Zuleika Kingdon

Zuleika Kingdon is a professional film maker with television and freelance experience in all aspects of production. She co-founded Distant Object Productions and Films for Change (UK) and is the Director and Editor of 'The Rwenzori Rainmakers'; a 3 part documentary feature made with Films for Change  and Talking Film Production Services, Uganda. The series has done fantastically well at festivals, winning numerous awards including Best Original Score for our Ugandan composer Andrew Ahuurra. 

Since making the film, Zuleika was invited to be a Trustee by the Ruwenzori Foundation, a UK charity that seed funded the Rwenzori Founders - our film storytellers.  The Foundation aims to build inclusive societies, promoting Cultural Exchange between Africa and the wider world and providing health and social support for communities in the Rwenzori region. Climate disasters, tree cover and biodiversity loss in the area have given environmental restoration additional crucial focus to the Foundation goals.

This and a background growing up surrounded by nature and art in Uganda, has been been Zuleika's motivation for jointly creating this campaign The Rain Starts with Us.  Our key facilitator is Elsie Kariuki, founder of Docciesphere in Kenya, helping us launch a screening programme to communities in Uganda and Kenya, alongside workshops supported by our project leaders and film protagonists at the Rwenzori Founders, in Kasese, Uganda. 
 

Moving through drought to long awaited rains, our film features the Rwenzori Founders who are Ugandan artists running a bronze sculpture foundry and gallery in Western Uganda. The focus is how they inspired their local community to help restore and replant indigenous forest on degraded lands.  Their shared goal is to save the Rwenzori Mountains from deforestation and devastating effects of climate change.  Art and culture promotes conservation, poachers are reformed and encouraged to live more sustainably with nature and the forest attracts huge increases in biodiversity.  Local people participate in tree planting and community cohesion becomes stronger than ever as villagers of all ages participate to tell a story full of hope, despite many challenges. 

Rain for Water supplies, Trees as Rainmakers, Restoring Landscapes to conserve and encourage biodiversity and Climate Disaster Mitigation such as floods and landslides are the key themes in our film we want others to be inspired by, discuss, take action from locally, as part of our campaign to Save the Rwenzori Mountains. Please check out our campaign on our collective page for more detail.

In the communities we visit, we also gift and plant indigenous trees and any donations for our trees are most welcome. Our first opportunity to plant trees since making the film was in Kakamega Kenya, having postponed our Uganda trip in May due to Ebola. 

Thank you.