Last White Man Standing

Tom Cholmondeley, heir to the largest white-owned estate in Kenya, stands accused of murdering a black poacher on his land. The film follows the case and gives an in-depth look at its sociopolitical context.

Film Signature Image
Series
Global Voices
Premiere Date
October 2, 2011
Length
60 minutes
Funding Initiative
International
Director

Justin Webster

Following a degree in classics from Cambridge University, Webster made a brief foray into the world of finance before switching over, for good, to journalism in 1989. Specializing in narrative journalism, he’s written for The Independent Magazine, Granta, The New Statesman, The Boston Globe Magazine, and El País Semanal, as well as reporting for BBC… Show more News, Reuters Reports, APTN, and others. Webster settled in Barcelona in 1991, created JWP in 1996, and since then has directed a string of feature-length documentaries including Convict the Judge, The Madrid Connection, Photographing the Exodus, and FC Barcelona Confidential, all of which have received various awards. Armed with a firm commitment to uncovering the truth, crystallized through years of reporting experience, Webster’s real passion is figuring out the best way to tell — simply put — a good story. Show less

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Producer

Mette Heide

Mette Heide is an award-winning producer and owner of +plus pictures ApS. She has worked as an executive producer for the past 16 years. Among the films she’s produced are Last White Man Standing (2010), The Invention of Dr. Nakamats (2009), Honestly, Mum and Dad (2009), and Liberace of Baghdad, winner of the Special Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

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Producer

Don Edkins

Don Edkins is a documentary filmmaker and producer based in Cape Town, South Africa. With an academic background in Development Studies and African languages, he has extensive work experience in the field of media and development. He produced the multi-awarded Steps for the Future (2001/4), a collection of 38 films from Southern Africa about life in the… Show more time of HIV/AIDS. He was executive producer for the STEPS global documentary project Why Democracy? of 10 longform documentaries and 17 short films, screened by 48 broadcasters in 180 countries. With more than 30 international awards for the films, including an Oscar, two Peabodys, and a Grierson, the films are now being distributed worldwide for educational outreach. He is coauthor of a book about documentary filmmaking, training and outreach published by Jacana Media: STEPS by STEPS. Don is director of Steps International, and executive producer of the new STEPS project Why Poverty? Show less

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The Film

Tom Cholmondeley, grandson of one of the founders of white colonial Kenya, was on the verge of inheriting one of the last great estates in Kenya as well as the title Lord Delamere. But instead, he found himself on trial in Nairobi in 2006, charged with murdering a black poacher on his land. Serah Njoya, the poacher’s widow with four children, wants her husband’s killer brought to justice.

For three years, the trial gripped the nation. Many saw a racist with the trigger finger, while others saw Cholmondeley circumstance as an embodiment of the contrast between the lives of a few wealthy Kenyan landowners and the lower castes who struggle simply to feed themselves.

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