Severe droughts have intensified the conflict over the use of Laikipia’s historically rich but declining grassland – an issue deeply embedded in the country’s colonial past. Filmmakers Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi set out to understand both sides of the fight, from the pastoralist herding community struggling to feed their cattle to the white owners of the county’s private ranches who are determined to guard their territory.

A complex picture emerges of a region in crisis, with the filmmakers navigating the tensions around the livelihoods of Indigenous farmers, land ownership, wildlife conservation, national politics, and the bitter legacy of British settler rule. The Battle for Laikipia provides a poignant and unflinching examination of the increasingly contentious issues surrounding land and power in an era of profound climate change.

This October, for Black History Month, QFT celebrates Black filmmakers, storytellers and creatives who have enriched cinema.