Kenya

Abstract

Before the independence of Kenya from the United Kingdom in 1963, foreign production companies used Kenya as a backdrop for films shot in the country. After becoming a republic, film production started to rise, however, the quality of production values were extremely low. After the year 2000, the number of films created in the country rose due to the advent of digital video and accessible technology. Film scholar Wanjiku Beatrice Mukora, born and raised in Kenya, writes:

Women filmmakers have been very significant in forming the foundations of national cinema in Kenya. They comprise more than fifty percent of filmmakers with men occupying positions of cameramen, members of the lighting crew and other assistant or behind-the-scene posts. (Mukora 1999: 43)

Kenyan documentary producer and media advisor Dommie Yambo-Odotte states that it hard for men to enter cinema production due to financing — but even more difficult for the women (Ouédraogo 1995: 20). Most of the films produced by Kenyan women have been documentary and educational films. The Kenyan Film Commission was established in 2005 and promotes Kenyan filmmakers, as well as offering incentives to foreign production entities to shoot in the country.