Growing up in the YouTube vlog era, Kendra’s first love was music videos. She’d spend her time watching each frame in awe, filled with an ambition to capture people in the same way. At a certain point in her childhood, her interest gradually became a part of her daily life where she would record herself, the people around her and the world she was living in — those first experiences with a camera influenced what was destined for her. When she was approaching her teenage years, Kendra would frequently buy a disposable camera, taking pics of her friends in school. That spurred her into pursuing film production at college, where she was able to direct music videos and get into cinematography — a subject she opted to study further at university.
Kendra Umutoni, also known as Kendra Filmz, a twenty-one-year-old visual artist from South London, is steadily becoming one of the defining artists of her generation, capturing and speaking to what — and who — is important in the London creative landscape. At the beginning of her career, the film industry exposed her to varying levels of nepotism and inaccessibility, so she took the initiative to not let it deter her. Continuing to focus on working with friends who made music, supporting their visual identity and producing really cool shoots with them, Kendra leaned into her community. The first artist Kendra worked with and still has a close relationship with is childhood friend and pop musician flowerovlove. Over the past year she has also shot the likes of Juveniall, Natanya and Deela.
