KIRE GODAL FILMS

KIRE GODAL FILMS KIRE GODAL FILMS

COWS, GUNS & RUSTLERS - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

FILM WORK
Cleansing ceremony, using the entrails of a live goat, to protect women and children from spirits of dead enemies killed during raids.
The rustlers smear the women and children with undigested chime from the goat's stomach to create a barrier of protection.
The women will allow the chime to dry and wear it until it rubs off.
Pokot women are strong willed and fierce with their men, but equally affectionate and loving.
Cattle, guns and bullets are the currency of life. Here the sons of rustlers water the herds in the midday heat watching out for enemies.
Kaluca shows how he looks into his enemies eyes...
Kaluca's 5th wife...a reason to keep rustling. He has 5 wives and a couple dozen children.
Kaluca, portrait of a Pokot rustler
Blue Loribo, our Pokot friend, guide and translator discusses guns with Kaluca.
Akasowian has his right arm scarified with a new row that represents the enemy he just killed. This is to respect his enemy, as well as keep track of how many people he has killed during cattle raids - the rows of scars are medals.
Tuliangura a master with a bow and arrow
Tuliangura during blessing ceremony
Lomunyo is painted with white chalk by chanting elders - a blessing during a pre-raid ceremony.
The notorious Kaluca leads a dawn cleansing ritual - pre-enacting the raid - before leaving on foot to raid many kilometres away.
The four main rustlers followed in the film - Kaluca, Akasowian, Lomunyo, and Tuliangura look over their territory in the bad-lands of Pokot.
This young beauty is the motivation for our main character to go on a cattle raid. Without cattle he cannot afford to pay a brideprice to her father.
Young rustlers boast trophy shirts from the men they've killed. This image taken during a dance where they sing of their bravery, killing feats, and cattle won during raids - all to impress the young women present.
A typical day for a young Pokot man, together with cattle and guns, very little food or water, always on the move looking for grazing.
Killer cleansing and renaming ceremony. This young man is cleansed before rejoining his family homestead - he has been given a new name so as not to infect his family with the spirits of the dead enemies.
Mzee Tukon, Kaluca, Akosowian and Lomunyo...the most notorious cattle rustlers in the Ngaina region.
During the hottest part of the day a gathering under a tree to speak with the young rustlers and cattle guards who are taking a short rest before continuing with grazing and herding duties.
Blue Loribo, Mike Moller, Kire Godal - happy days during a dance ceremony in Ngaina.
Our camp on the river in Ngaina.
Giving a lift to our rustler gang.
Filming one of the wildest of the rustlers and his beloved gun. He had suddenly appeared mid production to find out what was going on.
Capturing rustling sequences, trying to keep up!
Mike and Kire at a remote homestead. They had to walk for hours with their equipment - across the Kerio river, in 40C heat to arrive here for the cleansing ceremony that had never before been filmed.
Kire shows Blue, guide and translator (with broken leg from a fall off his motorbike), how to set up a gun shot for her camera.
The only cool part of the day, bathing in the Kerio river. Most days reached 40C, as this area is very close to the Suguta Valley, one of the hottest place in Northern Kenya.
Talking with Chief Yatta, the man who allowed Kire and Mike to come into his remote and hostile area under his protection.
Akosowian gets a new row of scarification done the traditional way. Each row represents an enemy killed.
Ten rows of scars shows everyone that this rustler has killed ten enemies during cattle raids.

COWS, GUNS & RUSTLERS - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TELEVISION & FILM

"Cows, Guns & Rustlers - Africa's Wild West"

Filmed / Directed / Written / Edited by Kire Godal
Sound & Music by Mike Moller

In 2009 Kire and her sound man Mike entered where no camera has ever gone before to show the dangerous world of Kenya's high stakes cattle rustling.  

Northern Kenya is Africa's 'Wild West', a remote frontier saturated with weapons from many wars and a bad land - filled with tribal cattle rustlers. This area is so dangerous that even the army stays away. Thousands of people die raiding every year.

In the centre of this tribal war-zone live the Pokot people - the most notorious cattle rustlers of all. They are not bandits; it's not a conflict like Sudan, or the Congo. This story has a much deeper cultural context. Pokot pursue cattle for survival -- and their enemies and neighbours, the Turkana, do the same.

In Northern Kenya,  men make their own rules, cattle is the ultimate currency and rustling is a way of life. This film is an unprecedented journey into another world of survival and way of life in remote, traditional Africa.

It's hard to believe that this extreme and deadly world of cattle raiding, shootouts and secret ceremonies exists. 

Kire and Mike spent 3 months living alongside the rustlers in Ngaina on the border of Pokot and Turkana territories; where there were no roads, only a few outsiders had ever been - and the cattle raids were happening constantly, day and night.

FILM WORK

FILM WORK

SKYPATHS - 4 Part Documentary

SKYPATHS - 4 Part Documentary
Short Docs, PSA's & Docu-Brands

Short Docs, PSA's & Docu-Brands

Short Docs - Documercials
Conservation Documentary Films

Conservation Documentary Films

Environmental Films
Kire Godal Promotional & On-Camera

Kire Godal Promotional & On-Camera

Kire Godal Promotional / Brand Films
African Twilight Films Traveling Museum Exhibition

African Twilight Films Traveling Museum Exhibition

FILM WORK
LION WARRIORS NAT GEO WILD

LION WARRIORS NAT GEO WILD

FILM WORK
WILDLIFE

WILDLIFE

FILM WORK
RENDILLE FILM - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

RENDILLE FILM - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

FILM WORK
POKOT FILM - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

POKOT FILM - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

FILM WORK
MAASAI The Last Dance of the Warriors NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

MAASAI The Last Dance of the Warriors NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

FILM WORK
COWS, GUNS & RUSTLERS - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

COWS, GUNS & RUSTLERS - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

FILM WORK
SECRET RITUALS OF INITIATION POKOT BOYS

SECRET RITUALS OF INITIATION POKOT BOYS

FILM WORK
Minjiba Entertains Cooking & Lifestyle Series

Minjiba Entertains Cooking & Lifestyle Series

FILM WORK

FILM WORK


Skypaths - a 4 part documentary series - ( Presented here as 4 parts in a Doc Feature Format) directed & filmed by American Kire Godal, follows Swedish / Danish conservationist & writer Natasha Illum Berg as she retraces her pioneering conservationist and natural history filmmaker Swedish grandfather Bengt Berg's 4 most important wildlife film expeditions 100 years after him. From Sweden, to Ethiopia, Tanzania, India & Nepal - a lens into the past is opened and a parallel adventure story begins. 

Bengt Berg's beloved work from the early 1900's, his original archives, are seen for the first time in decades as we follow his expeditions through his films, writing and photographs, as Natasha lives out her expeditions today.

Bengt Berg took great risks for animals a century ago - today his granddaughter writes about and works tirelessly for conservation in Africa.

Each episode or part, takes an intimate look at 'man's place in nature', from a 100 years ago and today, from the common crane migration from Sweden to Ethiopia, shoebills and elephants in Tanzanian swamps, Indian rhinos along the border of Bhutan, and bearded vultures in the Himalayas – these thoughtful stories glance into where we find ourselves today on our planet – our beautiful globe…crisscrossed with the invisible lines of bird sky-paths.

Shot in 4K, this unique adventure travel - personal journey - historical wildlife and conservation series is one-of-a-kind.

Producers: Jake Seal, Erik Godal, Kire Godal, Natasha Illum Berg

skypaths.wordpress.com 
@skypaths the film series

Produced by Original Godal Productions 
Copyright 2018