Nairobi-Based Filmmaker, Lydia Matata, Selected for 2026 Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency

Nairobi based filmmaker, Lydia Matata, has been selected as a 2026 Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency Fellows. Matata is one of the seven storytellers selected for the second year of the Sundance Collab residency. 

Matata is currently developing her debut feature film, Pepo Kali (Strong Wind) which follows a grieving mother who learns to ride a motorcycle to complete her daughter Kemi’s unfinished journey to Northern Kenya. Kemi, a co-founder of the women’s biker club, died in an accident, and the mother’s ride becomes a quest for healing. As she trudges on, she uncovers secrets that derail her healing and journey. 

Matata’s work explores the people, issues, and experiences that move her. Her latest documentary, Kenyan on Mars, is currently screening on Al Jazeera’s Africa Direct platform. She is also one of the writers of Country Queen, Kenya’s first original Netflix series. She recently wrote and directed the narrative short Float. The film was recently selected in the Sparks Junior category at the Kurzfilmtage Winterthur Film Festival and has also screened at the Lucas International Film Festival, Brussels International Women’s Film. 

Matata’s Pepo Kali was selected as one of the three African projects for the 18th edition of the La Fabrique Cinéma, ahead of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. The project won the production prize at Red Sea Souk and has a budget of €628,578, with €43,166 confirmed financing. For La Fabrique Cinéma, the project is seeking co-producers and financiers and will receive developmental support and advice from the Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency fellowship.

In 1981, Robert Redford founded the Institute to foster independence, risk-taking, and new voices in American film. That year, 10 emerging filmmakers were invited to the Sundance Resort in the mountains of Utah, where they worked with leading writers, directors, and actors to develop their original independent projects. Since then, the Institute has invited filmmakers from across the globe. 

According to its website, “the Institute seeks to discover, support, and inspire independent film and media artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work.” 

The Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency operates across three tracks: Documentary, Fiction, and Episodic. The fellows are addressing urgent narratives of equity, memory, and justice. They will be supported by a roster of advisors, including Scott Z. Burns, Susanna Fogel, Yance Ford, Reinaldo Marcus Green, Wanuri Kahiu, Jennifer Kent, and Laura Poitras.