In 2003, Kahiū began her filmmaking career interning for the American director and producer
F. Gary Gray's on
The Italian Job. As she explains, Gray taught her to "keep an eye on the bigger picture but not to take the details for granted". In 2006, Kahiu made her directing debut with the behind-the-scenes documentary
The Spark that Unites about the making of
Catch a Fire directed by
Phillip Noyce. Becoming close friends with Kahiu, Noyce encouraged her to go back to her home country to tell Kenyan stories.
Ras Star Ras Star (2006) is Kahiū's first short narrative film. It tells the story of Amani, a teenager living with his Islamic aunt and uncle in Nairobi who dreams of being a rapper, and secretly practices for a local talent show. Instead, he and his brother get pulled into crime.
From a Whisper Her first feature film,
From a Whisper (2008), received a total of 12 nominations and earned five awards at the
5th Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2009. Among other nominations, the film was nominated for the Best Picture Award, Best Screenplay Award, and Best Director Award. It ended up winning in all three categories. The film fictionalizes the terrorist attack on the
U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1998. It tells the story of a young girl, Tamani, who loses her mother in the attack and is told by her father that her mother is missing when she is actually deceased. Tamani searches for her mother, painting hearts across the city, she also befriends a policeman named Abu. Abu helps Tamani as the viewers discover the shame he feels for not stopping his friend who helped attack the embassy. As Dennis Harvey writes in his review for the
Daily Variety, the "interactions between the young woman and older man let both come to terms with a painful past they were helpless to prevent". Dennis Harvey, for the
Daily Variety, writes that despite the film's occasional "titled" writing and performances, the drama "effectively puts the causes and aftermath of large terrorist actions in personal terms." As she notes in an interview, Kahiū still remembers the event, despite being a young teenager at the time. She refers to the bombing as "a horrific and traumatic event from Kenya". Asha discovers life outside of her post-apocalyptic underground community. In her protectionist community, members must take dream suppressants to quiet hopes of a better future. Mitch Nyawalo argues that
Pumzi's destruction parallels the economic devastation in the aftermath of the
World Bank's
structural adjustment programs. The film also displays an "ecofemninst critical posture" where women are most affected by environment devastation but also are at the forefront of bettering their societies. Art scholar
Omar Kholeif writes about
Pumzis interpellation of Western understandings of Africa: "Kahiu's film poses a poignant allegory in that it espouses an indirect commentary on imperial essentialism of the superficial Other. This is achieved by correlating the disenchantment that gave rise to science fiction with the perceived notions of Africa as a barren and impoverished social and geographic entity." Aboubakar Sanogo, a scholar and professor, describes Pumzi as "post-nature", a term that describes the relationship between humanity and the environment. The documentary gives voice to the professor's environmental and political activism. In addition, Kahiū discusses in an NPR interview with Sacha Pfeiffer how her films are not necessarily meant to be political, how she does not create them for that purpose, but they are "deemed political" because of her race and gender. She goes on to lament how unfortunate it is "that sometimes that when two people are in love, the moment that you change the gender and the race of the people in love, it becomes increasingly political" and that is all audiences and critics tend to see.
Rafiki is the first feature film portraying a love story between two girls to ever come out of Kenya. The film tells a story about Kena and Ziki, two girls living in the same neighborhood, and the way their relationship develops despite the conservative environment they live in. Kena comes from a working-class family; her dad is a store owner who decided to run as a candidate in the local elections. Kena comes from a “broken” family with her dad separating from her mom and starting a family with a different woman. Ziki, on the other hand, has a different family background. As members of the upper middle class, her family has access to things Kena's family does not. Ziki's father, as the opposing candidate in the local elections, has an easier time with his campaign because of his financial state, while Kena's father has to rely on the support of the local people who come into his store. As we watch Kena and Ziki's relationship blossom, we are constantly reminded of the surroundings they live in. Although the way they interact with each other and openly showcase their fondness for one another completely challenges heteronormativity, Kahiu juxtaposes that with the conservative, narrow-minded mindset of the people around them. In her interview with Olivier Barlet, Kahiu emphasizes the importance of the rejection of labels through her work, as a way of opposing the heteronormative world we live in. She states that she wants
Rafiki to be a love story first, before being seen as a queer love story. The film was nominated for the
Queer Palm Award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. It was shown at the 2018 London Film Festival. In total, the film received 17 nominations and 17 awards at different international film festivals. In a 2021 CNN interview, Kahiu stated that being a filmmaker in Kenya is "ridiculously difficult" because film is not "an appreciated art". Kahiu refused to change the ending, which resulted in the film being banned.
The Wooden Camel The Wooden Camel is Kahiu's first children's book. It tells the story of a boy named Etabo, who dreams of racing camels. His older siblings tease him and his family sells their camels to survive. With the help of his goat friend and his spirits, who tell him his "dreams are enough", he continues to daydream. His sister then carves him a wooden camel, bringing Etabo closer to his family.
Rusties Kahiu's co-written short story with
Nnedi Okorafor, "RUSTIES", indulges a futuristic world. The story tells the story of the relationship between a young girl and a traffic-directing robots. In an interview with
Quartz, Kahiu says that creating images for African children is important to correct "being written out of our histories" and to hope for a future Africa. In June 2019, to mark the
50th anniversary of the
Stonewall riots, an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern
LGBTQ rights movement,
Queerty named her one of the
Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards
equality, acceptance and dignity for all
queer people".
The Thing About Jellyfish film adaptation In April 2019, Kahiu and
Millie Bobby Brown teamed up for a film adaptation of the YA novel
The Thing About Jellyfish for Universal Studios. Kahiu is set to direct the film, which will be produced by Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane of MWM Studios, Bruna Papandrea, and
Reese Witherspoon.
The Thing About Jellyfish, written by Ali Benjamin, is a debut novel about grief and wonder, which became a New York Times bestseller.
Wild Seed film adaptation Wanuri Kahiu is also among writers who will be working on the adaptation of
Octavia Butler's novel
Wild Seed into a film, in a project by Amazon. Wanuri, who will also be director of the
Wild Seed series, will develop the script alongside Nigerian author
Nnedi Okorafor. The show is produced by
Viola Davis and Julius Tennon of JuVee Production.
Once on This Island film adaptation In July 2020, it was announced that Wanuri Kahiu would direct the film adaptation of the
Stephen Flaherty-
Lynn Ahrens stage musical
Once on This Island for
Walt Disney Pictures and
Marc Platt Productions from a screenplay by
Jocelyn Bioh. It will be released on
Disney+. == Creative influences ==