Kenyan documentary filmmaker Nick Wambugu spent much of his life behind the camera, quietly recording moments the country could not afford to ignore.
In the chaos of the 2024 Gen Z protests, while tear gas clouded the streets and fear gripped demonstrators, Wambugu chose to stay, filming, listening, and bearing witness.
His work would later form part of Blood Parliament, the BBC documentary that became one of the most powerful visual records of the protests.
Through his lens, scenes of police brutality, grief, and defiance were preserved, forcing uncomfortable questions about power, accountability, and the cost of dissent. These were not images captured for spectacle; they were acts of documentation, resistance, and memory.
For over a decade, Wambugu dedicated his career to documentary and narrative filmmaking, drawn to stories that placed ordinary people at the centre of national conversations. Justice, governance, and human rights were recurring themes in his work.
Colleagues say he believed deeply in film as a public service, a way to amplify voices often ignored or deliberately silenced.
His final major project, The People Shall…, continued that mission.
The documentary examined state violence during the 2024 protests and reignited public debate around accountability.
It also exposed the personal risks faced by filmmakers who challenge authority, placing Wambugu and his collaborators under intense scrutiny even as the film gained international attention.
Away from public attention, he was known as quiet, thoughtful, and principled. Those who worked with him describe a meticulous storyteller guided by integrity rather than ego. He was willing to place himself in difficult and sometimes dangerous situations, convinced that truth was worth the risk.
In the months before his death, Wambugu was fighting a different battle. He had been diagnosed with Hypocellular Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a rare bone marrow disorder that severely weakens the immune system.
As his health declined, he made a public appeal for financial support to undergo a bone marrow transplant, estimated to cost Sh9 million.
Nick died at the age of 34, but his work remains.
It lives in the images that refuse to let the country look away, in the conversations his films sparked, and in a growing generation of Kenyan filmmakers who see documentary storytelling as a tool for justice.
Wambugu’s legacy is visible. He may no longer be here to record history, but history will remember him.
Photos: Courtesy/Instagram