Lola Kenya Screen

Legal Status
Lola Kenya Screen is incorporated, registered and licensed as a CHARITY under Section 21 (1) of the Laws of Kenya. It is regulated by the Companies Act (Cap 486).

Lola Kenya Screen operates as an international audiovisual media movement that seeks to place production tools in the hands of children and youth for the advancement of ideals such as literacy, gender equity, independent thought, human rights, environmental responsibility and global health.

Lola Kenya Screen is a non-political, non-religious, non-racial, non-sexist institution founded on humanist principles. Lola Kenya Screen is opposed to any form of discrimination.

History
Lola Kenya Screen was founded in October 2005 under the ArtMatters.Info literary project of ComMattersKenya as an annual international film festival, production workshop and audiovisual media platform to empower children and youth with life skills.

Philosophy
Lola Kenya Screen operates on the principle that the audiovisual media platform must create opportunities for children and youth to define their development holistically.
Lola Kenya Screen believes that the comprehension of moving images is a basic skill at par with what education experts refer to as the 3 Rs—Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic—that contribute to development of societies and nations.

Working Method
Lola Kenya Screen—whose name is derived from the widely spoken African Bantu languages meaning ‘watch’ or ‘see’ film in Kenya—seeks to cultivate sustainable audiences for cinema, inculcating in people the habit of producing high quality films, watching and marketing them as widely as possible. It focuses on films of all genres, lengths and formats.
Lola Kenya Screen equips children and youth with the skills to understand, appreciate, and create quality audio-visual media productions in particular and the arts in general.
 
Lola Kenya Screen—through her Festival, Production and Market programmes—explores, identifies and nurtures creative talent among children and youth in areas such as journalism, filmmaking, arts appraisal and appreciation, and organisation and presentation of cultural and creative events. This is aimed at equipping children and youth with the skills to understand, appreciate, and create high quality products.

Composition
Lola Kenya Screen currently consists of three broad sections:
1. Skill-Development Mentorship Programme
a.) Film Production
Lola Kenya Screen not only showcases the best possible international films for children, youth and family but also empowers children and youth through her hands-on production workshops to make at least five high quality, low-budget, moving images per year. Forty-seven participants had by August 2009 gone through this very popular Production Workshop from which 20 short animation and 11 short documentary films had been made.
Such productions are usually showcased around the globe through film festivals, cultural events, schools, vocational centres,  and children’s clubs.

Some 21 young people aged 19-25 years have also been trained in the production of television drama for children and youth and in making documentary films for the generation of today and tomorrow.

b.) Film Jury
This programme seeks to inculcate in participants the skills with which to critically appreciate and appraise creativity in general and film in particular. Some 17 participants had gone through the programme by the end of August 2009.
The Film Jury usually works on films selected by the Film Selection Committee that is composed of children, youth and adult professionals.

c.) Programme Planning and Presentation (MCs)
This programe equips participants with the skills to organise and present cultural and creative events. Participants are usually in charge of preparing the daily programme of events and introducing them during the festival. Nine children and youth had by the end of August 2009 gone through this programme.

d.) Festival Press
This is aimed at uplifting the standards of creative and cultural journalism in eastern Africa. Articles by the children and youth who go through this practical, learn-as-you-do programme are published throughout the festival on lolakenyascreen.org and artmatters.info websites and on various tailor-made blogs.
Some 19 participants drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania mainland, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe had gone through this programme between August 2006 and August 2009.

2. Festival
Lola Kenya Screen, though focusing on moving images, also embraces and showcases literary, performing and visual arts and culture. It is thus not surprising to find story-telling, theatre, music, dance, art and literature being exposed and promoted alongside film at Lola Kenya Screen.
Lola Kenya Screen has showed more than 1450 best possible international films for children, youth and family from 95 nations representing all the continents in various genres, formats and lengths between August 2006 and August 2009.

3. Market
This Lola Kenya Screen platform is for marketing, promoting and distributing films, services, products and messages targeting children, youth and family.
This marketing platform is in line with Lola Kenya Screen that identifies, nurtures and promotes talent among young people.
Joel Sebunjo, a young Afro-fusion musician from Uganda, is now specialising in film sound track after having been exposed to the genre by Lola Kenya Screen in 2006 and 2007.