Kenyan film, Watu Wote, reportedly missed an
Oscar for the Best Live Action Short Film category during the award’s
90th ceremony held on Sunday night at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
The award in that category went to The
Silent Child, a film set in rural England about the life of a deaf
four-year-old girl.
Watu Wote was based on a true story
where Muslim passengers in a bus shielded their non-muslim
counterparts from an attack by Al-Shabaab militants as they were
travelling to Mandera from Nairobi in December 2015.
Apart from the winning film, the Kenyan
Oscar entry was battling it out with DeKalb Elementary, The Eleven
O’Clock and My Nephew Emmett.
Kenya’s superstar Lupita Nyong’o
made an appearance on stage alongside Pakistani-American stand-up
comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani to award the Best Production
Design.
While making a case for immigrants, the
Black Panther star received wild applause when she announced that
“I’m from Kenya”.
The cheers seemingly caught Kumailn by
surprise as he exclaimed: “Kenya’s in the house?” to more
cheers and laughter.
“Like everyone in this room and
everyone watching at home we are dreamers. We grew up dreaming of one
day working in the movies. Dreams are the foundations of Hollywood
and dreams are the foundation of America,” she said.
Lupita is the only Kenyan who has ever
won an Oscar so far, having scooped it under the Best Supporting
Actress category for her role in 12 Years a Slave in 2014.
The biggest surprise at this year’s
awards was retired basketball superstar Kobe Bryant’s win for Best
Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball, a collaboration with artist
Glen Keane and legendary composer John Williams.
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