the KFTPA boss who was elected unopposed for the second time. According to him, most of the lecturers charged with the responsibility of training professionals in film are not qualified since they don’t have any production piece to their credit. Therefore at the end of the course, the colleges roll out half-baked graduates who cannot compete in the tough international arena. And when it comes to the real job, their counterparts who choose not to learn in school but through blood, sweat and tears in the field, beat them hands down when it comes to performance. “I’ve had friends tell me they regret going to college because they never gained what they paid for.”
local ethnic languages in their films saying that they have their own target audience and they are just doing their part in development of the country’s film industry. “We should find a way of working with river road ‘pirates’ instead of arresting them. It will create more problems since more of them will still emerge,” he said. Agreeing that Kenyan film makers should be given more incentives and support by the government, he revealed that there has been an agreement between Kenya, South Africa and France to help out talented film makers who don’t have enough funds for their projects.But, no one has applied for the fund.
“Instead they choose to blame the Kenya Film Commission for all the wrong reasons,” said Muniafu. However, Muniafu said that most young people While hailing some of the local who are talented in film making and acting have TV stations for broadcasting local “We need to work no idea what opportunities await them. programs, he derided foreign on the quality of our soaps for their explicit display productions. We need Recounting his recent visit to the Cannes Film and said that they lead to the to work on capacity Festival in France, he said that he found himself decay of the countrys’ cultural building. We don’t even fabric and erosion of morals in a tight corner when he was mobbed by international film makers and players asking him have quality training on especially among young people. film making.... to tell them about the most recent film in Kenya. “I’m waiting for the day these soaps will no longer be on our “I tried to tell them about Nairobi Half Life, I told them screens,” he said. about First Grader and Constant Gardener. But they already knew about those. The truth is: we have done nothing for But, the local programs, however morally right they are the last one year. I had people looking for any any film don’t have enough quality to match foreign productions project. They want to come in and work with Kenyans but and that is the main challenge. We are still unable to give there is nothing to work on!,” he laments. productions our all. So where do we go from here? Muniafu hailed Riverwood filmmakers who, he says, if provided with incentives and enough support could give Nollywood a run for their money. ‘Its time we told our African story, but this time, we have to tell it in the right way’, he said. Since most of the filmmakers in Riverwood target individual ethnic communities as their viewers, they are limited as far as market is concerned. Moreover most of them make it happen by sheer passion and hardwork since they haven’t attended any film school. However, the creation of county governments as a result of devolution could be a blessing in disguise for Riverwood. The idea of County TV stations could mean a lot of exposure for local language filmmakers in the country. Muniafu defended the Riverwood filmamakers use of Why? “Greed. Since TV stations started producing their own shows, the quality of the productions have gone so low that the viewers watch them hoping that the days they used to be interesting would return.” They’ll have to wait longer.According to Muniafu, TV stations are reluctant to commission professional producers and directors to do the work and instead opt for cheap productions. “There was a time when Churchill Live used to be produced by Cinematic Productions but since Churchill himself took charge of the whole thing, the quality has gone down,” he points out. All is not lost though as Muniafu envisions that the Kenyan film industry is headed for greatness.
Chronicle | July 2013 | 25