Eastern African Children Undergo Filmmaking Training In Nairobi, Kenya
By Tony Mushoborozi
Are you one of those people that have always hoped to see some home-grown film and television shows for children? Shows that your children would more closely relate to, like those they themselves helped to make? Your dream could come to pass.
The whole of the second week of August (11-16, 2008) children from all over East Africa participated in necessary audiovisual training in Nairobi. Tristan Kayonga a 14-year old Uganda boy attended. Together with several other kids from East Africa, Tristan attended intensive production workshops that could change the face of children’s television in East African.
Lola Kenya Screen, the organization that hosts the course each year, opened its third film festival on Monday in Nairobi. “It is a platform for placing audiovisual skills in hands of children around East African,” said the director Ogova Ondego. “It is not just an annual event. It is a movement to change future TV.”
Hands-on production skills like camera handling, 3D (three dimensional) animation, painting, and cartoon making were handed to the children by professional filmmakers from Europe and Egypt.
The seven-day training was focused on cartoon animation, a film format loved by kids for its portrayal of life through funny characters and simple and often clean dialogue. The kids worked so hard that the guests at the closing ceremony were treated to a five-minute brand new children’s cartoon film they had made in their class.
Three special guest kids came from Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital to expose the East African children to a trade that they have known for eleven years. For instance 17-year old Craig Kimu from Harare already has two films to his name.
The biggest number of the children came from Kenya especially around Nairobi. Many were invited but never made it because many were still doing exams.
Show Casing were great films for children from 56 countries worldwide including cartoons and 3D animation films. Irene Kulabako’s All Our Children a 45-minute film about three abused children was screened at the festival. Last year’s festival screened Cindy Magara’s Fate another Ugandan film.
About the writer
Tony Mushoborozi is a Kampala-based Ugandan journalist
Are you one of those people that have always hoped to see some home-grown film and television shows for children? Shows that your children would more closely relate to, like those they themselves helped to make? Your dream could come to pass.
The whole of the second week of August (11-16, 2008) children from all over East Africa participated in necessary audiovisual training in Nairobi. Tristan Kayonga a 14-year old Uganda boy attended. Together with several other kids from East Africa, Tristan attended intensive production workshops that could change the face of children’s television in East African.
Lola Kenya Screen, the organization that hosts the course each year, opened its third film festival on Monday in Nairobi. “It is a platform for placing audiovisual skills in hands of children around East African,” said the director Ogova Ondego. “It is not just an annual event. It is a movement to change future TV.”
Hands-on production skills like camera handling, 3D (three dimensional) animation, painting, and cartoon making were handed to the children by professional filmmakers from Europe and Egypt.
The seven-day training was focused on cartoon animation, a film format loved by kids for its portrayal of life through funny characters and simple and often clean dialogue. The kids worked so hard that the guests at the closing ceremony were treated to a five-minute brand new children’s cartoon film they had made in their class.
Three special guest kids came from Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital to expose the East African children to a trade that they have known for eleven years. For instance 17-year old Craig Kimu from Harare already has two films to his name.
The biggest number of the children came from Kenya especially around Nairobi. Many were invited but never made it because many were still doing exams.
Show Casing were great films for children from 56 countries worldwide including cartoons and 3D animation films. Irene Kulabako’s All Our Children a 45-minute film about three abused children was screened at the festival. Last year’s festival screened Cindy Magara’s Fate another Ugandan film.
About the writer
Tony Mushoborozi is a Kampala-based Ugandan journalist
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