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.

The number and variety of films on show was simply staggering: of the Kenyan ones alone, there were documentaries like Judy Kibinge’s Peace Wanted Alive on the aftermath of the 2007 post election violence.

Some films looked fair and square at the everyday problems we face in the region like poverty, HIV, others like the Ugandan Blind Date and How the Hare lost his Tail harked back to more traditional way of story-telling. 

A mind-opener

Above all, the festival was also a window into the styles and methods used in other countries.

The choice of prize winners revealed the thinking behind the festival: Wanuri Kahiu’s From a Whisper won the award for the best African film rather than her far more adventurous though shorter and more recent sci-fi Pumzi.

Although the acting and the general quality of the film were impressive, it stuck to a realism that borrows from the Anglo-American world rather than the more imaginative Francophone one.

From a Whisper is bound to affect a far wider East African audience than Pumzi, which is a more daring, experimental film.  

But it is the job of a film festival to expose audiences to both.

Similarly, the choice of American Giancarlo Esposito’s magnificent Gospel Hill as International Prize winner would please far greater numbers than the contribution by Cameroonian Jean Pierre Bekolo, Les Saignantes, a far more difficult and stylised film.

Esposito was a towering figure at the festival.

He attended the festival courtesy of the US embassy’s sponsorship and was guest of honour.

He participated in directing workshops and it was not hard to see the similarities with US President Barack Obama.

He has charisma and oratorical power to move and inspire audiences.

Almost the same age as Obama, Esposito is the son of an Italian father and a black mother from Alabama, US.

So he faced similar personal conflicts. Of his movie Gospel Hill, he said, “It was a labour of love,” he said.

“Write a good screenplay,” he advised. “Read the material aloud and see if it sounds right,” he counselled.

“Believe in your work. Creatively visualise it and get other people to believe in it. Above all, be truthful, honest and passionate.”

Obama couldn’t have said it better.