When Nairobi Half Life was submitted as Kenya's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2013, it marked a maturation of Kenya's film industry. The film, directed by David Tosh Gitonga and co-produced by Tom Tykwer of Run Lola Run fame, told the story of a young man from upcountry who comes to Nairobi to become an actor and ends up navigating the city's criminal underworld.
Shot entirely in Nairobi with Kenyan actors, it captured the city's energy, danger and possibility more authentically than any previous Kenyan film. The Oscar submission put Kenya on the global cinema map.