The Nest Collective

News

News and updates from the Nest Collective.

The Nest Collective is a multidisciplinary collective living and working in Nairobi, Kenya.

Latest news…

ON TWITTER:
ON INSTAGRAM:
Thank you so much for having us @iffmh🌻🎬!
BLOSSOM: Our very own @zi.ggie and the lovely @callmedjiv will be performing at the Klub Karlstorbahnhof for the BLOSSOM event which is part of the @iffmh! Ziggie and IV will be performing alongside the German-based talented DJs JOEY LOU and OLIV fro
IFFMH: We are excited to share that we will be at the @iffmh showcasing a selection of our compelling shorts; ‘We Need Prayers,’ ‘Tuko Macho,’ ‘To Catch A Dream,’ our anthology film, ‘Stories of Our Lives,&rs
We have come to a bittersweet end of our outdoor art installation ‘Return To Sender’ journey at the @snfcc in Athens! Curated by @katerina.gregos, ‘Return To Sender’ opened at the SNFCC Esplanade on April 26, 2023, and was on
MORE THAN WORDS: Our long-awaited illustrated book of queer stories “More Than Words is now **available for purchase** at @papercafe.nbo! “More Than Words” is a collection of illustrated queer stories that brings together selected a
PODCAST: Our very own @sunnydolat had an insightful conversation with artist @jeremyhutchison and fashion historian @amberbutchart for series 3 of Amber’s podcast, #ClothCultures! Sunny and Jeremy discuss the installations “Return To Send

Stories of Our Lives: Now on Showmax South Africa!

Our anthology film’ Stories of Our Lives’ is now showing on ShowMax South Africa! 

Stories of Our Lives began as a documentary archival project in 2013 (yes, it has really been that long!). We collected over 250 stories of Kenyans identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex from 9 cities and towns all over the country: those stories are some of the most beautiful, joyful, sad, intimate, futuristic, wild, glorious, inappropriate, nostalgic and wholesome narratives we’ve ever been honoured with, and we remain grateful to this day to all the wonderful people who shared such personal moments with us. We turned a few of them into a film, which we were so glad to be able to premier at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was (and remains) banned in Kenya, and we got into quite a bit of trouble in that regard, which was thankfully brought to a (conditional) close with the help of our day one legal counsel, Advocate Millicent Ogutu. 

The film has won a couple of incredible awards (like this one, and this one) and continues to screen in several places all over the world, from festivals, to community halls, to indie cinemas, to academic conferences and workshops, and even in homes (email Big World Cinema for a DVD, if you’re one of those folks who like tangible copies of films!), even though it can’t legally be watched here in Kenya. There were several other marvellous stories from the archive, and we self-published these in a book, which is now in its 2nd edition (currently available for Kindle here, with print copies coming back soon)! Do check out the film soundtrack as well. 

The SOOL everything (story collection, film, soundtrack, book, restriction, court case, awards and all) is one of the most indescribable adventures we’ve ever been on as a Collective. We’re so glad that the film is available for a larger number of people to watch on Showmax SA now, and we are hopeful that perhaps one day, we’ll be able to say this for our home country as well. Drop us a line if you catch it there, and let us know what you think! 


NewsThe Nest CollectiveStories of Our Lives, Showmax