Four Kenyan short films on Time of Covid-19 make cut
Saturday July 11 2020
Wambui Gathee, left, was selected for her film Love, Zawadi; and Neha Manoj Shah for her film Face Mask for Sale. PHOTOS | COURTESY
Four Kenyan short films are among 10 selected films in the African Women in the Time of Covid-19: Ladima Film Competition.
The Ladima Foundation, in partnership with DW Akademie, announced the selection on July 1.
The films will be shown via a live stream on the Ladima Foundation Facebook page on July 10. They will then be available for viewing on the foundation’s website and True African channel on Premium for free from July 11.
The four winners are Moyo, by Hellen Samina Ochieng; Love, Zawadi, by Wambui Gathee; The Tempest, by Skinnor Davillah Agello; and Face Mask for Sale, by Neha Manoj Shah.
Moyo is about Achieng, a young single mother working as an underpaid nurse in Mbagathi Hospital, Nairobi. She struggles with the grim financial, mental and physical realities of being a single mother, and the pressures of being a front-line, essential worker during a pandemic.
Ochieng is a 22-year-old creative based in Nairobi and an undergraduate student at Taita University. She is passionate about the feminist cause as she has seen first-hand how the inherently patriarchal Kenyan society affects women and young girls.
Love, Zawadi is about the negative impact of Covid-19 on women. With the lockdown measures being enforced, vulnerable women and young girls find the life-threatening outside safer than their own homes and at times are forced to make difficult choices.
Gathee is an emerging director/producer who is rising steadily in the African film scene. She is an artistic visual storytelling.
The Tempest is a short film about dancer Davillah and how the pandemic has changed her family and personal life. Her dance performance is devised to reflect Davillah’s own personal challenges and solutions for coping with the pandemic, while encouraging those who view the piece to stay positive and safe.
Davillah is a professional dancer and choreographer and a filmmaker based in Nairobi. Born in K’ogello Siaya country an area rich in culture and dance, which played a major role in her love for dance and storytelling.
She has taken part in numerous dance performances including One Africa Music Fest in Dubai, Dance for Sale in Germany. She was a finalist in I Can Dance that aired on KTN. She was nominated in the Sondeka Awards 2018 in the Story Through Dance category, in Safaricom Twaweza, and Chapa Dimba.
Face Mask for Sale is about the hardships during this difficult time. It tells the story of a single mother trying to survive during this time.
Neha is from Nairobi and has worked in film and advertising since 2006. She is a skilled communicator who specialises in production design and has written and directed seven short films. Her stories revolve around challenging social constructs and bringing awareness to the audience through film. Neha has won two awards in media (Kalasha International Film and TV and Oshwal Award) and three for her short films have been showcased in film festivals in Kenya and the UK.
The other selected films are: Being by Malak El Araby (Egypt); Blunder by Fezeka Tholakele (South Africa); My Sunshine by Chioma Divine Favour Mathias (Nigeria); I’ll Call You — Later by Aurelie Stratton (South Africa); Worlds Apart by Yehoda Hammond (Ghana); and Loop: Every End Has a Beginning by Faith Ilevbare (Nigeria).