After an agonising two-year wait, Kenyans will finally get to watch 1988, the gripping true story of what really happened in the days of Nyayo.
The production team behind the film announced that 1988 would be released free to the public on YouTube on Friday, April 10.
Set in the 1980s, the film explores the true story of Khoti Babu, a law student at the University of Nairobi during the late 1980s.
Watch the 1988 trailer below:
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Khoti falls on the wrong side of the law and is bundled away to the infamous Nyayo Torture Chambers on allegations that he was speaking ill of the government.
The film follows Khoti's harrowing experience in the hands of the Nyayo guards who promise him immunity if he will only betray one key figure at the university.
Kenyans spoke to the film's director Robert Asimba who revealed that the story was drawn from interviews with personalities who lived through the infamous period including the activist and political detainee Koigi wa Wamwere.
"The people we interviewed were jailed, released, followed. They have a lot of information about 1988. We also had a chat with Koigi," stated Asimba.
"We have an entire feature film based on the interviews we did. We are showing what actually happened we just didn't want to do it as a documentary," he added as clarification.
The director qualified that the production team had its sights set on doing a full feature film by the end of the year that would build on the shorter version.
"We got more information from a doctor abroad who deals with matters of torture who sent us a very confidential document that helped us craft the story," stated Asimba.
Asimba explained that the film would give the audience a vivid idea of what happened in 1988 with Khoti Babu as the central figure.
"We are focusing on Khoti the law student, but the whole script will focus on everybody involved including the people who used to torture and why they did," Asimba explained.
The 1988 feature film would also cast a spotlight on the infamous 'torturer-in-chief' James Opiyo. A reclusive figure to date, the retired Deputy Commissioner of Police was identified by many Nyayo detainees as their most dreaded guard.
"The entire story has Opiyo and his family. From the information we have we know that he is blind and ailing and that he'll never talk to the camera. But his story is featured: you can narrate it from the people who were there," revealed Asimba.
The director asserts that the film is crucial as it bears a slice of history that should not be buried.
"The full feature is quite heavy so we will look for every means possible to do it. It's a story that needs to be told," he concludes.
The revered writer of the film is Charles Chanchori. It will be brought to life by celebrated actors Helen Waithera, Mike Njeru, Raymond Ofula and Qwachezz Kwach.
