Forty-five countries have submitted 300 films in total for the 3rd annual Lola Kenya Screen, eastern Africa’s premier audiovisual media platform exclusively designed for children, youth and family.
Film made by children, youth, students and adults have been received from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Congo-Kinshasa, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Tanzania, Uganda, USA, and Zimbabwe.
Also applying for participation in the official Lola Kenya Screen skills development programmes for children and youth (ie. Film Selection Committee, Film Jury, Festival Press, Event Presentation, Film Production Workshop) were applicants from Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Those eligible for participation are usually residents of Nairobi and its environs.
Meanwhile, Lola Kenya Screen has been selected to spearhead the development of audiovisual media content for children and youth in eastern Africa. Being a fully fledged organisation specialising in children, media and culture, Lola Kenya Screen is to work with festivals in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Rwanda in adding children’s film sections to their programmes.
During a recent eastern Africa film festival network development meeting in Brussels, Belgium, players from Belgium, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda chose Lola Kenya Screen to be the lead partner in the region.
Lola Kenya Screen founder and director Ogova Ondego is set to attend Prix Jeunesse, the world’s leading television programmes for children festival in Munich, Germany (30 May -5 June). After the Munich presentation, the next stop for Ondego will be the Zanzibar Internatonal Film Festival in July where he will showcase Lola Kenya Screen and also train local children to serve on the film jury.
African Folk Tales Animated, the DVD compilation of three films and three songs made by children and youth during the 2nd Lola Kenya Screen in 2007, continues on the international film circuit. Next stop will be the London Film Festival for Children that takes place in November 2008.
The DVD has already been screened in Tampere, Finland, Kigali, Rwanda, Brussels, Belgium, Kampala, Uganda, and Berlin, Germany.
The organisers of Lola Kenya Screen are working with Zimbabwean producer Rumbi Katedza in bringing young people from Zimbabwe to Nairobi for a cultural exchange through the audiovisual media.
