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Memory of Princess Mumbi film image; two people leaning on each other sitting in a falling-apart jungle city

Memory of Princess Mumbi

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In the year 2093, a filmmaker named Kuve arrives in the fictional African nation of Umata, where generative AI has been used to digitally resurrect the continent’s ancient kingdoms. There, he meets Princess Mumbi, a magnetic young woman torn between royal duty and her dream of becoming an actress. As their encounter unfolds, Kuve is drawn into a layered triangle of memory, mythology, and authorship—one that quietly interrogates the role of technology in shaping historical narratives. What does it mean to revive the past with tools that never knew it?

Directed by Swiss-Kenyan filmmaker Damien Hauser, Memory of Princess Mumbi is a daringly self-reflexive debut that blends mockumentary, romantic drama, and political satire into a low-budget speculative fable. Entirely self-produced and built with digital worldbuilding tools, the film is less interested in prediction than in provocation. At its heart is a question that lingers long after the credits: Can storytelling remain sovereign in an age of artificial memory, or has the archive already been rewritten?

 

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Director
Cast

Shandra Apondi, Ibraham Joseph, Samson Waithaka, Michael Garama, Damien Hauser, Newton Ronnoh

Credits
Country of Origin

Kenya/Switzerland

Year

2025

Language

English

Film Contact
18+

At International Village

19+

At Fifth Avenue

80 min
Animation Art, Music & Photography Black Cinema Experimental & Avant Garde Romance
Out of My Mind Films

Book Tickets

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Credits & Director

Producer

Damien Hauser

Screenwriter

Damien Hauser

Cinematography

Damien Hauser

Editor

Damien Hauser

Production Design

Damien Hauser

Original Music

Damien Hauser

Damien Hauser headshot

Damien Hauser

Filmography: Blind Love (2021); Theo: Eine Konversation Mit Der Ehrlichkeit (2022); After the Long Rains (2024)

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