HOORAY: Awards for #StoriesOfOurLives at the Berlinale!

Njoki and Jim with Berlinale Panorama Curator Wieland Speck and Steven Markovitz.

Jim Chuchu receives the Teddy Jury Award on behalf of the NEST Collective.

Jim Chuchu, Steven Markovitz and Njoki Ngumi speaking at a discussion panel on the film at the Heinrich Boell Foundation.

Njoki, Jim and Steven outside the beautiful Kino International where Stories of Our Lives had its premiere.

Tickets to the Stories of Our Lives screening.

Stories of Our Lives - one of 52 feature-length films from 38 countries selected for the Berlinale Panorama - had its Europe premiere in two full-house screenings full of warm Berlinale attendees (on the 12th of February at the epically-beautiful Kino International theater!), followed by enthusiastic Q+As. Njoki and Jim also addressed a Lunch Debate at the Heinrich Boll Foundation, where they were joined by one of the film's executive producers, Steven Markovitz.

On the evening of 13th February, we were ecstatic to receive the Jury Award at the Berlin International Film Festival Teddy Awards (who we have dubbed "Kanono" because of how CUTE he is!).

Isn't he CUTE??!

Stories of Our Lives also came in Second Place for the Panorama Audience Award, based on 31,200 votes cast by the Berlinale moviegoers.

We had a blast at the Berlinale - despite all the icy winds and frigid temperatures. It was wonderful to meet Kenyans who flew to Berlin just to see the film, and to interact with engaged audiences about how and why we made this film. We are super, super grateful to all the people who filled our three screenings and said hello to us afterwards, the Big World Cinema team (Steven Markovitz and Tamsin Ranger), our wonderful, wonderful publicist Mia Farrell, the Goethe-Institut South Africa and the Heinrich Boell Foundation for their support, the Teddy Awards Jury for recognizing our film, and the Berlinale Panorama team for all their warmth and guidance.

We're very proud of this film.