Kenya’s film The Letter has been named in the list of eligible films for this year’s Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars.
The nominees for the awards will be announced on February 9, 2021 ahead of the Oscars Academy Awards ceremony scheduled for April 25, 2021.
The Kenya Film Commission has previously selected The Letter as the country’s official entry for the Oscars’ best international film category. The Letter is a film by producer-director duo Christopher King and Maia Lekow.
The film follows a young man, Karisa, who travels to his grandmother’s rural home when he learns she has been accused of witchcraft. He discovers that the threatening letter she received came from a member of his own family, and that the accusations have caused a rift among relatives driven by a combination of superstition and economic motives.
It explores how the rural Kenyan community is still suffering from the “unaddressed traumas of a violent colonial past,” dating back to the days of British rule, and made worse by “a lacking post-independence government, rising evangelism and cut-throat capitalism,” according to the filmmakers.
The Letter has been screened in various Festivals around the globe, receiving a Special Jury Mention at the Docs Barcelona (Panorama Competition) in May 2020 and a nomination at the One World Media Awards in April 2020.
Co-director of The Letter, Maia Lekow, also a prominent Kenyan musician, was inspired over the six years of filming composed an original score for the film. Composing mostly with vocals and guitar, Maia joined forces with Emmy-winning, Toronto-based composer Ken Myhr to produce 9 original tracks.
The list of films eligible in the three categories just released at this year’s Academy Awards are as follows:
Best Animated Feature
- Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus
- Bombay Rose
- Calamity
- The Croods: A New Age
- Demon Slayer -Kimetsu No Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train
- Dreambuilders
- Earwig and the Witch
- Kill It and Leave This Town
- Lupin III: The First
- Mosley
- My Favorite War
- Nos Ili Zagovor Ne Takikh
- No. 7 Cherry Lane
- On-Gaku: Our Sound
- Onward
- Over the Moon
- Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs
- Ride Your Wave
- Scoob!
- A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
- Soul
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
- Terra Willy
- Trolls World Tour
- A Whisker Away
- The Willoughbys
- Wolfwalkers
Best Documentary Feature
- Acasa, My Home
- Addicted to Ralphie
- Aggie
- All I Can Say
- All In: The Fight for Democracy
- The American Sector
- American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself
- America’s Forgotten
- The Antidote
- Apocalypse ’45
- The Art of Living in Danger
- The Art of Political Murder
- Assassins
- Aswang
- Athlete A
- Babenco – Tell Me When I Die
- Be Water
- Beastie Boys Story
- Beautiful Something Left Behind
- Becoming
- Bedlam
- Belly of the Beast
- Belushi
- Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint
- The Big Scary “S” Word
- Billie
- Black Boys
- Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
- The Booksellers
- Born to Be
- Boys State
- Bulletproof
- Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century
- Chicago: America’s Hidden War
- Childhood 2.0
- Chuck Berry
- Circus of Books
- City Dream
- City Hall
- Coded Bias
- Collective
- Colombia in My Arms
- Coming Clean
- Coronation
- Coup 53
- Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words
- Creem: America’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll Magazine
- Crip Camp
- Crock of Gold – A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan
- The Curve
- Dads
- Dave Grusin: Not Enough Time
- David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
- Days of Cannibalism
- Dear Santa
- Death Protocol
- Descent
- Desert One
- Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy
- Dick Johnson Is Dead
- Disclosure
- The Dissident
- The Dog Doc
- The Donut King
- Dope Is Death
- Down a Dark Stairwell
- Downstream to Kinshasa
- The Earth Is Blue as an Orange
- Elementa
- Ending Disease
- Epicentro
- Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible
- Escape from Extinction
- Everybody Flies
- F11 and Be There
- Fandango at the Wall
- Father Soldier Son
- Feels Good Man
- The Fight
- Find Your Groove
- Finding Yingying
- Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
- First Vote
- First We Eat
- Flannery
- For They Know Not What They Do
- The Forbidden Reel
- 40 Years a Prisoner
- Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb
- Freedia Got a Gun
- The Ghost of Peter Sellers
- Giving Voice
- A Glitch in the Matrix
- The Go-Go’s
- Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind
- Gunda
- Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something
- He Dreams of Giants
- House of Cardin
- The Human Factor
- Human Nature
- I Am Greta
- I Am Not Alone
- I Owe You a Letter about Brazil
- iHuman
- In My Skin
- Indian Space Dreams
- The Infiltrators
- Influence
- (In)Visible Portraits
- Irmi
- Irradiés (Irradiated)
- Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President
- John Lewis: Good Trouble
- Journey to Royal: A World War II Rescue Mission
- Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl
- A Kid from Coney Island
- Kingdom of Silence
- Kings of Capitol Hill
- Kiss the Ground
- La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla
- Lance
- Landfall
- The Last Blockbuster
- Last Call for Tomorrow
- Lennox: The Untold Story
- Lessons of Love
- The Letter
- Libelu – Down with the Dictatorship
- Life Is Deadly
- Lift Like a Girl
- Lost Course
- Lost in Face
- Love Child
- MLK/FBI
- Made You Look: A True Story about Fake Art
- Man in the Arena
- Martin Margiela: In His Own Words
- Mayor
- Mighty Ira
- Miss Americana
- Mr. Soul!
- The Mole Agent
- The Monster inside Me
- A Most Beautiful Thing
- Mother to Earth: The Untold Story of Earth Bound
- Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado
- My Darling Supermarket
- My Darling Vivian
- My Octopus Teacher
- My People: The Jews of Greece
- My Psychedelic Love Story
- My Rembrandt
- Napoli Eden
- Narciso Em Férias
- Nasrin
- The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel
- 9/11 Kids
- 915
- 9to5: The Story of a Movement
- Notturno
- Oliver Sacks: His Own Life
- Olympia
- On the Record
- Once upon a Time in Venezuela
- Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band
- Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles
- Our Time Machine
- Pahokee
- The Painter and the Thief
- A Pandemic: Away from the Motherland
- The Phenomenon
- Planet of the Humans
- The Plot against the President
- The Pollinators
- The Power of Movement
- Pray: The Story of Patrick Peyton
- Public Trust
- Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack
- The Reason I Jump
- Rebuilding Paradise
- Red Penguins
- Reunited
- Rewind
- The Right Girls
- Ringside
- Rising Phoenix
- River City Drumbeat
- River Tales
- Runner
- Searching for Mr. Rugoff
- Self Portrait
- 17 Blocks The Final Cut
- 76 Days
- Sky Blossom
- Slay the Dragon
- The Social Dilemma
- Softie
- Some Kind of Heaven
- Songs of Repression
- Soros
- Spaceship Earth
- Stars and Strife
- The State of Texas vs. Melissa
- Stray
- Strip Down, Rise Up
- System K
- They Call Me Babu
- This Is Not a Movie
- This Is Paris
- A Thousand Cuts
- Through the Night
- Time
- The Times of Bill Cunningham
- Totally under Control
- Transhood
- The Truffle Hunters
- Trust Me
- Uncle Tom
- #Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump
- Us Kids
- WBCN and the American Revolution
- The Walrus and the Whistleblower
- The Way I See It
- We Are the Radical Monarchs
- We Don’t Deserve Dogs
- Welcome to Chechnya
- White Noise
- Who Is Gatsby Randolph
- Wild Daze
- Wim Wenders: Desperado
- With Drawn Arms
- A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem
- Women in Blue
- You Cannot Kill David Arquette
- Yusuf Hawkins: Storm over Brooklyn
- Zappa
Best International Feature
- Albania, Open Door
- Argentina, The Sleepwalkers
- Armenia, Songs of Solomon
- Austria, What We Wanted
- Bangladesh, Sincerely Yours, Dhaka
- Belgium, Working Girls
- Bolivia, Chaco
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Quo Vadis, Aida?
- Brazil, Babenco – Tell Me When I Die
- Bulgaria, The Father
- Cambodia, Fathers
- Cameroon, The Fisherman’s Diary
- Canada, 14 Days, 12 Nights
- Chile, The Mole Agent
- China, Leap
- Colombia, El Olvido Que Seremos (Memories of My Father)
- Costa Rica, Land of Ashes
- Croatia, Extracurricular
- Cuba, Buscando a Casal
- Czech Republic, Charlatan
- Denmark, Another Round
- Dominican Republic, A State of Madness
- Ecuador, Emptiness
- Egypt, When We’re Born
- Estonia, The Last Ones
- Finland, Tove
- France, Two of Us
- Georgia, Beginning
- Germany, And Tomorrow the Entire World
- Greece, Apples
- Guatemala, La Llorona
- Honduras, Days of Light
- Hong Kong, Better Days
- Hungary, Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
- Iceland, Agnes Joy
- India, Jallikattu
- Indonesia, Impetigore
- Iran, Sun Children
- Ireland, Arracht
- Israel, Asia
- Italy, Notturno
- Ivory Coast, Night of the Kings
- Japan, True Mothers
- Jordan, 200 Meters
- Kazakhstan, The Crying Steppe
- Kenya, The Letter
- Kosovo, Exile
- Kyrgyzstan, Running to the Sky
- Latvia, Blizzard of Souls
- Lebanon, Broken Keys
- Lesotho, This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection
- Lithuania, Nova Lituania
- Luxembourg, River Tales
- Malaysia, Roh
- Mexico, I’m No Longer Here
- Mongolia, Veins of the World
- Montenegro, Breasts
- Morocco, The Unknown Saint
- Netherlands, Buladó
- Nigeria, The Milkmaid
- North Macedonia, Willow
- Norway, Hope
- Pakistan, Circus of Life
- Palestine, Gaza Mon Amour
- Panama, Operation Just Cause
- Paraguay, Killing the Dead
- Peru, Song without a Name
- Philippines, Mindanao
- Poland, Never Gonna Snow Again
- Portugal, Vitalina Varela
- Romania, Collective
- Russia, Dear Comrades!
- Saudi Arabia, Scales
- Senegal, Nafi’s Father
- Serbia, Dara of Jasenovac
- Singapore, Wet Season
- Slovakia, The Auschwitz Report
- Slovenia, Stories from the Chestnut Woods
- South Africa, Toorbos
- South Korea, The Man Standing Next
- Spain, The Endless Trench
- Sudan, You Will Die at Twenty
- Suriname, Wiren
- Sweden, Charter
- Switzerland, My Little Sister
- Taiwan, A Sun
- Thailand, Happy Old Year
- Tunisia, The Man Who Sold His Skin
- Turkey, Miracle in Cell No. 7
- Ukraine, Atlantis
- Uruguay, Aleli
- Venezuela, Once upon a Time in Venezuela
- Vietnam, Dreamy Eyes