Kenyan Feature Film Cards on the Table Officially Selected for the Alma Film Festival
Curated by Between Takes Magazine as Part of Its Sub-Saharan African Film Showcase
Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic — The Kenyan feature film Cards on the Table, directed by Victor Gatonye and set in 1992 Nairobi, has been officially selected to screen at the Alma Film Festival.
The film follows an estranged couple who reunite to execute a robbery targeting gate collections at a Christmas event in Nairobi. As their plan unfolds, unresolved emotional tensions complicate the mission, ultimately leading to their arrest. What begins as a crime narrative develops into a layered exploration of intimacy, regret, ambition, and consequence.
A Story Rooted in Nairobi, 1992
Set in 1992 Nairobi—a pivotal period marked by political transition and rising democratic movements in Kenya—the film situates its personal drama within a moment of national tension and transformation. Through sharp character construction and sustained dramatic pacing, Cards on the Table captures the intersection of private fracture and public change.
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| Shirleen Wangari and Nyakundi Isaboke hold the emotional center of Cards on the Table with razor-sharp comedic timing and an undercurrent of romantic tension that simmers long after the scene fades. |
Spotlight on Kenyan Cinema
As part of Kenya’s evolving independent film landscape, Cards on the Table contributes to the growing global recognition of East African storytelling. Its selection aligns with the Alma Film Festival’s commitment to presenting culturally grounded narratives from across the Global South while prioritizing deeper audience engagement with fewer, carefully chosen films.
Curated by Between Takes Magazine
Like the Cameroonian feature Lioness, this film was carefully curated by Elvis Buminang, Karl Safindah, and the team at Between Takes Magazine as part of a dedicated showcase representing diverse works from across Sub-Saharan Africa. Their curation highlights bold storytelling, emerging voices, and films that reflect the complexity and creative momentum of contemporary African cinema.
The Alma Film Festival will take place March 17–22, 2026, in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic, convening filmmakers, scholars, and global audiences around its Six Pillars of Purpose: Conversation | Connection | Community | Collaboration | Cultural Diplomacy | Collective Growth.
About the Alma Film Festival
The Alma Film Festival was created in response to structural gaps in the global film ecosystem. By design, it is a next-generation destination, experience-based film festival and cultural convening—one that functions as a cultural intelligence engine, bringing together filmmakers, scholars, technologists, artists, institutions, and audiences from across the Global South and its diasporas.
Rooted in scholarship, innovation, and deep audience engagement, Alma prioritizes fewer films with greater intentionality, creating space for meaningful dialogue, relationship-building, and long-term collaboration. With up to 80% of the program dedicated to Global South cinema, the festival showcases narrative features, documentaries, shorts, animation, experimental works, audio storytelling, and new media—centering films that engage cultural memory, social relevance, and creative innovation.
Programming is curated in partnership with global entities and agencies, reinforcing Alma’s role as a platform for shared authorship rather than extraction. Through this approach, the festival has cultivated a global community of stakeholders spanning more than 51 cities across 35 countries.
Beyond screenings, Alma integrates fellowships, symposia, performance laboratories, editorial platforms, and emerging technologies—positioning the festival not simply as an event, but as an ecosystem. Guided by the principle “The Necessity of Something New,” the Alma Film Festival advances cultural diplomacy, fosters cross-regional collaboration, and contributes to the development of sustainable creative economies worldwide.
At its core, the Alma Film Festival is a global gathering designed to nurture both ideas and people. It embraces a kaleidoscope of cultures while intentionally shifting the social dynamic from competition to connection—creating space for collaboration, understanding, and shared growth. Alma moves us from extraction to exchange, from visibility to value, and from presence to purpose.
We are doing something new.
There is a necessity for something new.
#AlmaFilmFestival
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