HOW TO BUILD A LIBRARY

In the organizer's words:

D: Maia Lekow & Christopher King Kenya 2025 OmeU | DCP | 103 min.

In the heart of Nairobi, the McMillan Memorial Library - a colonial-era library that was once reserved for white people - is falling into disrepair. Shiro Koinange and Angela Wachuka have set themselves the task of renovating and decolonizing this place in order to transform it into a space for art, culture, education and exchange. For eight years, filmmakers Maia Lekow and Christopher King followed their journey between negotiations with the local community, politicians and funders and the challenges of reinventing a legacy. HOW TO BUILD A LIBRARY is an invitation to dialog about the reappropriation of places steeped in history - a collective gesture of memory, creation and transformation.

In the presence of the directors Maia Lekow & Christopher King

Cooperation: Theodor Wonja Michael Library, col.lit.ive / Allerweltshaus Köln e.V., Pambazuka Swahili Kultur e. V

In the heart of Nairobi, the McMillan Memorial Library - a colonial-era library once reserved for white people - is falling into ruin. Shiro Koinange and Angela Wachuka are undertaking to renovate and decolonize this place in order to turn it into a space dedicated to art, culture, education and exchange. For eight years, filmmakers Maia Lekow and Christopher King followed their journey, between negotiations with the local community, politicians and patrons, and the challenges of reinventing a legacy. HOW TO BUILD A LIBRARY is an invitation to dialogue about the reappropriation of places steeped in history - a collective gesture of memory, creation and transformation.

With the directors Maia Lekow & Christopher King in attendance