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Welcome to the Moran family Christmas in A Familiar Christmas, now streaming on Showmax.
This is the first-ever Christmas feature film in Kenya. A Familiar Christmas follows the Moran family as they reunite to spend a Christmas holiday together for the first time in three years.
Plans for a loving holiday fail when secrets and a meddling mother wreak havoc in the household. A long overdue reunion, a marriage on the rocks, a fiancé the family knows nothing about, an old love interest and a meddling mother. In between, love, joy, and warmth.
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The film stars Pascal Tokodi (Selina, Disconnect), Elani member Maureen Kunga, Alice Mbeyu (Zora), Dennis Musyoka (Maria, Crime, and Justice), Keith Chuaga (Igiza, Ayaanle), Charles Agengo (Selina) and Ugandan Ruth Kamanzi (Sanyu), Ann Muli (The Good Child) and Hannah Wanjiku.
A Familiar Christmas, now streaming on Showmax.
Natasha Likimani (Sincerely Daisy, Disconnect) wrote A Familiar Christmas it is directed and produced by Reuben Odanga (Nafsi, Selina).
Reuben admits he has wanted to make a Kenyan Christmas project for a very long time. The initial idea was to produce a Christmas play with Selina actors.
“My vision was to do a Christmas play with Selina actors and stage it at Nairobi CBD but that was not possible because of the timing since Selina was a daily show,” Odanga says.
His dream finally came true when Likimani, the film’s writer, reached out to him with a new concept and he immediately liked it.
“We actually pitched this project to Showmax in 2021, but when it was green-lit, it was too late to go into production for a 2021 Christmas movie, so we pushed the project to 2022,” Odanga reveals.
Further, Odanga says that A Familiar Christmas’ greatest appeal is that it’s a very Kenyan story with Kenyan nuances.
“It captures the whole idea about food and festivity. And for people who are at the age of getting married, it shows how parents can be very involved in your personal lives,” says Odanga. “It’s really a family movie with those Kenyan nuances. It’s not very exaggerated or aspirational, it’s just a real story and you can be able to see yourself in the story.”
Odanga hopes that this film is the start of something big. “I hope that this can be an annual thing, that we can have a Christmas story every year.”
Catch A Familiar Christmas now streaming on Showmax.
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