Kenya

_{Keeping Films for Children and Youth in Focus}

<sub>Nairobi to host international film festival for children and youth

2006 film screening line up</sub>

<sub>http://www.artmatters.info: June 2006

Lola Kenya Screen, that is set to show films, host an animation film production workshop, and an audiovisual market for children and youth in Nairobi August 7-12, 2006, has released its line-up of films to be shown. From more than 200 films received from 35 countries and six continents for its inaugural event selection consideration, 100 titles have been selected. They include Does God play Football? By Michael Walker, Scotland), Binta y la gran idea by Javier Fesser, Spain/Senegal, 2004), Kibera Kid by Nathan Collett, USA/Kenya, 2006), Vika by Tsivia Barkai, Israel, 2005), O Kleftis by Irina Boiko, Greece, 2005), Shootback by Michael .., Germany/Kenya, 2006), Alice ou la vie en noir et blanc by Sophie Schoukens, Belgium, 2005), Fliegen by CM Kavanaugh, USA/Germany, 2005), The Little Things by Reina Webster, New Zealand, 2004), 00h17 by Xavier De Choudens, France, 2005), Nikiwe by Ingrid Gavshon, South Africa, 2004), Being Pavarotti by Odette Geldenhuys, South Africa, 2004), Miss Earth - A Kenyan Queen Reigned by Susan Wambui Wamburi, Kenya, 2004), Het Schnitzelparadijs by Martin Koolhoven, The Netherlands, 2005), and Zlydni by Koval Stepan, Ukraine, 2005). Others are African Spelling Book by Giulio Cederna, John Muiruri and Angelo Loy, Italy/Kenya, 2004), Black Pinocchio by Angelo Loy, Italy), Together as One by Paul Lutts, Kenya, 2005), Krig og Kager by  Jannik Hastrup, Denmark, 2005), Spraeker (Cracks), Denmark, 2005), Sobi by Amandina Lihamba, Tanzania, 2002), Rain by Ann Verrall, USA, 2005), The Last Frontier by Kibaara Kaugi, Kenya, 2005), Mr Kobole by Kenneth Muriuki, Kenya, 2006), Kerosene Creek by Michael Bennett, New Zealand, 2004), Santa's Camels by Steve Gray, USA, 2005), The Djarn Djarns by Wayne Blair, Australia, 2004), Aldrig En Absolution by Cameron B Alyasin, Sweden, 2005), Una Lira Soluzione by Matleena Janis and Emilia Lehtinen, Finland, 2006), Kata Practice by Siu Ta, Canada, 2004), Mee-Shee: The Water Giant by John Henderson, Britain, 2005), The Black Pinocchio by Sonal Radia-Tyagi, Kenya, 2004), The Parcel by Lu Lu Yang, Singapore, 2004), Wutz & Wiebke by Leonore Poth, Germany, 2005), Nyaminyami by Carl Joshua Ncube, Zimbabwe, 2005), Katie the lost little caterpillar by Gunnar Karlsson, Iceland, 2002), Sense & Senselessness by Ashwin Sikireta, Zimbabwe, 2004), Blue Willow Veialu Aila-Unsworth, New Zealand, 2005),  A Secret Life by Ruvimba Musariri, Zimbabwe, 2004), To A Man with A Big Nose by Cecilia Aranovich, USA, 2005), Strings by Jon Lim, Singapore, 2004), Anastasia by Dimitris Apostolou, Greece, 2004), St. Mathurin's School of Practical Joking by Chris Waitt, Scotland, 2004).</sub>

<sub>Also lined up for screening are The Way We Played (directed by Samir Mehanovic, Scotland, 2005), Winning Streak (by Marc de Launay, Scotland, 2005), The Gift (by Jessica Langford, Scotland, 2005), Bargered by Sharon Colman, UK, 2004), Poesia (Poem) by al-May ari-Valmadrid, Spain 2005, Bloody Footy by Dean Chircop, Australia, 2005), How My Next Door Neighbour Discovered Life on Mars by Austin Andrews, Canada, 2005), Moss Reproduction by Arlene Ducao, USA, 2004), Bluebird by Mijke de Jong
Netherlands, 2004), The Axe (Iran), Wei xiao der yu (A Fish with A Smile) by Jimmy Liao, Taiwan, 2005), The First Day of My Life by David Uloth, Canada, 2005), Cirkeline und die supermaus (Little Big Mouse) by Jannik Hastrup, Denmark, 2004), Scars of my Days (by Omar Moukhtar Sibomana & Gilbert Ndahayo, Rwanda, 2006), and The Graduation Day (by Ayuub Kasasa Mago, Rwanda, 2006).

Other film titles will be confirmed in the next seven days when the film selection committee is expected to be through with its work for eastern Africa's  first film event exclusively designed for children and youth with the aim of helping entrench audiovisual media culture among current and future film audiences: children and youth.

200+ films, 35 countries, 6 continents represented At the close of film entry submissions on April 15, 2006, more than 200 films from 35 nations representing six continents-Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe, Oceania-had been received.
Many of these award-winning and well crafted audiovisual productions have come in from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Congo-Kinshasa, Nigeria, South Africa, Mauritius, Benin, Senegal, Malawi, Israel, Iran, India, Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan,
Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Britain, Holland, Canada, USA, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, and Ukraine.

Lola Kenya Screen to feature child reporters and judges In its commitment to uplift the standards of the arts and culture in eastern Africa through journalism, ComMattersKenya, under its ArtMatters.Info project, is calling upon children aged 6-14 years to apply for 24 positions of children's film Jury (6), children's Press (6), Events Presenters (6) and Animation Film production Workshop (6) during the inaugural Lola Kenya Screen festival. Selected children will be guided through skills of appreciating and judging films, film reporting and events presentations, and filmmaking.

While some will sit on the Children's Jury that will select the Best Films, others will form the Children's Press that will file daily journalistic reports on Lola Kenya Screen (August 7-12, 2006). The articles will be published daily by ArtMatters.Info. The
remaining 12 will present events and learn how to make films. The selection of candidates is on a 'first-come-first-served' basis and begins now. Interested children are asked to apply for this opportunity starting now!"

Children to make film Children and youth participating in the Lola Kenya Screen production workshop conducted by Finnish
filmmaker, Antonia Ringbom, are expected to make five short films to be showcased around the world. Ringbom, a veteran film director, producer, animator, illustrator, worked with The Finnish Broadcasting Company /YLE making children's films and animations for two decades before venturing into independent filmmaking as a director and producer making her own films or working with others.  She has conducted animation workshops with young people in Senegal, Malawi, Rwanda, France, Iran,  and Finland. Among some of her recent films-and which will be screened in Nairobi-include:
THE HIDING HYENA, and HIV-HYENA IN MALAWI (2005),
THE YELLOW GIRAFFE'S ANIMAL STORIES (2003-2005), and
THE VORACIOUS JACKAL,
THE AMOROUS JACKAL, and THE LAZY JACKAL (2002-2003).

Ringbom has also illustrated and published several books for and about children in Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Icelandic, French, English and held exhibitions in Finland, France, Russia, and Sweden.

Kenya on the world Map of Children's film festivals Through Lola Kenya Screen's membership, Kenya becomes the 54th nation to join the International Centre of Film for Children and Young People, CIFEJ, whose headquarters are in Montreal Quebec, Canada. Approach Lola Kenya Screen is reaching out to our target through schools, children's homes and orphanages, youth holiday retreat centres and camps, youth vocational centres, print and electronic media (including the Internet), international film
festivals, local cultural and arts events, international cultural agencies, and inter-governmental, governmental & non-governmental organizations, among others.

East African Beauty Queen joins Lola Kenya Screen Meanwhile Lupita Nyong'o, a former East African Beauty Queen, has joined the Lola Kenya Screen organising team. Nyong'o, a former Miss Malaika, is a student of film and theatre performance in the United States. In welcoming Nyong'o, Lola Kenya Screen founding director Ogova Ondego, observed, "Lupita Nyong'o will add value to the Lola Kenya Screen organising team as a student, researcher, filmmaker, manager and someone who is committed to the development of Africa through the audiovisual media." On her part, Nyong'o says, "I am very enthusiastic and dedicated to the work and power of performance as educative communication for youth and would love a chance to work on one developing our film sense as Kenyans from the young perspective that Lola Kenya Screen is looking into." Nyong'o has experience in managing events; she co-directed Five-College Consortium Film Festival, an annual festival showcasing the work of the five leading colleges in Massachusetts, in 2005. "I was responsible for its publicity, organisation and execution along with one other student and faculty Mentor," says Nyong'o, who also spent a semester working with film director Mira Nair at her film company, Mirabai Films, where, among other responsibilities, she helped in the planning and organising of the new  'Maisha' screenwriters and directors laboratory in Uganda. Here, she says, "I did a lot of grant application writing, public relations work and graphic design." Miss Nyong'o also worked on the production team for the Oscar Award-winning film, The Constant Gardener, as First Team Production Assistant.

Lola Kenya Screen at Goethe-Institut and Alliance Francaise Lola Kenya Screen will be held at Alliance Francaise and Goethe-Institut in Nairobi, August 7-12, 2006. It will feature film shows, film production workshops, and presentations of music, storytelling, and painting for, by and with children and youth.


http://www.artmatters.info: June 2006</sub>