Kenya's Oscar entry 'One Woman One Bra' to screen at NBO Film Festival, opening 15 October

One Woman One Bra, a Kenya–Nigeria co-production set in a Maasai community, is Kenya's official submission for Best International Feature at the 2027 Oscars, and it is due to screen at the NBO Film Festival in Nairobi, which runs from 15 to 25 October. Sinema Focus reported the selection on 24 September 2026, and the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) reported it the next day.

The film is the feature debut of Kenyan director Vincho Nchogu. It was picked by the nine-member Kenya Oscars Selection Committee, chaired by Eddah Kiruhi of the Kenya Film and Television Professionals Association. Sinema Focus says the decision was unanimous.

Kiruhi called the film "a testament to the power of authentic storytelling, originating from the heart of the Maasai community," Sinema Focus reports.

What the film is about

Per KBC, the story is set in the fictional village of Sayit. It follows Star, a 38-year-old unmarried orphan whose claim to her home is threatened because she has no legal kinship ties. When a childhood photograph surfaces, she suspects a local food vendor may be her mother. Sarah Karei plays Star; the producer is Nigeria's Josh Olaoluwa, whom KBC spells Olaolu.

Speaking at the time of the film's premiere, Nchogu said it explores "the idea of womanhood when a woman is not a mother, a wife or a daughter; can she stand by herself?" KBC reports. Sinema Focus reports that the film is set in Loita among the Maasai community, and a separate Sinema Focus report, published on 29 August, said the film would first be shown on 7 September in Nkosesia village in Loita, where it was filmed.

A festival run before the Oscar race

The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2025 through Biennale College Cinema, and won the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature at the BFI London Film Festival. Sinema Focus adds that it took the Audience Award at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival, where Karei received a Special Jury Mention.

In Kenya, KBC says it opened on 11 September 2026 at Prestige Cinemas, the date KBC also gave before the release; a Sinema Focus preview published on 29 August gave 10 September for the Kenyan premiere, with a seven-day run at Prestige Cinema and Anga Cinema Diamond Plaza.

The committee chose it over two other submissions: Kikuyu Land, a documentary by Bea Wangondu and Andrew H. Brown that premiered at Sundance, and Tides, a music-driven drama by Reuben Odanga, Sinema Focus reports.

What comes next

KBC says the film will screen at the NBO Film Festival, which begins on 15 October, and Sinema Focus lists it in the festival lineup. The festival runs 15–25 October across Prestige Plaza, Unseen Cinema, Kaloleni Social Hall and Alliance Française Nairobi, according to Sinema Focus's festival preview. None of these reports gives screening times or a venue for this film, so check the festival's own schedule before travelling. An earlier Fica News report on the festival covered its new documentary prize and Alain Gomis retrospective.

On the Oscar side, the Academy's deadline for submission materials was 5 pm PT on 30 September 2026, and films had to begin a theatrical release between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026. The Academy says nominations for the 99th Oscars will be announced on 21 January 2027 and the ceremony will be held on 14 March 2027 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Kenya's Oscar record

This is Kenya's tenth submission since Nairobi Half Life in 2012, Sinema Focus says, and no Kenyan film has been nominated or shortlisted. Kenya made no submission in 2025 after concluding that no film met the requirements, the same report says. KenyanVibe notes that the committee weighed Academy technical rules, including that more than half the dialogue must be in a language other than English, as well as originality, performances, sound, costumes, landscape and connection to the Kenyan experience.

The film's dialogue is in Maasai, Swahili and English, according to the Wikipedia list of submissions.