I literally burst into tears
just watching moments of the movie.
It's so filled with hope.
It's so beautiful.
Congratulations to you.
Thank you so much.
(audience applauds)
It's just beautiful.
So, you read the book when
it first came out about a decade ago.
I don't want to be a spoiler.
Give them the setup without ruining it,
'cuz I'll blow the whole thing.
(Chiwetel laughs)
So, the story centers on William Kamkwamba,
who, when he was 13 in his community in Malawi,
were going through very challenging circumstances.
There was flooding and a drought in the area.
They're all subsistence-level farmers
in this community.
The price of grain went through the roof
after a bad harvest,
and he was taken out of school.
Secondary school isn't free in Malawi,
and so, he sneaks back into school,
and he eventually finds a book,
an American textbook, actually,
in the library when he snuck into the library,
and it's called "Using Energy",
and on the front page of this
is a photograph of a windmill, and that starts--
He's 13, by the way.
13.
His own family is suffering from,
literally, the brink of famine, starvation.
I just can't imagine, at 13,
A, breaking into school to actually study, right?
Who were you at 13?
Well, that was actually the moment in the book
in William Kamkwamba's memoir,
that, after he wrote the book about his experiences,
that was the moment when I was reading it
that really changed everything for me,
because I really thought when I was reading it,
about him sneaking into school at 13,
and it made me reflect on my own life,
and think whether it was in any way conceivable
that, when I was 13, I would be sneaking into school.
(Rachel laughs)
And realizing that it was not conceivable at all,
and that difference, the privilege,
and that sense of that inversion,
and distinction that there he is,
at that young age, trying to find a way
to help his family, help his community,
and all of those challenges.
Amazing, extraordinary challenges that he was facing.
Even earlier on, he was the kid
that could bring batteries back to life,
and he'd go through trash heaps to fix things,
and he was always playing with gadgets.
Who were you like when you were a child?
I was kind of quiet, you know.
My mom always says that I was always, like, (mumbles).
I wasn't particularly naughty.
I was the quiet one.
I was very much on my own, doing my own thing,
and I think that's why I really loved,
you know, when I started to become an actor,
I really loved that self-expression, the capacity--
You can be anyone.
Yeah, to really be anybody, exactly.
To play.
Did you enjoy directing?
I did.
It was very challenging.
There was a lot to do.
There was a lot to try and accomplish.
We had a lot of logistical issues
with Malawi, and getting equipment and stuff.
There hadn't really been a film--
And just with weather, even.
And with weather, yeah.
I mean, a lot of things to kind of think about.
But the community there was so
embracing of what we were doing.
A lot of them knew William Kamkwamba,
and knew his story and the history of that.
It happened in 2001, 2002,
but a lot of people in that community,
obviously, were there then,
and so, they were so incredibly supportive
of what we were trying to do,
and trying to tell this amazing story
and bring this story to the world.
And what about the writing process,
bringing the book to the screenplay to the screen.
What was that like?
Did you enjoy it? It was good, you know.
When I first read the book,
I was obviously deeply inspired by it,
and I started this screenwriting adaptation
process sort of immediately, and then--
That's like 10 years ago, by the way.
This is not, like, an overnight process for this film.
Then I went out to Malawi for the first time
to meet William Kamkwamba,
and he was very generous with me
and took me around Wimbe, his village,
and Kasungu is the wider area.
I met his family, I met his parents, I met his cousins.
I made the decision then to shoot the whole film
right there, where all the events took place.
And you feel it.
It's so saturated.
This movie is so beautiful to look at.
It's so saturated.
How did you feel when you finally saw it
all put together, and the editors are done,
and you're done, and everything's all together,
and you sit back and you look at it.
What went through your mind?
Well, it was an amazing feeling.
Once we got back to London, and we had all the footage,
and we were trying to assemble it all.
What I'd always wanted for the film
was a sense that the audience could
go on a kind of teleportation experience.
And be there. Yeah.
The way that I felt when I first was in Malawi.
It's such a culturally rich, textured place.
It's so beautiful.
You feel that you can turn around and just feel it all.
Yeah, and it really felt that
we had come back with the footage
that could really start to achieve that,
to hopefully take an audience on a real journey
into this space, and into this place in time.
(audience applauds)