Nairobi’s Premier Critical Movie Forum to Go Bi-Monthly

Nairobi’s premier critical movie screening, discussion and networking forum shall from January 2016 be held bi-monthly.

Lola Kenya Screen Directorate has announced that Lola Kenya Screen film forum (LKSff), that has been held every last Monday of the month since 2005, shall be held every two months.

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Ogova Ondego, the managing trustee who also doubles up as artistic director of Lola Kenya Screen, said during the 92nd monthly LKSff on February 29, 2016 that the decision was prompted by inability of the region’s film sector to generate enough content for a monthly event.

ENGRAVED and THE VACATION–two films by Lawrence Mwangi Nduati, a first-time film director and student of Theatre Arts and Film Technology at Kenyatta University—were shown and discussed.

While ENGRAVED tells the story alcoholism, depression and suicide, THE VACATION revolves around a young man whose life would be snuffed out were he to be denied music.

The cast and crew for both films are first timers and currently students of Theatre Arts and Film Technology.

The effort and courage by these young filmmakers to premiere their film while at the same time invite a critical appreciation is one of the aspects that stood out for the audience. A big part of the audience comprised young people who are involved in various aspects of creativity including filmmaking and theatre. These young people were challenged to put their dreams into action and to do something with their talents and passions, learn and then begin to grow in their careers.

“I feel challenged to work harder, put something out there, learn from my mistakes and improve,” Collins Ochieng, an actor, said.

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The crew admitted to have had challenges of limited knowledge, technical know-how and finances with which to work on these productions but they committed to improving with their subsequent productions.

“We did the best that we could at this point but we intend to get better with both time and with the advantage of the experience that we gain along the way. It will be very wrong for us to repeat mistakes,” the assistant director of THE VACATION, Caroline Muhugu, said.

The evening ended on a note of challenge as Haroun Kiruku Ng’ang’a, who introduced himself as a film enthusiast, urged the movie buffs to consciously try to put in efforts to translate the skills that they get from LKSff into action for there to be an improvement in the state of filmmaking in the country and the eastern African region.

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LKSff is a specialised, by-invitation-only meeting that screens and discusses movies and enables members to network. It has, since its inception in 2005, been held at Goethe-Institut in Nairobi City Centre.

The objectives of LKSff being to help build capacity turn movie-making sector of Kenya and eastern Africa into a sustainable industry, LKSff showcases all sorts of short moving images: Public Service Announcements (PSAs), Commercials, Animations, Experimentals, Avant-Gardes, Documentaries, Music Videos, and Fictionals.

LKSff targets people who are in some way connected with the 7th Art (movies): directors, screenwriters, producers, actors, journalists, critics, writers, students, scholars, researchers, funders, festival organisers, curators, and policy-makers.

A training ground for Event Programmers/Presenters; Public Speakers/Discussion Moderators; Reporters/Journalists/Critics; Promoters/Marketers; and Resource-Mobilisers, LKSff is often one of the first–and perhaps the only–place where new films can be seen and young talent spotted.

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You may learn more about the Lola Kenya Screen movie festival, skills-development programme and marketing platform for children and youth in eastern Africa from the following publicity platforms:

a). Websites
lolakenyascreen.org
artmatters.info
commatterskenya.com
ipo-easternafrica.net

b). Facebook Pages
Lola Kenya Screen Film Festival
ArtMattersInfo
ComMattersKenya
IPO-Eastern Africa

c). Facebook Groups
Lola Kenya Screen film forum (please note that ‘film’ and ‘forum’ begin with a small ‘f’ and NOT Capital ‘F’) (closed group)
Lola Kenya Screen (public group)

d). Twitter Handles
@LolaKenyaScreen
@ArtMattersInfo
@ComMattersKenya
@IndieProsAfrica