Portal:African cinema/Selected film/29

Softie is a 2020 Kenyan documentary about political activist and photojournalist Boniface Mwangi who first came to prominence through his photographs documenting the post-election violence of the 2007 elections. Most recently Mwangi made international headlines after being arrested and detained overnight on October 27, 2024, by Kenyan police, after calling for an anti-government protest in Nairobi. Softie, which chronicles 5 years of his life leading up to his run for a local seat in the 2017 elections, is a portrait of Mwangi the activist, but also about Kenyan politics, family, and identity.

The first feature film of director Sam Soko, Softie won several awards including a Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) 2020, an award that automatically qualified the film for consideration for the Oscar documentary shortlist for the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony.

Soko said of Softie:

"This film has to be for Kenyans, for that person that actually wakes up at 5am and goes to vote. That person has to see themselves."