Lola Kenya Screen, or Lola Kenya Children's Screen is an audio-visual media festival and learning-by-doing mentorship for children and youth in eastern Africa. It encompasses film production, film criticism, cultural journalism, media literacy, marketing, and event planning and organisation.
Origins Lola Kenya Screen was established in October 2005 by arts and culture practitioner Ogova Ondego, who has been its Managing Trustee and Creative Director since then. The name Lola Kenya Screen is Bantu and means "see or watch films in Kenya". Lola Kenya Screen aims to seek, identify, nurture and promote creative talent among children and youth through hands-on skills development programmes in areas such as journalism, film-making, arts appreciation, and organisation and presentation of cultural and creative events.
Objectives The Memorandum and Articles of Association of Lola Kenya Screen are in Chapter 486 of the Laws of Kenya, under which Lola Kenya Screen is incorporated. Its main objectives are: To make the means of film production accessible to emerging talents; To build an audience for African films by encouraging culturally relevant, audience-sensitive films in local languages, cultures and reality; To promote film skills and develop talent in Kenya; To produce at least six films each year from film production workshops; To collaborate with national and international partners in the training of young talents who wish to further their expertise in screenplay writing, cinematography, art department, sound, acting, directing, and producing.
Programmes
Skills Development During the festival, children and youth serve on the film selection committee, programme preparation and presentation (Master of Ceremonies, MC), film jury, festival press (cultural journalism), and in the film-making workshop, which produces at least five short films for children and youth. The Festival Press programme aims to raise the standards of creative and cultural journalism in eastern Africa. The Production Workshop seeks to equip children and youth with the skills to make films. The Programme Organisation and Presentation (MC) programme mentors participants in the organisation and presentation of events and programmes. The Film Jury enables participants to develop critical appreciation of creative work in general and film in particular. The jury members, all of whom are children and youth, watch films and assign awards. The Media Literacy programme develops understanding of the opportunities and dangers inherent in modern mass media and how to avoid problems by informed participation.
Since August 2006, when Lola Kenya Screen opened her doors to the first group of participants, some 254 children and youth had by December 2011 passed through her.
Other programmes Marketing This is the platform on which various stakeholders network, publicise and market values, products and services targeting children, youth and family during the festival. Docs for Kids, a programme for trainers of trainers of makers of documentary films for children and youth, and IPO-Eastern Africa, for instance, were launched here. This is also the entry point for international productions into eastern Africa, as many of the international films exhibited here are unlikely to be shown anywhere else in Africa, which has hardly any market for children and youth films.
Schools outreach Lola Kenya Screen showcases films in educational institutions in and around Nairobi and helps to make pupils and students aware of the importance of mass media in modern societies.
Community screening and mobile cinema Lola Kenya Screen collaborates with various partners to show films, conduct workshops and host seminars in communities in Nairobi and its environs. One such partner is Slum-TV, with whom Lola Kenya Screen reaches out to the public in the slums of Mathare, Huruma, Jericho and Kibera.
Lola Kenya Screen film forum This is a monthly showcase of films from eastern Africa that has been held since December 15, 2005. Held on the last Monday of every month at the Goethe-Institut in Nairobi, the forum is a gathering of film students, filmmakers, film journalists, producers, art directors and others. Films are screened and participants hold discussions and explore other initiatives to advance film-making in the region.
Film festival The annual Lola Kenya Screen film festival takes place in the first full week of August. Since 2008 it has also hosted the Kids For Kids Festival-Africa (KFKF-A) competition for films made by children for children across Africa.
The film festival focuses on films by children and youth, films by students, amateurs and professionals for children and youth, and films involving children and youth. During the festival, children (6- to 13-year-olds) and youth (14- to 25-year-olds) serve on the film selection committee, on the film jury, in programme preparation and presentation (MC), in the festival press (creative journalism), and in the practical film-making workshop that produces at least five short films for children and youth.
The festival exhibits the best possible films, both local and international, for children, youth and family. It showcases films in all kinds of formats, categories and genres: short films; long films; children's and youth films; animation; African films; experimental films; creatively packaged music videos; television series and programmes; feature films; documentary films; public service announcements and commercials; student films; and computer games.
Details During the inaugural event in 2006, participants under the guidance of Antonia Ringbom of Finland made a compilation of nine short cartoons that won the Africa Grand Prize for achievement in a film made by children at the 5th World Summit on Media for Children in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2007. In 2007 and 2008, children and youth under the guidance of Finnish Maikki Kantola, Egyptian Abdel Latif, and Dutch Duco Tellegen made 14 films and 3 songs that were showcased all over the world and won several accolades and awards: the 2nd Kids For Kids Festival Africa Competition grand prize in 2008; the Special Jury Prize at 17th Jugend Medien Festival in Berlin in 2008; represented Africa at the global Kids For Kids Festival Competition in 2008; nominated for Best Animation at the 5th Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2009; and nominated for Best Short Documentary at the 5th Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2009. These films are still on the festival circuit around the world.
Achievements Between August 2006 and December 2011, Lola Kenya Screen has trained 254 children and youth from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zanzibar, Tanzania and Zimbabwe in media skills and 6 adults in making documentaries for children and youth. Its mentorship programme has produced more than 30 films since 2006, including several that have won awards and accolades on the international film circuit. In 2011, Happy Times by Elaine Nesbitt and Manani Ogres by Samuel Musembi, Joseph Hongo, Marcus Kang’ethe and Norrick Mwangi were selected to take part in the sixth Busan International Kids' Film Festival in South Korea.
Lola Kenya Screen 2008 attracted participation from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and films from 56 countries were shown. Between 2006 and 2011, Lola Kenya Screen has showcased more than 1950 films from 102 countries.
Awards The Lola Kenya Screen festival comprises several film exhibition sections. The main film prizes are the Golden Mboni Award for the best children's film and the 14-Plus Award for the best youth film. Other prizes include the Most Creative Project, Children's Rights, Best Animation, Best Documentary, Best Fiction, Best Experimental Film, Best Student Film, Best Kenyan Film, and Best Eastern Africa Film.
Award winners Winners of the Golden Mboni prize for the best children's films have included Dutch Mischa Kamp's Tony 10 (2012), Belgian Vincent Bruno's Le Maillot de Cristiano (Cristiano Ronaldo's Shirt, 2011), Nigerian Mak Kusare's Champions of Our Time (2010), Italian Marco Gianfreda's Io Parlo (I'll Tell on You, 2009), Swedish Peter Naess's Hoppet (Leaps and Bounds, 2008), Israeli Itai Lev's Giborim Kitanin (2007), and Ukrainian Koval Stepan's Zlydni (2006).
Winners of the 14-Plus Award for the best youth film, a prize introduced in 2009 out of recognition that the festival was growing and catered to both children and youth, are German Daniel Hedfeld and René Sydow's Das Geheime Zimmer(Secret Room, 2012), Madagascan Mamihasina Raminosoa and Andriamanisa Radoniaina's Dzaomalaza et le Saphir Bleu (Dzaomalaza and the Blue Sapphire, 2011), Malawian Charles Shemu Joyah’s Seasons of a Life (2010), and South African Minky Schlesinger's Ugugu no Andile (Gugu and Andile, 2009).
The Best Animation Award has gone to Gamba Trista (Loser Leg) by Francesco Filippi of Italy (2011), Lost and Found by Philip Hunt of the United Kingdom (2010), which also won the Silver Mboni Award for the second best children's film and the Audience's Choice Award, Zlamana Pieczpc (The Broken Seal) by Pawel Czarzasty of Poland (2009), Max's Words by Galen Fott and Jerry Hunt of the United States (2008), and More, Strycku, and Proc Je Slane? (The Sea, Uncle, Why Is It Salty?) by Jan Balej of the Czech Republic (2007).
Zlamana Pieczpc by Pawel Czarzasty and Ksiezycowa Kraina (Lunar Land) by Andrzej Kukula, both of Poland, won the Best TV Series Award and the Best Animation Film Award, respectively, in 2009. Another Polish production, Magiczne Drzewo (The Magic Tree) by Andrzej Maleszka won the 2010 Best TV Series Award.
Winners of the Best Student Film Award have included Znikniecie (Vanishing, 2012) by Bartosz Kruhlik', Jutro (Tomorrow) by Bartosz Kruhlik of Poland (2011), Great Expectations by Alexei Gubenco of Romania (2010), Elephants by Sally Pearce of the United Kingdom (2009), and Vika by Tsivia Barkai of Israel (2006).
Among others, the Best Documentary Film Award has gone to Paradiso by Italian Alessandro Negrini, working in Northern Ireland (2011), Big Sister Punam by Serbian Lucian and Natasa Muntean (2010), A Beautiful Tragedy by Norway-based David Kinsella of the UK (2009), which also took the 14-Plus Award for the second best youth film, and Journey of a Red Fridge by Lucian Muntean and Natasa Stankovic of Serbia (2008).
Other winners have included Polish Wojciech Nowak's Przebunie.txt (Awakening)(Most Experimental Film Award, 2012), Kenyan Kwame Nyong’o's The Legend of Ngong Hills (Best Eastern African Film Award, 2012), Spanish Jose y Cesar Esteban Alenda's Matara A Un Nino (The Child will Die) (Best Short Film Award, 2012) Indian P R Ramadasa Naidu's Kruthi (The Title Deed)(Environmental Conservation Award, 2012), Venezuelan Prakriti Maduro's I Wanna Shine (Special Commendation, 2012),