He played the role of an unscrupulous poacher in the docu-fiction "Poacher," which brought the backstory of the Kenyan savannah to the Netflix platform, but Maina Olwenya, who passed away suddenly from an illness at just 34 years old, was much more: a very promising young star in the first film to put new Kenyan cinematography on the map, "Nairobi Half Life," which which competed at the Academy Awards in Hollywood (the antechamber to the Oscars)., and a touchstone for important feature films that dealt with social issues, such as "Stories of our lives," which sparked a media revolution and beyond for bringing up the issues of the widespread LGTBQIA+ sphere
Maina was a helpful and knowledgeable professional who contributed, unfortunately for a bloody short time, to the growth of the acting environment, including theater, in Nairobi and Kenya. Ethically as well as professionally.
"The problem is that in Kenya people equate acting success with money, which should not be the case," he once told us, "Artists should earn enough to be comfortable, but satisfaction in one's work is what matters most.
Kwaheri, Maina.