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“Wa Kimani” Wins AFP Critics Prize at Kenya’s Kilifi Creek Festival Kenyan filmmaker Karanja Ng’endo’s “Wa Kimani” has won the African Film Press (AFP) Critics Prize at the second Kilifi Creek Festival in Kilifi, the coastal town in Kenya. The award was presented during the festival’s awards night on 31 October 2026. In the accompanying video, Jennifer Ochieng of Sinema Focus, AFP’s East Africa platform, announces the winner. Kenyan film critic Kelvin Kariuki accepted the award on behalf of Ng’endo, who was absent. The film portrays an elderly Kenyan couple confronting dementia. The jury cited its “tender and moving portrayal of love, aging, and the fragility of memory,” praising its treatment of the couple’s enduring devotion and intimacy. Kilifi Creek Festival’s second edition ran from 23 to 31 October 2026. It is the AFP Critics Prize’s first host in East Africa and its third overall, following presentations at the S16 Film Festival in Lagos, Nigeria, in December 2025 and in Locarno, Switzerland, on 10 August 2026. Those awards went to Nigerian filmmaker Dika Ofoma for “Obi Is a Boy” and Mozambican filmmaker Ariel Añez for “Submergido,” respectively. AFP established the Critics Prize in 2025 to give African critics a formal role within festival award structures. Recipients also receive continuing editorial coverage across Akoroko, Sinema Focus and What Kept Me Up. #WaKimani #KilifiCreekFestival #AFPCriticsPrize #AfricanCinema