You are my Africa

The film “You Are My Africa. A Black And White Love Story” is an autobiographical documentary about the filmmaker Helmut Schulzeck and his Kenyan wife Wangechi which he met in Cape Town in 2003. They got married in April 2006, during Wagenchi’s second stay in Germany. No one of Wangechis family in Kenya and Cape Town knew of this marriage until the beginning of 2007 when the two of them visit Wangechi’s familiy in Kenya for the first time. Helmut had broken with the custom of proposing to the bride’s father first and to offer him a handsome dowry in return for his wife. How will he be received by her familiy and how will he handle himself in a culture that is so different than his own?

The first part the film shows Wangechi in Germany. The second part is situated in Cape Town where Wangechi has lived and worked for several years on Greenmarket Square. In the third and main part of the film the couple visits Wangechi‘s family in the Kenyan highlands near Nyahururu.

Social interest

The film shows how a personal adventure develops into a clash of two cultures. How does Wangechi deal with Germany and how does Helmut deal with Kenya? How does Germany deal with Wangechi and how does Kenya deal with Helmut? And eventually, how do Wangechi and Helmut deal with each other? The film gives answers to these questions.
The film closely observes German-Kenyan family life in rural Kenya focussing on how Helmut tackles the new challenges in his life. Widespread prejudices in Kenya about “the rich white man” clash with Helmut’s fundamental difficulties in coping with life there. His struggle against the mud in the garden as striking example of his troubles with adjusting.