Lupita Nyong’o – Sulwe
“She is a black girl who goes on a big adventure and wakes up with a new perspective on her sense of beauty. Sulwe finds lessons we learn as children and spend our lives unlearning. This is a story for the little ones, but no matter how old, I hope it will inspire everyone to walk more joyfully in their own skin, ”she wrote.
I come from a loving, supportive family, and my mother taught me that there are more valuable ways to achieve beauty than just through your external features. She was focused on compassion and respect, and those are the things that ended up translating to me as beauty. Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Nyong’o – Social Changes Through Awareness
Lupita Nyong’o is not unfamiliar with social themes, being more than a storyteller, she is also a filmmaker, having served as the creator, director, editor, and producer of the award-winning feature documentary, In My Genes. The documentary follows eight individual Kenyans who have one thing in common: they were born with albinism, a genetic condition that causes a lack of pigmentation.
In many parts of Africa, including Kenya, it is a condition that marginalizes, stigmatizes, and even endangers those who have it. Though highly visible in a society that is predominantly black, the reality of living with albinism is invisible to most.
Through her intimate portraits, Nyong’o enables us to see their challenges, humanity, and everyday triumphs. In My Genes is the eye-opening story of vision, violence and the value of human difference set in Kenya’s vibrant capital city, Nairobi, and her environs. Shot in 2006, before the news of the rampant murders of albinos in Tanzania, the film is both heartrending and invigorating in tone.
Albinism, the inherited genetic condition that causes little or no pigmentation in the eyes, skin, or hair, has been wrought with misunderstanding among many African communities, and Kenya is no exception. Being a person with albinism comes with constant stares, stigma, stereotypes, and discrimination. Some common misconceptions are that children with albinism are products of affairs with white men, that the condition is contagious, affects the brain development of the individual and, most traditionally, that they are a curse or a bad omen. While In My Genes addresses these misconceptions, this is not another “Oh-Poor-Africa” documentary. The stories are an affirmation of what individuals under great persecution can make of themselves and what they can then inspire and challenge in us. It is a film of such effortless intimacy, subtle glimpses, and honest examination. The images are unforgettable, and the stories resonate, reminding us of what it means to be human, what it means to love. IN MY GENES celebrates the resilience and vibrancy of people who sorely stand out from the crowd and manage to teach the world a thing or two about transforming perceived weakness into strength in the process.
In My Genes celebrates the resilience and vibrancy of people who sorely stand out from the crowd and manage to teach the world a thing or two about transforming perceived weakness into strength in the process.
