Lydia Matata

Lydia Matata is one of the writers of Country Queen, Kenya's first drama series on Netflix and Igiza, a limited series on a platform called. Showmax. She has written, directed and produced various narrative and documentary films, including Millet (2018), winner of Docubox’s Shorts, Shots & Shots scriptwriting prize; Sungura, (2021) a narrative film that has screened at several notable festivals such as the Pan African Film Festival at Cannes, Interfilm Short Film Festival, and the Black Star International Film Festival where it received the best Women in Film Award. Her other projects are Utapata Mwingine (2021) a documentary short that received the Best Emerging Filmmaker Award at the UN Women’s Global Film Festival; and A Conversation Between Two Artists (2022), a documentary filmed between Kenya and Japan, as part of the UNESCO and Nara International Film Festival residency for African Women Filmmakers. The film recently screened at FESPACO, Africa's largest film festival and was nominated for a prize at the Blackstar International Film Festival. Her first feature film script Pepo Kali is currently in development. The project recently received the NBO Film Festival’s writers' prize. She recently directed and produced a short documentary film by Mothers of Mathare for commissioned by the Video of Consortium and the Skoll Foundation.