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Evaluation of Kenyan Film Industry: Historical Perspective

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Evaluation of Kenyan Film Industry: Historical Perspective EVALUATION OF KENYAN FILM INDUSTRY: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE EDWIN NGURE NYUTHO K90/97871/2015 A Research Thesis Submitted to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nairobi, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, of the University of Nairobi, NOVEMBER 2015 DECLARATION DEDICATION i This document is dedicated to several people who have contributed to its creation in different ways; To my father the late Benson Nyutho Matigi for having instilled in me the notion that education was the only alternative worth pursuing, along the path towards a better future; To my mother Nelius Wanjiru Nyutho who nurtured me and endured my mischievous childhood, always checking the bedroom a second time to ensure that I didn’t sneak back into bed after my siblings had gone to school. She was the most accomplished performer I have ever seen and she could mimic any person we knew in our village and beyond. She passed her performative genius to me and I went into Theatre and Drama owing to the art of storytelling that she gifted me; To my eldest sister the late Mary Wangui Gitei for her faith in me. When all seemed lost after passing my K.P.C.E well enough to be admitted into high school, only to discover that my name had deliberately been omitted from the application list by my father’s enemies, she asserted that no matter what the evil ones did, I would “die a degree man.” Those words became an inspiration and a motivation to strive towards their fulfillment; To my wife Sarah Namunyak Nakeel who in her quiet demeanor has expanded my space as I wander through the vast wilderness gleaning for knowledge and ideas, and to my sons Newton Nyutho and Moses Lemaiyan…May you pursue your dreams to their fullest conclusions. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to my first supervisor Professor Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira whose amazing passion for detail was invaluable in reorganizing my original draft and giving it the current form. Professor Kabira is an embodiment of critical thinking, persistent quest for detail and order, and her passionate pursuit for quality and professionalism in the writing of this document, and her indefatigable commitment to ensure its completion is unforgettable. She made me realize the rigors it takes to be a Professor. To Dr. Muiru Ngugi for his invaluable contribution in shaping my original concept into a researchable topic, and for spending time reading my manuscript and helping to focus me to the structural rearrangement of the document. Dr. Margaretta wa Gacheru who on the outset challenged me to explore film production in Kenya which has unfortunately not been researched into and documented adequately. As a media reporter in theatre, culture and the arts since the 1970s, Margaretta was aware that there was scanty documentation on the Kenyan film history and she knew I was part of the story. I am indebted to my Key Informant Interviewees who gave me alot of their time, their experiences and their knowledge freely and open heartedly. Without their cooperation and assistance, this work would never have been completed satisfactorily: To Jane Munene, Chief Executive FEPACI, the person who has persistently pushed the dream of empowering local independent film producers since the early 1980s. She has single mindedly pursued her passion in film, and she now heads the top regional institution dealing with film policy matters in Africa. Without her vision and persistence, FEPACI would never have come to Kenya; To John Karanja the Technical Director of Riverwood, whose passion for local, affordable, quality film production is helping transform Riverwood from a den of movie pirates to a professional, vibrant movie making business; iii To Lizzie Chongoti, the Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Film Commission, who feels that Kenyan cinema ought to be woven with a common ‘golden thread’ to make it stand out as a uniquely Kenyan product; To Dr. S.P. Otieno, lecturer and film producer who oozes with enthusiasm for film, and whose vision created the Schools and Colleges Film Festival which in a few years will be the largest film festival in the region, if it isn’t already; To veteran film actor, film Casting Director Lenny Juma who gave me so much of his time. Lenny is the unsung hero who tracked down Oliver Litondo in western Kenya to be casted as Maruge for the First Grader when the role was about to be given to a South African. Lenny also discovered Sidede Onyulo in a small village near Lake Victoria and had him casted to play Owuor in Nowhere in Africa and Sidede won The Best Supporting Actor in Durban Film Festival; To Wanjiru Kinyanjui the Director of Battle of Sacred Tree and also Chair of Deptartment Multimedia University, for her insightful reflections on the plight of local film producers over the years, and how the intractable Moi government had silenced creative thinking and expression; To Ernest K Kerich, Head of Department, Film Production Services, Ministry of Sports, Culture, and the Arts for his time and explanation of film licensing; To Kajetan Boy who on short notice managed to slot me in his busy schedule and he shared a lot of information only known to the insiders, in films produced under the Ginger link German sponsored training arrangement. Kajetan is one of the most sought after film script writing consultants locally. To Liyai Hudson Liyai, Deputy Librarian at UON Library, a librarian per excellence who helped me to comb the University of Nairobi Library for materials on this topic and after I iv had given up, he surprised me with invaluable literature that provides the evidence I needed for the 1980s; To Grace Muthoni Githu, and Sharon Merab Lukania for transcribing the long audio interviews into word documents. To Minne Nyambura, secretary to Professor Kabira for her coordinational role during the entire research period. And to Edward Gacunu Koigi for proof reading the document. I am indebted to so many people who made their contributions in varied ways and I cannot be able to acknowledge them all.Those whose names do not appear above kindly take this as adequate appreciation of your input into this study. v vi ABSTRACT This evaluation of the Kenyan film industry from its historical foundations, tried to fill a gap of shortage of data on history of film in Kenya. It traces the historical development of the film industry, the policies and institutional frameworks, impacted by changing political circumstances and technological developments over the study period from colonial Kenya to the present. The qualitative study used both primary and secondary data methods. Primary data collection involved interviewing key informants who are policy makers and custodians of a lot of the information related to the management and the operation of the Kenyan film industry. This included policy makers in government and the CEO of FEPACI the regional film organization, and senior film producers some who have been in the industry since the 1970s. For secondary data, the study carried out a rigorous critical evaluation desk study at the Kenya National Archives and Data Services (KNADS), local libraries and websites featuring film production in Kenya. For data on the colonial period, the research benefited greatly from data from the British Film Institute from where the researcher was able to access and preview relevant films from that epoch. For the postcolonial epoch, there was a lot of data available from KNADS. The desk study gave the researcher a clear grasp of the different issues and the stages that the Kenyan film went through and the challenges and opportunities at varying moments along the way. Because film’s communicative power is in representations of reality on the screen, the study also evaluated how Kenyan people have been represented on the screen during the era under study by critically analyzing films, purposively selected from three epochs of the study period. The selected films included the colonial epoch when film propaganda became a major weapon against the nationalist struggle for independence, the postcolonial epoch, in the mid-1980s when the film industry was on the verge of takeoff, and for the contemporary epoch, 2012, when the Kenyan local film industry made its impact on the global screen. The study outlines how the industry developed and how policies were made to suit regimes in power. In the post-independent epoch, there are revelations of whimsical policy decisions, made by middle level bureaucrats, which condemned great enterprises to start a film industry in the 1960s. The study also lays out the evolution and the establishment of Riverwood film industry. A surprising finding is the extent to which South Africa has risen to dominate cinema in Kenya since the end of Apartheid. The setting up of a Kenyan Schools, Colleges and Universities film festival indicates a bright future for the Kenyan film industry. The study makes many recommendations, including the improvement of distribution and marketing of movies in Kenya; professionalization of the Riverwood film industry, and a more rigorous study to affirm the chain-link of their business. Among many other recommendations are the measures to take, as the industry’s management is devolved to the Kenyan counties. vii LIST OF ACRONYMS AMI: Africa Media Institute BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation BEKE: Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment Bollywood: Film industry in India, CBD: Central Business District CCK: Communication Commission of Kenya CD: Compact Disc CEO: Chief Executive Officer. CGI: Character Generator Interface. 3D: Three Dimensional Screens. Darwood: The film Industry in Tanzania. DFFB: German Academy for Film & Television Berlin (DFFB). DFS: Department of Film Services. DSTV: DStv Network is MultiChoice's digital satellite TV service in Africa.
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