Kenya comes of age, one film festival at a time

The 4th Kenya International Film Festival held in October was an impossibly ambitious and imaginative project.

One which proved that it is better to have a vision and try to get it out there in the real world rather than sit back and mourn about lack of action.

I say impossibly ambitious because for the first time it involved six venues showing a total of 250 films. 

In a city with a decent transport system, that might not be a problem.

But in Nairobi with its paralysing traffic jams it meant a lot of frustration, confusion and disappointment.

This year’s theme was Africa and the Diaspora, which neatly covers everything under the sun.

That said, I congratulate Charles Asiba, his team and the sponsors for the effort.

But Asiba was not satisfied to keep the festival within Nairobi limits: Screenings were later to be held in informal settlements like Kibera, and the films taken on tour around the country in the hope of, as Asiba puts it, “fostering a film culture in this country.” But is watching movies non-stop enough to “foster a film culture”?

Since a larger percentage of the audience was made up of students, activities like the Maisha Film Lab, the actors and directors’ workshop and the one on intellectual property among others, ran alongside the film screening.

Student forums gave young people the chance to not only critique the films but to discuss the nitty-gritty of movie-making with experienced industry players.

And given that film making in the region has blossomed in the past few years, this was a necessary component.

The idea is to eventually have the locally produced films screened on national television stations regularly, in the place of American and Mexican soaps.

Naturally, when there is a large volume of work, often done with little money, most of it is bound to be substandard.

But the festival proved that East African cinema is coming of age.

Jim Shannon, chairman of the KIFF board of trustees commented that though there had been an exponential rise in film making in the region, “Their effect has not been felt.” The purpose of such a festival is to show what has is happening in the industry and to compare with foreign productions.