“I was actually trying to find books today by African authors and I could not,” says a patron of the Macmillan Memorial Library in Nairobi Kenya.

The building was erected in 1931 by a white British American settler family. It’s desperately in need of some TLC and its founders would be shocked to know who was breathing new life into this dilapidated relic, a symbol of colonial times.

Documentarians Maia Lekow, a renowned Kenyan musician/filmmaker, and her Australian-born husband and co-director Christopher King have given Kenya and the world a point-by-point project outline on how to snatch an outdated institution from the ashes and make it appropriate for the new world. They’ve chronicled the work of a writer named Shiro and a publisher named Wachuka. Two feisty, spirted academics who are turning a symbol of segregation into a lesson on perseverance and community building. The women get a 5-year government contract to renovate and refurbish a library that was segregated until 1958. They tear it apart and build it back up.

Following the two leaders of this ambitious undertaking is a revelation. Their work involves fundraising, navigating government bureaucracy, winning over rich donors, generating publicity, enthusiasm and getting the community involved. As they do, the audience gets a big picture and granular view. The ins and outs of library sciences, naming library sections, dealing with outdated but needed organizational systems that catalogue books. Those are the technical aspects. The emotional side of the project involves encouraging Black folks in the community to feel like they’re a part of the process. That this reconstruction includes them, their nation and culture. That’s quite a feat when you consider Blacks were locked out of white institutions for centuries.

The journey of discovery is fascinating. The reclaiming and reappropriating are text book examples of how Black Africans are reshaping their futures, in their own way. Shiro and Wachuka are not only class-A librarians and entrepreneurs, they’re also spiritual leaders and beacons to those who love to read. Those who’d looked through the library and were dismayed that they couldn’t find books by native African authors, now have hope.  

Editors Ricardo Acosta and King do a great job of assembling the footage from interviews, meetings, soirees, videos of workers renovating and glimpses of the two women coordinating all. And doing it with an assurance that is infectious for most of the film’s 1h 43 minutes running time. Hearing the stories and anecdotes about life during segregation and life after is enlightening. It’s an educational combination of history and daily news.

The documentary ends with political/social unrest in Kenya. With citizens demonstrating in the streets and the government in a shambles. It’s never clear if this ambitious project was totally completed. Never clear if it reopened and fulfilled its ambitions. Ambivalence is not this film’s friend.

Nonetheless, anyone who has ever helmed a non-profit organization will relate to the determination and endless work it takes to turn a dream into a reality that has a bigger purpose than personal satisfaction or profit. In that way,

These two filmmakers and these two entrepreneurs have left an instruction manual behind on how to turn a notion into a grassroots, community-building project. In this case, a place that can welcome Black African authors and their readers.

For more information about the Sundance Film Festival go to: https://festival.sundance.org

Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.