Monument Releasing has acquired U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia/New Zealand rights to Damien Hauser's "Memory of Princess Mumbi," with a U.S. theatrical release dated for August 14. A new trailer accompanies the announcement.
The film was the first Kenyan feature selected for Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days), the independent parallel section of the Venice Film Festival, where it world premiered on September 1, 2025. It went on to a North American premiere in the Centrepiece program at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Hauser's fourth feature is a sci-fi mockumentary that mixes documentary, improvised drama, and AI-generated landscapes, set in 2093. The story follows young filmmaker Kuve (Ibrahim Joseph), who travels to the remote village of Umata to document the aftermath of a war that outlawed post-2040s technology and brought ancient kingdoms back. There he meets Mumbi (Shandra Apondi), a local filmmaker who challenges him to work without AI, using only his hands, eyes, and heart. The Swiss-Kenyan director also wrote, shot, edited, and scored the film, and appears in the cast. It was produced by Kaleem Aftab, Apondi, and Hauser under Out of My Mind Films and Hauserfilm, with support from Swiss Films and the Red Sea Film Fund.
Monument Releasing President Ryan Kampe called the film a smart and innovative work he felt an obligation to support, and predicted audiences would discover it in cinemas and later across digital platforms. Hauser said he wanted to tell a story that celebrates beauty, joy, and human connection at a time defined by conflict, and credited Monument for believing in the film.
Kampe negotiated the deal with Alexandre Moreau of Paris-based Paradise City Sales, which handles international rights. New York-based Monument Releasing specializes in classic festival, foreign-language, and American independent titles, and is a sister company to sales outfit Visit Films and the incubator Pretty_Ideas.