Lola Kenya Screen launches Fifth Edition

Tue, 25 May 2010

The annual film festival, film production workshop and audiovisual media market for children and youth in Eastern Africa, Lola Kenya Screen, will officially launch her fifth edition of the annual event this week. For the first time, the event, to be held from 9 to 14 August, will be held outside Nairobi’s Central Business District as it aims to inculcate the film culture among the public in residential places.

The festival, whose film entry period ended in April 15, 2010, has witnessed a significant interest from all over the world but particularly from Spain and Nigeria. In all, films came in from Serbia, Nepal, USA, Spain, Namibia, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Italy, India, Iran, Uganda, UK, France, Finland, Romania, Moldova, Singapore, Kenya, The Netherlands,
Croatia, Tunisia, Japan, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Slovenia, Kosovo, Ethiopia, Norway, Brazil, Tanzania, Uganda, Latvia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

The submission also registered a particularly high number of animated films from most countries. For the first time in her history, Lola Kenya Screen has in 2010 attracted participation from Tunisia, Kosovo, Moldova, Singapore, Malawi, Latvia, Japan and Slovenia.

Aside from the animated films, Lola Kenya Screen will showcase docu-dramas, documentary, fictional, experimental and drama films.

The prestigious Lola Kenya Screen Golden Mboni Award for the best children’s film and the Lola Kenya Screen 14-Plus Award for the best youth film competitions attract only the best possible international productions not older than 32 months. For the 2010 edition, only films made in 2008, 2009 and the first eight months of 2010 are eligible for competition. The
rest of the selected films will be showcased in six other categories.

Lola Kenya Screen, which also mentors children in creative journalism, events planning & presentation, film judging, and film production, shall equip 15 children and youth in documentary filmmaking.

Aware that children and youth form a large percentage of the mass media consumers, the festival has incorporated an hourly media literacy seminar to run through the six days of the festival to enlighten them on the opportunities and threats inherent in the mass media.

More so the festival has also introduced discussions after each screening in order to give the audience an upper hand in understanding the various issues that the film addresses in regard to the art and science of filmmaking. This, says Lola Kenya Screen director Ogova Ondego, is the only way to create an impact on the audience while giving filmmakers a
chance to interact with the ultimate consumers of their master pieces.

As a result of the seminar and the discussions, the festival will showcase only those films that met the regulations and conform to the annual events idea of keeping films in focus for children and the youth.

For details:
Bethsheba Achitsa
Festival manager
Tel 254 20 315258, 254 20 2213318
Cell 254 733 703374, 254 722 486531, 254 752 745423
www.lolakenyascreen.org

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