Imagine, Experience, Articulate

By ComMattersKenya Press A book that seeks to give hope to the internally displaced people has been published. Though the book, titled From Terror to Hope and targeting children (10-18) and youth (19-24) reads like a re-enactment of the post-December 2007 election violence in Kenya, writer Ogova Ondego insists it is a work of fiction and that "any resemblance to persons, events or localities is coincidental." This story is not only entirely a work of fiction, he says, but "the names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of my own imagination or used fictitiously." But many are unlikely to buy this disclaimer or poetic license as the setting of the book bears uncanny resemblance to the the cataclysmical events that rocked Kenya between December 2007 and March 2008 after a disputed presidential election in the country pitted president Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity against those of prime minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movemen...

Lola Kenya Screen, the annual audio-visual media platform for children and youth in eastern Africa, is calling upon interested children and youth who are knowledgeable, opinionated and interested in film, journalism, creativity and cultural events to apply for participation in its four skill-development programmes during the 4th Lola Kenya Screen to be held in Nairobi between August 10 and 15, 2009. Selected candidates will serve as members of: • Film Selection Committee • Film Jury• Film Press • Programme Planning and Presentation (MCs) team • Production Workshop Ideal applicants must be: • Aged between 6 and 16 years old (9-18 years for production workshop) • Knowledgeable about film• Interested in audio-visual media works • Able to understand, speak and write in English • Able to think, type and submit between 500 and 1200-word articles on the activities at the festival daily (for film press) • Able to work under strict deadlines • Supported by their parents/guardians Interested chi...

Tanzania marks the launch of its first ever Swahili fashion week in November 2008 on the theme, Discover what makes Africa Beautiful. Starting this year as a two day event, the Swahili Fashion Week will be spread over November 5th & 6th at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam. Established and up and coming designers will showcase their ensembles on the first and second days, respectively. This inaugural event will see the Face of Africa Models 2008 strut the ramp ride in Dar es Salaam on November 5, 2008. The Swahili fashion week is the brainchild of fashion designer Mustafa Hassanali. “As one of the premier designers in the country it has always been my vision not only to further my creations in Tanzanian Fashion but also to promote the industry on the whole. Tanzania has so many established and budding talented designers that the Swahili Fashion week was a much needed platform to enhance African fashion eventually placing it on the global map,” Hassanali says. Prashant Pow...

South Africa will on October 16-17, 2008 host legal experts from around the world when the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) holds its legal committee meeting in Cape Town. Hosted by the South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), the conference will see top legal minds discuss global issues and developments concerning the protection of creators' rights & the omni-present topic of Copyright. CISAC is the international governing body for collection societies suchas SAMRO, representing 222 authors' societies from 118 countries andindirectly representing more than 2.5 million creators across variousartistic disciplines. Its legal committee, composed of lawyers working for member societiesacross the globe, provides legal information, assistance and advice to CISAC members and statutory bodies through their relevant collectingsociety. Some 35 international delegates from CISAC member societies are expected in Cape Town for the meeting...

Australian Post-War Documentary Film: An Arc of Mirrors Author: Deane Williams ISBN: 9781841502106 Hardback: 230x174mm Price: £29.95/ $60 URL: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/ppbooks.php?isbn=9781841502106 The post-war period in Australian cultural history sparked critical debate over notionsof nation-building, multiculturalism and internationalization. Australian Post-War Documentary Film tackles all these issues in a considered andwide-ranging analysis of government, institutional and also radicaldocumentaries. As a whole it is a thorough study of the international flows of film culture. Williams illustrates these themes by critiquing the keyfilms of the era, including the seminal The Back of Beyond, often cited asthe greatest Australian film of all time. Australian Post-War Documentary Film retells film history by reading these documentaries as part of a nexusof international, and particularly Australian filmic, written and dramatictexts, with close attention to textual analysis. T...

Almost 20 years ago,on the 9th November 1989, civilians crossed over the formerly forbidden boundary between East andWest Berlin with a host of television cameras on site to beam the pictures around the world. These became the images of the fall of the Berlin Wall, taken to symbolise the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe and more generally an end of ideological history. Taking the fall of the Berlin Wall as a case study, Sunil Manghani's Image Critique & the Fall of the Berlin Wall presents a new critical visual theory. Image critique is a dual procedure combining analysis and interpretation of images, with a consideration of how images can be used to critically examine and engage with our contemporary culture. The author uses the fall of the wall as a means to place a complex interactive account of history, politics, human action, freedom, the media and visual culture. The book asks why the dominant interpretation of the fall of the Wall has only ever been about the...