Lola Kenya Screen

Lola Kenya Screen has great significance in the advancement of the rights of children in the Eastern Africa region.

Speaking during the official closure of this annual audiovisual media festival in Nairobi on August 15, 2009, Children’s Affairs Secretary Prof Jacqueline Oduol said Lola Kenya Screen “falls under the development right [of the child] as per the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).”

In a speech read on her behalf by the Children’s Services’ Assistant Director Adelaide Ng’aru, Prof Oduol of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development said “a draft national children policy is pending cabinet approval, a situation analysis on children is in place, a national plan for action for children has been finalised for a period 2008-2012, the Children’s  Act 2001 is under amendment and the government through the National Council for Children Services (NCCS) in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development is co-coordinating children matters in Kenya to ensure children’s rightful development.”

Saying that holding a festival like Lola Kenya Screen “is a clear indication that you are walking with the child in terms of development as their right,” Prof Oduol added, “You are no doubt equipping [children] with the skills to understand, appreciate and create quality audio-visual productions in particular and arts in general.”  

Prof Oduol said the existence of Lola Kenya Screen is “a great platform that explores, identifies and nurtures the talents of our dear children and youth… The hands-on skill-development programmes in the areas such as journalism, film-making, critical appreciation of creativity and organisation and presentation of cultural and creative events are both noble and beneficial. It is a good approach that helps to nurture the creative talent among the children. I believe it falls under the development right as per the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).”

Saying “We all would love to see all the children in Kenya develop into responsible adulthood and this would greatly contribute to the prosperity of Kenya as a nation,” Prof Oduol added, “It is wonderful to note that Lola Kenya Screen recognises that children are not passive or a powerless target group but rather capable communicators who can effectively engage in activities such as this one.”

Some 3023 people turned up at the six-day event that had been opened on August 10, 2009 by the Gender, Children and Social Development Assistant Minister Atanas Manyala.

Lola Kenya Screen, an annual international event that is held every second week of August, helped equip16 children with the basics in documentary film-making who made two creative documentary and one fiction film; five children in creative journalism who were the official reporters throughout the duration of the festival; two children in the organisation and presentation of events who were in charge of the festival as MCs; and six other children in the critical appreciation of film who judged and awarded prizes to the 31 films in competition.

The skill-development mentors included Anette Tony-Hansen of Denmark, Rut Gomez Sobrino and Fina Sensada –Boixader of Spain, and Vincho Nchogu, Shiro Kairu and Ogova Ondego of Kenya.

More than 200 films from 50 nations and in 33 languages were exhibited at the 4th Lola Kenya Screen.
This brought the number of films in various genres, formats and lengths that have been exhibited at Lola Kenya Screen since August 2006 to 1450.
Also in the framework of Lola Kenya Screen, the first ever film summit for independent producers in eastern Africa—Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan—was held with the support of UNESCO. Its aims were to debate and prepare a detailed plan of action to strengthen networking among producers, broadcasters and UNESCO.

Lola Kenya Screen may be serving humanity well but unless it gets adequate and sustainable funding from both local and international partners, her very existence—and that of children and youth in eastern Africa—is shaky, if not uncertain.

Presented by ComMattersKenya in collaboration with Goethe-Institut, the partners of Lola Kenya Screen 2009 were UNESCO, Africalia, Jan Vrijman Fund/IDFA, ArtMatters.Info, and Cinematic Solutions.