Debra Aroko

Brief Bio:

Debra Aroko is a filmmaker and producer who lives and works in Kenya and has a deep passion for telling stories that capture the nuanced realities of the people and communities that surround her. Her work seeks to highlight the challenges they face while also exploring the resilience and hope that sustain them. She is a firm believer in the of power storytelling and its ability to bring hope and catalyze positive change. Debra serves as a producer at the Solutions Storytelling Project, overseeing the production of 19 short documentary films from across the African continent. The project connects African filmmakers with social innovators to create solutions-focused films that inspire positive change in their communities. Debra is Co-Directing her debut feature documentary titled "Searching For Amani" which is slated for release in 2024.

Project Abstract:

Feature Length Documentary- Searching For Amani

Logline: 

A 13-year-old aspiring journalist investigates his father’s mysterious murder within the boundaries of one of Kenya’s largest wildlife conservancies. As a ravaging drought encroaches, his quest to find the killer shifts and an activist is born as the collateral damage of a warming world is revealed.

Synopsis:

Thirteen-year-old Simon Ali is an aspiring investigative journalist living in Laikipia, Kenya, a lush area in the middle of the country where elephants roam and part of the savannah still thrives. It's also one of the most unstable regions in Kenya making headlines for its violent clashes and record-breaking droughts. Simon lived there with his family in relative peace until 2019 when his father was killed by armed pastoralists while working as a tour guide in the region’s largest wildlife conservancy. For over a year, Simon waited for the investigators to come and do their job, but they never came. Nobody came. All his family had to work with were mysterious rumors and a few misleading news articles that didn't even bother to mention his deceased father's name. Forced to take up the mantle of the investigation himself, determined to better understand a man he idolized (but hardly knew), Simon begins to search for the answers his family seeks.

Over the course of three years, Simon uncovers the mystery surrounding some of the basic facts of the case through conversations with his father’s co-workers, closest friends, and ultimately the elusive men who witnessed his father’s murder. As devastating drought rages through Sub-Saharan Africa causing the region to experience its worst drought in 40 years, conflict erupts and his quest to find the killer shifts as the collateral damage of a warming world is revealed. Through his friendship with a pastoralist boy aiding him in his investigation, he travels to the other side of the conflict and begins to fully understand the forces that led to his father’s murder.

Exploring the life and death of Simon's father catalyzes a conversation about the changing environment, conservation, and community equity in a time of crisis. It's a complex nuanced story with shades of gray, not just good and bad. At its core, it's a coming-of-age story about a grieving boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders who refuses to give up his quest despite the many hurdles.

Link(s): Solutions Inside Out Series: https://videoconsortium.org/solutions

Social Media(s): https://www.instagram.com/_aroko/