After a week's postponement due to the December 27, 2007 post-election violence that had disrupted the school calendar, the third edition of the annual Lola Kenya Screen Audiovisual Media Festival for Children and Youth unveiled its rich variety of films from 56 countries across the 6 continents on August 11, 2008.

The event, which took place at the Kenya National Theatre, Alliance Francaise and several video halls in the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi brought the audience a rich variety of documentaries, fictional films, animated and experimental films for six days that ended on August 16, 2008.

The 3^rd Lola Kenya Screen was held on the theme ‘Peace-building for a just and sustainable future’; it gave children, youth and adults a chance to once again contemplate what had befallen the continent after many in Kenya and Zimbabwe resorted to violence as the only way of resolving their political differences, while xenophobia had wreaked havoc in South Africa that had resulted in wanton destruction of life, property and livelihood.

Most of the films however did not reflect this as the majority of them focused on issues that affect children all over the world while many others touched on family issues. Perhaps this was a better way to heal the wounds that had been inflicted on many, as the films turned away from the volatile and divisive topics of politics, instead opting for shared messages of love, happiness and family ties.

However, one or two directors could not avoid politics in their work. For instance Riches, a 26-minute film directed by Zimbabwean Ingrid Sinclair, an international television producer and director who deals with the day-to-day drama of politics, geography, culture and the way they affect people, told the story of South Africa through Molly McBride, a mixed race journalist. Fleeing from the racial and politically torn country of South Africa, McBride settles in a small village in Botswana where the situation is not any better as people of mixed races are not warmly welcomed. However, the director uses McBride to highlight the kindness of the villagers as they readily welcome this journalist with her son, Peter.

In relation to elections within the African continent, Democracy in Dakar explored the transformative role of hip-hop musicians on politics in Senegal during the February 2007 elections. This documentary, directed by Americans Benny Herson, Magee Mcllvaine and Chris Moore, looked at the Senegalese elections through the eyes of artists around Dakar, who, despite political intimidation, are not afraid of speaking out.

These and many other films kept the viewers entertained and evoked all kinds of emotions among them as they witnessed political developments across Africa.

While the other venues were entirely meant for screening, the Kenya National Theatre also hosted the skill-development programmes which form the centre piece of the Lola Kenya Screen audiovisual media initiative for children and youth in eastern Africa.

Aimed at exploring, identifying and nurturing creative talents among children and youth in areas of journalism, arts appraisal and appreciation, filmmaking, organization and presentation of cultural events, the Lola Kenya Screen movement holds hands-on practical workshops that equip talented children and youth with basic skills in these areas alongside the screening.

The children who competitively get selected to train in the skill-development programmes serve as programme presenters who organise and present the activities for the six days that the festival runs, and members of: the Press team that files daily reports on the day-to-day activities at the festival; the film production team which makes short films; or the film jury which judges and awards films in the Lola Kenya Screen Golden Mboni Award competition. The 2008 festival was exclusive as it trained children not only from Kenya but also from Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

On the final day of the festival, Lola Kenya Screen had a lot to offer the audiovisual media sector at large. On Saturday, August 16, 2008, the children’s film jury under the guidance of Signe Zeilich, who is the chair to the Lola Kenya Screen advisory board, revealed to the public the films that had excelled: Hoppets (Leaps and Bounds), an 86-minute film on US-occupied Iraq and its effect on the local people, was awarded the Golden Mboni, the highest Prize of the Lola Kenya Screen, for what the jury described as a’ hopeful film’.

The film, directed by Peter Naess of Sweden, revolves around two brothers who flee US-occupied Iraq and irrespective of their many struggles, achieve their goals and get to their final destination where they are re-united with their parents who had travelled separately and had hoped against hope that they would see their young boys again.

This win by Hoppets marked the first time in three years that a Western film had taken the Golden Mboni. Ukrainian and Israeli films—Zlydni and Little Heroes—had grabbed it in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Siri Raja Siri (King Siri) of Sri Lanka, directed by Somaratne Dissanayake, which had been viewed by many as a contender for the top prize, had to settle for the Silver Mboni award with the jury describing it as a ‘funny film’.

The Bronze Mboni was awarded to Subira, a short film directed by Kenya-based Indian Ravneet ‘Sippy’ Chadha. The 12-minute fiction is the story of an 11-year old girl who rebels against the conservative traditions of her community so as to play freely like her brother.

Lola Kenya Screen also hosted the second Kids for Kids Africa Festival competition, an initiative of the International Centre of Film for Children and Youth, CIFEJ, of which Lola Kenya Screen is a member. The 4^th Lola Kenya Screen (August 10-15, 2009) is to host the 3^rd Kids for Kids Africa Festival Competition. Apparently Films by Children for Children, a 2006 production of Lola Kenya Screen, won the inaugural Kids for Kids Africa grand prize in South Africa in 2007.

In this competition were eight films from Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa; the grand prize went to Little Knowledge Is Dangerous, a 2007 Lola Kenya Screen production. The film was written, animated, shot and directed by Samora Michelle Oundo, Adede Hawi Nyodero and Karama Kilibwa Ogova.

The jury, comprising four children from Kenya and Zimbabwe, commended the film for being ‘funny and creatively packaged thus encouraging other children to learn’.

Other than for the awards, the 2008 children’s production added five short animation films that would entertain and educate fellow children. The group of 10 children aged between 6 and 17 under the facilitation of Eid Abdel Latif of Egypt made Darkness in the Light, Mama Africa, Cheprono, Mabadiliko Change and Mzalendo Patriot, animated shorts that are already on the festival circuit around the world.

Out of recognition that unless adults are sensitised into creating for and with children, the aim of putting children and youth on the public agenda could become a cropper. Lola Kenya Screen in 2008 partnered with Jan Vrijman Fund/IDFA of The Netherlands to conduct an adult’s production workshop for practicing filmmakers. The workshop, facilitated by Duco Tellegen and Meike Statema, saw six filmmakers make Docus for Today & Tomorrow, a six-film documentary compilation with the following shorts: Brother-Brother by Sheila Mulinya, the story of young Katoto and his antics with his older brother); A Journey to Pamoja by Solomon Mwendwa (highlighting the plight of young children who have to live in the adults’ world); Santos the Survivor by Rupinder Jagdev (highlights how a child who has no one to depend on survives in this world).

Addressing the issue of rape, Yonnie Andal made I Survived that is based on a true life story of a 15-year-old girl who has been raped twice and is trying to move on with life. The other shorts were Home Alone by Samson Karuu and The Public Speaker by Susan Mwangi.

All the participants in the 2008 festival had worked hard to ensure that as it ended, each department had something to present to the public; however the festival press which was expected to file daily reports and have the festival reports complied into a magazine did not live up to the organisation’s expectations as they had few stories filed on the Lola Kenya Screen festival website, lolakenyascreen.org and on ArtMatters.Info, the official media partner’s website, artmatters.info.

Moreover the children’s production workshop, whose films are expected to be fully completed during the six days, was not on par. Even though the directing and the other pre-production work were completed by August 16, the post production work was over only after the festival.

However, the Programme presenters work was evidenced through the whole week and particularly on the final day of the festival as they ensured that the audiences were fully entertained.

With the first festival held August 7-12, 2006 on the theme ‘Keeping Films for Children and Youth in Focus’ and the second August 6-11, 2007 on the theme ‘Championing Democracy, Gender Equity, Human Rights and Literacy Through Film’, Lola Kenya Screen is looking forward to hosting the fourth edition of the festival on the theme, ‘The Circle’. This festival, with the participation of UNESCO (Catalana Spain) and Prix Jeunesse (Munich, Germany) is scheduled for August 10-15, 2009 at Goethe-Institut in the Nairobi CBD.

The impact that the Lola Kenya Screen movement whose first name—LOLA—means ‘watch’, ‘see’ or ‘look’, in the widely spoken African Bantu languages group is bringing to the audiovisual media sector is worth noting.

Having showcased more than 1,200 films from 71 nations by August 16, Lola Kenya Screen has helped add 31 child filmmakers, 14 cultural journalists, 7 programme presenters, 15 producers of television drama for children and youths and 6 producers of documentary films for children and youth to the cultural and creative spectrum. Through their annual film production workshops, Lola Kenya Screen has produced 20 short animation films which have been and continue being shown in many festivals around the world.

The work of these young children who have no prior experience is recognized wherever these films are shown and year 2007 saw films by children for children produced in 2006 win the grand prize at the Kids for Kids Africa at the fifth World Summit on Media for Children in South Africa.

To bring to the audience films from all the 6 continents, Lola Kenya Screen holds an 18-week submission period from December1 to April 15 of each year, to allow all filmmakers from around the globe to submit their films at no cost. And despite this length of time many fail to meet the deadline and thus Lola Kenya Screen has a provision for late entry submissions, which extends to May 15 but which normally results in a US$50 late entry fee.

With what is already being witnessed through the annual Lola Kenya Screen film festival, one can anticipate that the future is bright for this movement. The organisation is working hard to sensitize society about the need to keep films in focus for children and youth.

Through its outreach programmes Lola Kenya Screen showcases films to students in various schools in the country. This will now be strengthened through their partnership with Cinetoile, a project set up by Africalia and funded by the European Union. Through this programme, Lola Kenya Screen will be able to organize workshops that will offer young people the opportunity to learn the skills of film criticism and audiovisual documentation throughout the year and not just during the six days of the festival every August.

The unique Lola Kenya Screen initiative has been presented as a case study at various conferences, exhibitions and festivals in Belgium, Germany, Holland, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya.

It is, however, unfortunate that the society in which Lola Kenya Screen exists is still too conservative to embrace the whole idea and support this initiative fully. Had they recognised the benefits of the initiative then Lola Kenya Screen would eventually do more to enable children and youth to gain more skills in the areas of media and filmmaking.

Nevertheless, Lola Kenya Screen acknowledges Africalia of Belgium, Jan Vrijman/IDFA of Holland, Goethe-Institut in Kenya, ComMattersKenya and ArtMatters. Info of Kenya, Prix Jeunesse of Germany for their support at various stages of the festival.

Lola Kenya Screen appeals to anyone who shares the vision that the audiovisual media must create opportunities for children and youth to define their development holistically, to support this initiative.

Lola Kenya Screen was established in 2005 as Kenya’s first truly international film festival and as a movement that uses available technologies to deliver audiovisual media content that complements, entertains and promotes learning among children and youth.

 

Ogova Ondego