What Do The Critics Say?

"An important little-known story, putting an emphasis on the value of education. It shows that you are never too old to learn and how one good teacher can make all the difference. This crowd-pleaser is sure to bring tears of joy and thanksgiving as the boundless human spirit reigns. Litondo and Harris have great chemistry and form the heart of this straightforward narrative." Keith Cohen ENTERTAINMENT SPECTRUM "A unique blend of uplifting self determination and harrowing conflict. Having been a poor tribesman much of his life, he never had an opportunity to learn even the basics. He wants to read, prompted by a general desire to get educated and partly by an important letter he had always wanted to read for himself. All the children are natural and the setting is evocative." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "At the story’s heart is the old man’s friendship with a young teacher, Jane Obinchu, who champions his cause and gradually elicits the truth about his tragic past. Directed by Justin Chadwick on location in Kenya, the picture is beautifully shot and captures well the local atmosphere and colour and has a hero who is instantly sympathetic. The subject matter is thought-provoking and inspiring. The performances from young and old alike are A-grade." Henry Fitzherbert DAILY EXPRESS "An uplifting, romanticised and gently-paced film infused with the dry beauty of the Kenyan landscape and powered by the moist-eyed performance of Oliver Litondo in the title role. Screenwriter Ann Peacock and director Justin Chadwick make this a highly melodramatic affair." Simon Weaving SCREENWIZE

"A heart-tugging true story about an octogenarian Kenyan who took advantage of his government’s pledge of free education for all makes for an inspirational if formulaic tale in the hands of director Justin Chadwick. Oliver Litondo brings a quiet dignity to the role, even clad in school uniform, while Naomie Harris exudes positivity as the teacher who champions his cause." Neil Smith TOTAL FILM "It's a powerful story about the power of the pen and how the past, the present and the future all impact on each other. It works on an emotional level too, with plenty to inspire and move us in this uplifting tale. The scenes in which Maruge assimilates into the classroom are notable. Rob Hardy's cinematography offers us a sense of the wide-open spaces of the dusty countryside while Alex Heffes's rhythmic African music instills heart." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "The First Grader is based on a true story and what a true story it is. An astonishing true story with a timely message. Harris is terrific at capturing Obinchu’s grave defiance as well as her vulnerability. Its message about the importance of giving the poorest sectors of society access to education is especially timely." Sukhdev Sandhu DAILY TELEGRAPH "I have never seen elementary schoolers more passionate about education than the ones I met at a school in rural Kenya, not far from the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. I thought of that schoolhouse as I watched "The First Grader". Maruge and Obinchu never lose their senses of humor or conviction, and Litondo and Harris are ideally cast." Lawrence Toppman CHARLOTTE OBSEVER

The Inside Story Every film has its birth, a moment where it comes into being. For "The First Grader", it was an article in the L.A. Times of the same name: "The First Grader". Written by Robyn Dixon (a recipient of the 40th Annual Robert F Kennedy Journalism Award in 2008), it told the remarkable story of Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge, an eighty four year old Kenyan villager who had fought for the Mau Mau rebellion against the British occupation during the 1950s. When the Kenyan government announced in 2002 that it was proposing free primary school education for all, Maruge took it to heart. Arriving at his local school, run by one Jane Obinchu, he requested that she take up his offer and enter him into the first grade so he could learn to read and write. It was an enchanting true-life story, made more so by the fact Maruge would later address the United Nations about the need for education in Africa. Screenwriter Ann Peacock was hooked the moment she read the article. "I just picked up the phone and called my agent and said, 'I have to do this story.' I was just totally blown away by his courage. This is a man who is illiterate and poor and has nothing, but he just wants to learn to read. To be prepared to humble himself in such a way, to go to a primary school: I thought that was the most amazing thing. But, what really excited me was his Mau Mau background. It informed the character. He stood up and made his voice heard once before and now he was doing it again." As it turned out, Peacock wasn’t alone. Enter Richard Harding and Sam Feuer, the producers behind Los Angeles-based outfit Sixth Sense Productions. Like Peacock, Feuer had read the L.A. Times piece and, remembers Harding, called him straight away. "It was a Sunday. I’ll never forget. He called me and told me about the article and I was hooked." Born in Sierra Leone, with African parents, 2011 Emden Film Award winner Harding ("The First Grader") immediately solicited the opinion of his mother. "She said she thought it would be a remarkable story, and we should go ahead and make it. Once I got mom’s approval, I knew it was a good story to make!" Harding and Feuer worked quickly, contacting the journalist behind the article, who referred them to Jane Obinchu, the principal of the school that Maruge attended. Harding recalls: "She had told us that nobody had been out there regarding the purchase of their life-rights. We had a lawyer put a contract together and within a week we were out backpacking in Kenya." They met with Maruge to convince him to let them tell his life story. "At the beginning, he didn’t quite understand what we were asking. He thought it was a documentary or an interview we wanted to make. A lot of reporters had been out there already." When Maruge realised what the project was, he signed on the dotted line, leaving Harding and Feuer to return to the U.S.A to contemplate how they might turn this remarkable tale into a viable feature script. At the same time, Peacock’s agent came back with some news. "We discovered that Sixth Sense Productions had gone out there and bought the rights to the story." Eventually, her agent tracked down Harding and Feuer, explaining that Peacock was desperate to bring Maruge’s story to the screen. "It was such a wonderful marriage at that particular point," says Harding, "we knew it was destiny for us to get together and make this film." The they struck a snag. "The obstacle was to find backing for this project. There were a few companies wanting to come on board early on, however they did not share our vision for this film," Harding explained. Even with Peacock attached, it proved hard for Harding and Feuer to get financiers to come on board. "We were shocked. This was Ann Peacock: she’d just written one of the highest grossing movies of that year; which even beat out King Kong! The companies that we had hoped would come on board thought it was a small movie that wouldn’t do that well, though they kept saying they would love to see it once made," Harding recalls. Then, a minor miracle happened. On Peacock’s way to South Africa, where she had grown up before moving to Los Angeles, she stopped off in London to have a meeting with BBC Films producer Joe Oppenheimer ("The Edge of Love" & "The Awakening"). During the meeting, she began to pitch Maruge’s story. "He just said 'Come with me'. He took me along the passage to David Thompson and sat me down. I pitched it to David and he listened absolutely enraptured. And when I finished, he said 'Let’s do it', which completely stunned me. Producers never declare themselves in front of the writer! They usually go away and talk about it." But, then David Thompson said "Let's do it." Then head of BBC Films, Thompson ("An Education"), recalls this very moment quite clearly and just why he wanted to commission Peacock ("Nights in Rodanthe") to write it. "It was something about the idea that caught my imagination. It was just an extraordinary story, and above all, a story of one man’s endeavours to break through his past and have a new beginning: even at that age. There was something about that that really captivated me. It seemed to be in a way a universal story in a sense that it symbolised what can be done, if somebody is absolutely determined. And, it’s not just a story about the triumph of education. It’s also a story about someone overcoming their past." When Thompson stepped down as head of BBC Films to set up his own production company, Origin Pictures, he made it clear that he wanted "The First Grader" to be his new outfit’s inaugural production, a proposal that delighted the people at Sixth Sense Productions. Harding remembers well: "He didn’t even finish his sentence before Sam and I both yelled out 'Absolutely!' David orchestrated the financing of the film, which was a tremendous help. Without his involvement from the very beginning, I don’t think we could’ve got it done the way we envisioned: especially as he greenlit it when everybody else said no." With the production underway, the big question was who should direct the film? For the producers, there was only one choice, Justin Chadwick, who Thompson had recently collaborated with on the 2008 feature "The Other Boleyn Girl". "He was the perfect partner, a real collaborator," says Thompson, who had worked with Chadwick, when he was cast as Gerard d'Auferre, in the 1993 BBC Films production "The Hour Of The Pig". "He’s a wonderful person to work with. Very much knowing his own mind, very firm, but also very approachable and accessible and a real creative partner." Chadwick was immediately sold when he received Peacock’s script. "I really responded to the material. I thought it was a really challenging movie to do. Education and children, that really struck a chord with me. I went into the meeting with David and Joe and the way we three responded in that room, I knew we’d all make the same film. They knew it was a difficult subject matter – an old man goes back to school and we were squirreling in hard-hitting issues while having essentially an uplifting story about the power of education. But, from the very, very off, I knew we all wanted to make the same thing." Part of Chadwick’s initial fascination with the story stemmed from his own upbringing in the northwest of England. Like Maruge, a teacher also played an important part in his life too. "I know that if I hadn’t have come across one teacher, I would never have gone to the local theatre at eleven years old and then joined Manchester Youth Theatre. That changed my life. Education is the most important thing for me. I know it’s an obvious thing to say. But, all you need as a child is one good teacher to come across. And, Jane Obinchu is clearly a brilliant teacher." Yet what really affected Chadwick was meeting Maruge, who would sadly die of cancer just a few months later. "He was a real fighter," says Chadwick, recalling their encounter in a hospice where Maruge would spend his last days. "He refused to be old. You’d be sitting with him and he’d go ‘I’m not old! He wanted to go for a walk. So, we helped him up: he was as light as a feather but you could feel the strength inside him." Harding, who had kept in regular touch with Maruge via his granddaughter since their first encounter, concurs. "He was a wonderful, gentle old man. Even up until the day he was dying, he wanted to learn. We went back to visit him when he was in the hospice and his desire to learn was just greater than anybody I’d seen." The next big question faced by Chadwick was where to shoot the film. South Africa was mooted, a sensible idea given how the country’s infrastructure and film industry was perfectly used to handling large-scale outside productions yet Chadwick, for one, was not convinced. "I fought to shoot it in Kenya. We could’ve shot it in South Africa, but I fought for it to be shot in Kenya, because you just felt this unbelievable, inexplicable energy that was there, with these children, these people." Thompson was in agreement with his director. "It was much better filming in Kenya, much more authentic and real." While he began scouting for locations, he also faced the difficulties of casting: in particular the youngsters that Maruge finds himself learning with in the classroom, where much of the film is set. "I was thinking, 'How am I going to cast this?' There were thoughts that we’d have to go all over Africa to try and get this class." He decided it would be much better to visit a real school and cast a classroom of kids en masse. "In the end, we found this wonderful location up in the Rift Valley in the mountains. Very unexpected. Not how you imagine Africa to be." But the big quest would be finding an actor able to play Maruge. "It’s a Kenyan story and we wanted a Kenyan lead actor," Thompson noted. "That was very important for us. But, we didn’t think we’d find one. It was a nightmare!" Eventually, Chadwick came across Oliver Litondo, a TV news anchorman in the 1970’s who had always had a burning ambition to act. Litondo, like all of the local cast and crew on the film, knew Maruge’s story well. "I read about it in the local media." Clearly, Litondo wasn’t playing a simple rural villager. "Maruge was everything in one. The character is challenging in the sense that at one time you find him in a childish situation, playing with children in school. In another situation, he’s acting as a freedom fighter. In another situation, he’s confronting people who are more educated and of a higher mental capacity than him." With Litondo secured for the lead, Chadwick’s thoughts turned to the other key role: that of the school’s defiant principal, Jane Obinchu. 2003 Golden Nymph Award winner Naomie Harris ("White Teeth") was cast in the role. "I’d never heard of the story of Maruges. But they asked me if I wanted to be involved. I thought the script was great. I loved the idea of being a part of it." South African-born actor Tony Kgoroge ("Blood Diamond") was cast as Janes husband. Rounding out the cast, Chadwick hired Shoki Mokgapa and Alfred Munyua to play Jane’s colleagues at the school, Elizabeth and Alfred. Vusi Kunene (The No1 Ladies Detective Agency), was brought on board to play the school’s officious inspector, Mr Kipruto. What's It All About?

In a small, remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he turns up at the schools gate. He is Maruge, an old Mau Mau veteran in his eighties, who is desperate to learn to read at this late stage of his life. He fought for the liberation of his country and now feels he must have the chance of an education so long denied: even if it means sitting in a classroom alongside six year olds. Moved by his passionate plea, head teacher Jane Obinchu, supports his struggle to gain admission and together they face fierce opposition from parents and officials who don’t want to waste a precious school place on such an old man. Full of vitality and humour, Maruge builds a remarkable relationships with his younger classmates.

The Verdict "What a wonderful, wonderful, story. "The First Grader", based on the true story of former Mau Mau freedom fighter Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge (who sadly passed away on August 14th 2009 at the Cheshire Home for the Aged in Nairobi, after battling stomach cancer), will have the spirits of those who appreciate both effort and persistence: soaring. In our society, where education is unfortunately, taken for granted by many and abused by a minority; this would film would provide a great study tool for seconadary school students. It also includes flashbacks which highlight the other struggle Mirage undertook, as a freedom fighter.These powerful moments, add another dimension to the tale of what Maruge went through. "A lot of families don’t talk about that period of history in that time because it’s too raw still. It’s very private," the film's director Justin Chadwick revealed. He was also keen to stress that the film is primarily about "the importance of education in people’s lives." Oliver Litondo believes Maruge is "an inspiration to both young and old Kenyans, who value education." I'm sure many in the audience will: after seeing how the story unfolds; wish there were more films like "The First Grader". The end credits reveal more about the late Maruge. Definitely worth seeing. 4 STARS." Who Is Playing Who?

Oliver Litondo Lwanda Jawar Emily Njoki Naomie Harris Tony Kgoroge Sam Feuer Nick Reding Vusi Kunene John Sibi-Okumu Israel Makoe Shoki Mokgapa Ainea Ojiambo Mumbi Kaigwa Lydia Gitachu Charles Ouda

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Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge Young Maruge Young Maruge's wife Jane Obinchu Charles Obinchu American Journalist Officer Johnson Mr Kipruto Chairman of Education David Chege Teacher Elizabeth Education Officer Education Secretary CNN Journalist Adult School Teacher

The Production Team Directed by Justin Chadwick Written by Ann Peacock Produced by Sam Feuer/Richard Harding/David M Thompson Original Music by Alex Heffes Cinematography by Rob Hardy Film Editing by Paul Knight Casting by Margie Kiundi & Moonyeenn Lee Run Time 113 minutes Rated M [AUST] © - Rialto Films - All Rights Reserved Enduring © - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.