A Time There Was: Stories from the Last Days of Kenya Colony

A Time There Was: Stories from the Last Days of Kenya Colony

| 1 h 27 min
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This autobiographical documentary revisits the Mau Mau Rebellion of the 1950s. More than 50 years after the conflict, in which the director participated as a young British soldier stationed in Kenya for his national service, he confronts his past with audacity and unflinching self-inquiry.

Combining McWilliams' own photographic record of the times with original animation and archival imagery, A Time There Was crafts a thoughtful account of the Mau Mau Rebellion – one of the most contentious episodes in Britain’s imperial endgame.

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A Time There Was: Stories from the Last Days of Kenya Colony, Donald McWilliams, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

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Credits
  • direction
    Donald McWilliams
  • editing
    Donald McWilliams
  • collaboration
    Karen Feiertag
  • narration writer
    Donald McWilliams
  • narration
    Donald McWilliams
  • camera
    James Aquila
    John Walker
  • production manager
    Karen Feiertag
  • still photography
    Karen Feiertag
  • sound recordist
    Karen Feiertag
  • participation
    Mwaria Njuma
    John Nottingham
    Achrroo Kapila
  • translator
    Terry Wairimu
  • transportation
    John Bisley
    Arthur Taylor
  • animation
    Marcy Page
    Randall Finnerty
  • drawing
    Gail Lamarche
  • animation camera
    Pierre Landry
    Thea Pratt
  • photographic scans
    Pierre Landry
    Thea Pratt
  • infography
    Suzie Synnott
    Sarah Marchand
    Karen Feiertag
  • digital imaging specialist
    Susan Gourley
  • technical path
    Susan Gourley
  • sound editing
    Oana Suteu
  • dialogue editing
    Claude Chevalier
  • translation
    Jane Nyoike
  • original music
    Kevin Dean
  • musician
    Kevin Dean
    Michel Lambert
    Jean-Gabriel Lambert
  • improvisation
    Pierre Béluse
    Jean-Guy Plante
    Luigi Allemano
    Geoffrey Mitchell
  • studio recording
    Geoffrey Mitchell
    Luc Léger
    Matthew Thomson
    Sylvain Cajelais
  • music pre-mix
    Geoffrey Mitchell
    Luc Léger
    Matthew Thomson
    Sylvain Cajelais
  • re-recording
    Jean Paul Vialard
  • titles
    Gaspard Gaudreau
  • online editing
    Yannick Carrier
  • technical co-ordination
    Julie Laperrière
    Sylvain Desbiens
    Louis Dupuis
    Steve Hallé
  • digital editing services
    Danielle Raymond
    Martine Forget
    Isabelle Painchaud
    Pierre Dupont
    Amélie Bolduc
  • French sub-titles
    Robert Paquin
  • picture research
    Elizabeth Klinck
    Karen Feiertag
    Donald McWilliams
  • music research
    Elizabeth Klinck
    Karen Feiertag
    Donald McWilliams
  • rights
    Elizabeth Klinck
    Karen Feiertag
    Donald McWilliams
  • marketing
    Moira Keigher
    Annmarie Martin
    Philip Lewis
  • administration
    Gisèle Guilbault
    Marie-Christine Nadon
    Rosalina Di Sario
    Lysanne Fortier
  • executive producer
    Ravida Din
    David Verrall
  • producer
    Marcy Page
    Adam Symansky
 See also
Developing Countries
Politics and Government
History
All subjects
Featured Films
NFB Abroad: Africa On Screen
All channels
Add a new comment
  • kingmaxwell

    I think this is an elegant attempt to get at some complicated ideas. The difficulty of memory, and what we remember is put at the forefront. Turns out that "being there" isn't a guarantee that you'll see, perceive or remember what actually happens. This film is a good example of national amnesia and the preference to disown our own stories when they are scary. Kudos to McWilliams for his struggle to get at the very ideas of what he encountered and did. I also think that the structure of the film is topnotch. Use of still shots, overlays, and narration were strong. This isn't a film to get at the full history of colonialism, but rather how it impacts a few people who swam in the water. Provocative.

    kingmaxwell, 27 May 2011
  • Ambricourt

    Although superbly edited the pacing is slow for contemporary audiences. The narrative is carried by the contrast between the unrepentant former Independence (Mau Mau) leader and the repentant ex-Englishman John Nottingham. Through these figures and the narrator's voice-over, moral issues are raised, but evaded; nostalgia becomes a narrative device blocking deeper questions such as: Who benefited from the Kenyan economy - in 1920s, 1950s, and 2000s? Who manipulated the anti-Independence propaganda machine in 1950s financing films like SIMBA? Who, in 2010, are the present controllers of the Kenyan government and economy? Despite references to outrageous behaviours, this is a benign film about abominations committed across racial boundaries. If it were less benign its message would be more potent.

    Ambricourt, 2 Jul 2010

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