South-bound: Why Maruge’s life story is being filmed in a foreign country

The amazing story of the world’s oldest pupil, Kimani Ng’ang’a Maruge, is coming to a screen near you right out of Hollywood. Two Hollywood movie makers have decided to honour the man with a biopic.

But Kenya has no reason to celebrate this. The film titled The First Grader will not be shot at a location in this country. Instead, the Hollywood producers are headed to South Africa.

Mr Maruge, 88, grabbed world headlines in 2004 when he arrived one morning at Kapkenduiywo Primary School in Eldoret to begin school at the age of 84 after the government introduced free primary education. He was to be displaced later in the 2008 post-election violence. Mr Maruge has since joined a school in Kariobangi, Nairobi.

The extraordinary story of sheer determination that was touched off by the programme will now be filmed in South Africa because the Kenya Government will not offer any incentives to the movie makers.

And industry insiders say there are 17 other movie projects, one which will feature famed actress Julia Roberts, whose best shooting location would be Kenya but are headed south.

Producers Richard Harding and Sam Feuer told Lifestyle that they decided to shoot The First Grader in South Africa because they were seeking to save some money while at it and Pretoria gave them enough incentives.

Have no choice

“We didn’t choose to shoot in South Africa, but considering the incentives and money we can get from South Africa, we currently have no choice but to do so,” Mr Feuer said. “A tax incentive is very important, especially in this economy, and we rely heavily on government incentives and programmes to make films.”

Mr Feuer, who has another project for Kenya – The Translator – said they would only come to Kenya to shoot a few scenes to give The First Grader some authenticity.

“We are planning a second unit shoot in Kenya that will capture the beauty and the life to give the film more authenticity. We would love to shoot it entirely in Kenya, but as of now, the government has not made any commitments regarding incentives,” Mr Feuer added.

The producers met with Maruge and he loved the idea of a biopic. “He just wanted us to use the movie to inspire the world,” Mr Feuer said.

The loss to South Africa has a huge bearing on not only the fledgling local film industry but also tourism.

A government delegation led by the Kenya Film Commission (KFC) was in Los Angeles, USA, recently for the annual Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) locations expo.

This was a three-day event where film industry players from across the world met with Hollywood producers to woo them to their countries.

It was at this event that the producers of The First Grader announced that they had decided to shoot the film in South Africa.