Filming took place in October 2023 in Nairobi, and what began as a simple project quickly grew into a true collaboration. The film was produced by Patrick Griebel, while Olivier Moser handled the filming in Kenya and Dan Trautwein and Yves Baakes filmed in Germany. The final visual look was created by Marcus Badow as colorist, the editing was done by Thomas Sausen, and the sound and music were produced by Klangstatt Stuttgart.

All of these people brought their own perspectives, ideas, and creativity into the project. Because of that, what started as a simple concept gradually turned into a film that became much bigger than we originally imagined. But most importantly, something happened during the filming that no plan could ever fully create: real encounters.

Many films about slums begin with dramatic drone shots. The camera flies over thousands of tin roofs, showing the density, the dust, and the scale of poverty. These images can be impressive, but they rarely tell the full story.

We wanted to choose a different perspective. Instead of looking down on a slum, we wanted to tell the story at eye level. Most of the film was therefore shot with a cinema camera right in the middle of people’s everyday lives. In conversations, in encounters, in ordinary daily moments. Viewers should not feel like they are observing a place from the outside, but rather like they are stepping into it.

And above all, we wanted to avoid portraying poverty in a voyeuristic way. Yes, life in the slum comes with difficult conditions. But it is also full of courage, humor, and an incredible sense of community. That is the part of the story we wanted people to see.

Many of the interviews took place directly inside people’s homes in the slum. And these homes have one characteristic that becomes obvious the moment you walk in: they are not very big. That meant our entire film crew often found themselves squeezed into rooms that were realistically designed for two or three people at most.

While someone calmly shared their story in front of the camera, the rest of the team tried to fit somewhere behind it. Camera, sound, producer, director. At times it felt a bit like a very creative version of Tetris, just with humans instead of blocks.

And then there was the heat. It was sometimes so warm that the camera slightly slipped in our hands because everything was sweaty. Some of those tiny camera shakes actually made it into the final film. We tried to cut them out during editing, but not all of them wanted to disappear. Today, they are simply a small and very honest reminder of those filming days.

Whenever a camera appears somewhere in the slum, it does not take long before a small crowd gathers. The children were at least as fascinated by the film crew as we were by them. The moment the equipment was set up, curious little spectators appeared from every direction, all wanting to know exactly what was happening.

Of course, everyone wanted to be in front of the camera. Absolutely everyone. When the moment actually came, there was usually a short phase of shyness, that careful smile when a camera lens suddenly points at you. But it rarely lasted long.

Within a few minutes the ice was broken, and those shy looks turned into something we experience in the slum again and again: laughter.

One of the most emotional moments surrounding the film actually happened after everything was finished. We organized a big screening in the slum and watched the documentary together with the people who appear in it. A large screen, many chairs, some equipment, and a lot of excitement.

What happened next was simply wonderful. Every time someone from the slum appeared on the screen, the children shouted that person’s name out loud. There was cheering, laughter, and sometimes so much commentary that you could hardly hear the film anymore. Some children laughed so hard they nearly fell off their chairs.

In that moment we realized something important: this film does not only belong to us. It belongs to the people whose stories it tells.

At the very end of the film there is a moment that probably captures what ULT is all about better than anything else. Everyone involved places their hand over their heart, exactly where our logo sits. At the same time, we see all the people who were part of this journey: our team, the people from the slum, and the supporters who made everything possible.

The moment only lasts a few seconds, but it represents something that runs through our entire work: community. And perhaps that is the real reason this film was able to exist in the first place.

“Slum Reality” is 43 minutes long and had its premiere on September 21, 2024. After that it was shown in a cinema for one week and was also screened at a film festival recently. Since last week it has been publicly available and is now included in every thank-you email we send to our supporters.

For us, however, this does not feel like the end of the story. It feels more like the beginning of a new journey. Our hope is to bring the film to many more places: cinemas, film festivals, schools, and charity screenings.

So if you know a cinema, organize events, or simply feel inspired to host a screening yourself, we would love to hear from you. Sometimes a story only needs a screen to reach the people who need to see it. 🎬💛