Journeying through Africa for half your life?

The continent offers itself up to your imagination. I’m so excited about what’s going on there. It’s quite the stereotype that all of Africa is one big safari, but it’s not. There are thriving, beautiful cities and people lump them all into one, “Oh, it’s Africa.”

But it’s not, it’s so diverse, with so many distinct cultures and food and music. I almost exclusively listen to Afrobeats now since my friend’s kids turned me on to Burna Boy from Nigeria. There’s so much energy right now on the continent. It’s one of the most exciting places on the planet.

The Woman King shot in South Africa?

In the ’980s, Kenya was a hub of filmmaking with such films as Out of Africa and White Mischief, but through changes of leadership, the industry mostly left for South Africa, along with many well-trained crews.

The current government is open to giving tax credits to specific projects and is working toward getting the film community back. Kenya has great soundstages and equipment just waiting to be used. I would love to see Hollywood really coming to explore African stories and meeting different filmmakers in Nigeria and Ghana, too. There are a multitude of very interesting stories to be told and distinct locations to be shot, and it would change the economy of a lot of countries. We are just beginning to look outside the box of traditional American fare as the global culture expands.

Motive to produce and develop The Woman King?

The Woman King was definitely born of my love of the continent in general. It’s based on women’s history, a story I found many years ago about this army of women in the 17th century. I was watching Braveheart and I was like, why isn’t there a woman’s movie like this?

Karen, suburb of Nairobi, your part-time home?