young woman’s studio; she is a painter, and she writes. While she is typing, the voiceover says: “If you do not stop / insulting me / you leeches / I will kill you / in this poem.” Wanjiru Kinyanjui’s directness rejects the sort of sublimation that may have kept the anger contained – even as the wish for reconciliation remains: “Through words, my trust is repaired / on white paper”. (Cristina Nord)

Production company Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) (Berlin, Germany). Director Wanjiru Kinyanjui. Screenplay Wanjiru Kinyanjui. Cinematography Wanjiru Kinyanjui. Editing Wanjiru Kinyanjui. Sound Gruscha Rode, Jürgen Schönhoff. With Alida Babel.

Wanjiru Kinyanjui, born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1958, she first studied German and English literature and then film directing. Wanjiru Kinyanjui works as a writer, screenwriter and director and teaches film production at Kenyatta University.

Films: 1987:...wenn ein Fremder dazu kommt... (co-directed by Yvonne Gaerber, 18 min.). 1988: A Lover & Killer of Colour. 1991: African Time (22 min.). 1992: Black in the Western World (23 min.). 1993: Vitico, eine lebende Legende (15 min.). 1995: Der Kampf um den heiligen Baum / The Battle of the Sacred Tree (82 min.). 1997: Zawadi ya Daudi (83 min.). 2007: Bahati (40 min.), Manga in America (57 min.). 2009: Africa Is A Woman’s Name (30 min.).

Bonus Material

Wanjiru Kinyanjui on her first year film at the DFFB

Poem and Director’s Statement on A LOVER AND A KILLER OF COLOUR

  • Still from the film „A Lover & Killer of Colour“ by Wanjiru Kinyanjui. A woman mixes colours with a brush on a plate. On a table is a painted canvas and bowls with brushes and paints.

    Director’s Statement

    Wanjiru Kinyanjui on her first year film at the DFFB

  • Still from the film „A Lover & Killer of Colour“ by Wanjiru Kinyanjui. Close-up of a woman. In the background, pictures hang on the wall.

    Poem

    “The Exhibition” by Wanjiru Kinyanjui is recited in A LOVER & KILLER OF COLOUR

Funded by:

  • Logo Minister of State for Culture and the Media
  • Logo des Programms NeuStart Kultur