The Battle for Laikipia

2024 • 94’ • Kenya/USA/Greece

Unresolved historical injustices and a devastating drought raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between indigenous farmers and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.

Director:
Daphne Matziaraki & Peter Murimi

Producers:
Toni Kamau, Daphne Matziaraki

Executive Producers:
Roger Ross Williams, Geoff Martz, Jody Allen, Jason Hunke, Shari Sant, Shannon Joy, Tiffany Schauer

  • Winner: Toni Kamau, Sundance Amazon MGM Studios Nonfiction Producers Award
    — Sundance 2024

    Land|Sky|Sea Award
    — HotDocs 2024

    Best international Feature Film
    — CinemAmbiente Film Festival 2024

    Best Socio-Environmental Award
    — Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) 2024

    Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Awards
    — Durban International Film Festival 2024

    Best Editing & Special Award
    — Filmambiente 2024

    El Gouna Green Star
    — El Gouna Film Festival 2024

    Grand Prix
    — Global Science Film Festival

    Green Dog Award
    — Watch Docs: Human Rights in Docs 2024

    CPH:DOX 2024
    Sydney Film Festival 2024
    Seattle Film Festival 2024
    Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival 2024
    Nantucket Film Festival 2024
    Galway Film Fleadh 2024
    Gimli International Film Festival 2024
    Melgaco International Documentary Film Festival 2024
    Euganea Film Festival 2024
    Quebec City Film Festival 2024
    Montrose LandxSea Film Fest 2024
    Zurich Film Festival 2024
    Athens International Film Festival 2024
    LANE Doc Fest 2024
    March on Washington Festival 2024
    PARISCIENCE Film Festival 2024
    Woodstock Film Festival 2024
    Another Way Film Festival 2024
    Bergen International Film Festival 2024
    We World Festival 2024
    Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2024
    DOK Leipzig 2024
    Films for Future 2024
    IDFA 2024
    DOCNYC 2024
    Carthage Film Festival 2024
    Oslo Dokumentarkino Human International Documentary Film Festival 2025
    One World Int'l Human Rights Film Festival 2025
    Climate Tipping Point Film Festival 2025
    Movies that Matter in collaboration with Foreign Affairs 2025
    WOW Film Festival 2025
    Protea - The Rebels of History Martinique and Guyana 2025
    Internationaal FilmFestival Gorinchem 2025
    Green Vision Film Festival 2025
    Dok.Fest Münich 2025
    WATCH DOCS Travelling Film Festival 2025
    Afrika Film Festival Koln 2025
    Inconvenient Film Festival 2025
    iAfrica Film Festival 2025
    Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival 2025
    Braunschweig International Film Festival 2025
    Greenmotions Film Festival 2025

Filmmaker’s Biography

Daphne Matziaraki is a Greek documentary film director who lives between Greece and the San Francisco Bay Area. She directed, produced, shot, and edited The New York Times Op Doc 4.1 MILES, for which she received an Academy Award nomination, as well as an Emmy nomination and a Peabody Award. Daphne has directed, shot, produced, and edited films that chronicle major social, political, and environmental developments in Europe, Africa, the United States, and the Middle East. She mentors documentary filmmakers for the Stavros Niarchos Artworks fellowship program and Docubox. She holds a Master’s in Journalism from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Bristol. 

Peter Murimi is a multiple award-winning Kenyan documentary director/producer focusing on hard-hitting social issues. His feature-length documentary I AM SAMUEL (2020) tells the story of a gay Kenyan man’s struggle for acceptance and has been shown at more than a dozen film festivals, including Hot Docs, BFI LFF, and Human Rights Watch. Murimi has led numerous investigations for BBC Africa Eye including THE BABY STEALERS (2020), which exposed a child trafficking syndicate and led to multiple arrests, and SUICIDE STORIES (2019), for which he won the Rory Peck News Features Award. He has made films in 30 African countries for major media outlets including Al Jazeera and Channel 4 News.

Developed with the support of 

DOCUBOX EADFF
NEW YORK TIMES OP DOCS

Produced with the support of 

WILD LIVES FOUNDATION
DOC SOCIETY CLIMATE STORY FUND
FORD FOUNDATION JUSTFILMS
THRESHOLD FOUNDATION
CODE BLUE FOUNDATION
GREEK MINISTRY OF CULTURE 
 GREEK FILM CENTRE
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE
SHANNON O’ LEARY JOY
PULITZER CENTER ON CRISIS REPORTING
BERTHA FOUNDATION
OUR CHILDREN’S EARTH FOUNDATION
BERKELEY FILM FOUNDATION

Film supported by the following pitching forums

HOT DOCS PITCH FORUM 2023
FIFDH GENEVA IMPACT DAYS