another film you made is a documentary on the life of the late nobel peace prize laureate wangari maathaintal activism. you've also made a short science fiction film called pumzi. do you believe you can straddle both genre — documentary and fiction, or do you feel that you ought to kind of throw your resources behind one of the other? no, i think i'm a storyteller. i'll also write books in my time and i will, hopefully, direct theatre in my time. i think stories come in different forms, and sometimes they come in documentary form and sometimes they come in fictional form. myjob is just to be a vessel for the story to come through and it chooses the way that it comes through best. but i'm so grateful for the stories that i've been able to tell. meeting your hero in your lifetime is unimaginable and the fact that i was able to make a story and a film about wangari maathai was truly a highlight of my career. well, your latest film, rafiki, which means "friend" in kiswahili, is the first feature film to have actually been shown at the cannes film festival, is causing you a lot of trouble, isn