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‘After the Long Rains’: A Kenyan Girl’s Journey to Break Tradition
A compelling narrative unfolds in “After the Long Rains,” a deeply humanistic film by Zurich-born director Damien Hauser. The story revolves around a 10-year-old Kenyan girl, determined to defy village traditions and pursue her dream of sailing to Europe.
Hauser’s third feature film made its world premiere at the Red Sea Film Festival and featured at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Currently, it is being showcased at the Durban Film Festival from July 18 to 28. This marks Hauser’s return to the South African festival, where his debut work, “Blind Love,” premiered during the 2020 pandemic edition. Cologne-based Rushlake Media manages its global sales.
Born to a Swiss father and Kenyan mother, Hauser spent his formative years in Switzerland, studying film at the SAE Institute. His earliest ventures into filmmaking were predominantly inspired by his frequent visits to Kenya. Despite these visits, he never truly connected with the country during his childhood, often swept up in family gatherings.
However, the coronavirus pandemic brought a shift. Hauser spent half a year with his grandmother in a small village on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. It was a transformative period in which he shot “Blind Love” and learned Swahili. Though not fluent, his grasp of the language was sufficient to spark creative inspiration and forge deeper connections. “Since then, so many stories popped up in my mind which I’d like to tell,” Hauser said. “There’s something that draws me to Kenya, which always brings me back.”
“After the Long Rains” offers an intimate exploration of village life, a world where tradition sets the course of one’s life from an early age. The film’s inspiration came from a young girl in his aunt’s neighborhood who managed her family’s household responsibilities impressively. This young girl inspired the character of Aisha, a dreamy youth less dedicated to schoolwork and more focused on shaping her own destiny.
Hauser found emotional depth for the film through his relationship with his mother. Despite her frequent discussions about life in Kenya, his understanding of her past remained incomplete. Time spent with his grandmother provided new insights into his mother’s childhood, making the film deeply personal. “[The film] became much more personal because I got to know about my own mother and her life before I was born,” he shared.
Much like his debut, “After the Long Rains” stays true to Hauser’s low-fi filmmaking roots. This approach harks back to his childhood, where he made improvised films with friends using a small, “trashy” camera given by his father. Hauser not only directed but also wrote, produced, and handled most of the camerawork. The film was shot with a guerrilla crew of four local people who largely worked as fixers throughout the six-week shoot.
The project was unconventional from the get-go. “When I arrived, I didn’t know anybody. And after two weeks, we started shooting,” Hauser explained. Most actors, including the young lead, Eletricer Kache Hamisi, lacked formal screen training. Casting and location scouting were ongoing activities, even after shooting commenced. “When you’re shooting in Kenya, especially in the village, you have to be very spontaneous,” he noted. “But it can be very exhausting, because you always have to be planning from day to day.”
Having spent numerous trips in Kenya over the past two decades, Hauser has observed significant technological changes. The internet and mobile phones have transformed East African life, even in the rural areas where the film is set. “Younger people are exposed to the whole world and Western beliefs,” he remarked. This clash between tradition and modernity provides the narrative tension in the film, as Aisha, under the guidance of a local fisherman, seeks her own path.
“Many people feel that this old world they grew up in is fading away,” Hauser said. “But you have to accept what is coming, because the world is constantly changing.”
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