Kitale Film Week 2027 Postponed to February 2028

The Kitale-based film festival, Kitale Film Week, has announced that its fifth edition, originally planned for February 2027, will now take place in February 2028. Founded by Peter Pages Bwire as a space to curate, screen, and discuss African cinema in Western Kenya, the festival has put the fifth edition on hold while the team strengthens its resources, partnerships, and opportunities. 

Founded in 2022 with the first edition held in 2023, Kitale Film Week has, over four editions, grown into an important platform for film, culture, and conversation in Western Kenya. Across its previous editions, it has welcomed filmmakers and audiences, showcased African stories, created opportunities for emerging talent, taken films into schools and communities, and shown that great cinema can thrive beyond Kenya’s traditional creative centres.

The festival plays a vital role in decentralizing African cinema by bringing high-quality film culture directly to communities outside Kenya’s capital city. By hosting the North Rift and Western Kenya Film & TV Summit and the Youth Critics Circle, the festival drives economic growth, creates jobs, and trains critical voices in creative industries. Its emphasis on mobile, open-air screenings also give marginalized and rural audiences free access to powerful storytelling. 

According to its official statement, the decision to suspend the 2027 edition was hinged on presenting audiences with meaningful, ambitious, and high-quality cinema experiences. “The decision to postpone the 2027 edition reflects the realities of resourcing an ambitious festival sustainably. Rather than compromise on the experience, quality and impact that our audiences, filmmakers, partners and stakeholders have come to associate with Kitale Film Week, we have chosen to take the time needed to build towards a stronger fifth edition,” the statement reads. 

 The organizers have mentioned they aren’t stepping away but building towards its return. Culled from the statement, the festival team is already working on the next chapter of Kitale Film Week, strengthening partnerships, developing new opportunities, and putting the foundations in place for a memorable fifth edition in February 2028.

Kitale Film Week has created space for African cinema, filmmakers, audiences, and ideas in Kitale, Trans Nzoia. It has invited continental filmmakers, curated critical conversations, built community and school programmes while maintaining its commitment to making cinema accessible beyond Kenya’s traditional creative centres.