Filed under: Previews, Trailers
Directed by Justin Chadwick ('The Other Boleyn Girl'), 'The First Grader' stars Naomie Harris ('Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End' and 'Dead Man's Chest'), Tony Kgoroge ('Invictus') and Oliver Litondo.
Shown at various festivals, the film recently won the Runner Up Award for the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival.
In a small, remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. He is Maruge (played by Litondo), an old Mau Mau veteran in his eighties who is desperate to learn to read at this late stage of his life. He fought for the liberation of his country and now feels he must have the chance of an education so long denied--even if it means sitting in a classroom alongside six year-olds.
The First Grader is a heart warming and inspiring tale of one man's fight for what he believes is his right in order to overcome the burdens of his past. It is a triumphant testimony to the transforming force of education. As Maruge himself said, "the power is in the pen".
National Georgraphic Films just picked up distribution rights on the film.