PUMZI (2009)
Wanuri Kahiu’s short film PUMZI – Swahili for ‘breath’ – is set in East Africa, 35 years after the Third World War broke out following an escalated conflict over water. In the post-apocalyptic reality of the film, people live in high-tech indoor communities where daily life is dictated by the water shortage. After being sent several fertile lumps of soil one day, Asha, the curator of a natural history museum, escapes from her community in search of life in the supposedly dead outside world. Her escape from the underground society symbolises the escape from all the oppressive rules and logic attempting to curb her scientific curiosity.
