Kenyan Christine Bala directs her first feature film, Babu’s Babies. A production of Africa Script Development Fund of Zimbabwe, the film has since won Best East African Production Award at Zanzibar International Film Festival

The long awaited film commission has been set up in Kenya to the backdrop of a film sector seething with anger and not fighting shy of expressing it, Ogova Ondego writes.

The bone of contention is the Kenya Gazette Notice No 488 of December 21, 2004 that raised filming and film agency fees in Kenya to what many players in the audiovisual sector say they can ill afford. Citing section 35 (2) (a) of the Films and Stage Plays Act (Chapter 222 of the Laws of Kenya) that regulates performing arts in Kenya, Raphael Tuju, communications and information minister, revised fees and regulations governing filmmaking in Kenya. To be licensed as an agent, one “must be a trained person with proven knowledge in film profession.” These regulations—that have locked some prominent film outfits out of business for either being run by people not trained in film production or their inability to afford agency fees—are published in the Kenya Gazette of January 28, 2005.

Impeccable sources say among agencies that were initially locked out of business in January 2005 included Pontact Productions of Jenny Pont, Africapix of Mohinder Dhillon (who has been in the sector since 1952), Baraka Films of Njeri Karago, Blue Sky, and Viewfinders of Jean Hartley that specialises in wildlife films. Africapix is also out of business in Kenya in what government licensing sources describe as not having filmmaking professionals although the company does work for and with international organisations. Viewfinders has since been allowed back to the fold after ‘employing film professionals’.

Jean Hartley, managing director of Viewfinders, says the film licensing officer misinterpreted instructions—trained person with proven knowledge—to mean that one needs ‘academic qualifications’ to run a film agency. Although many of the 700 films Viewfinders has facilitated since its establishment in 1986 have won Oscar and Emmy awards, Hartley says the licensing officer had denied her registration insisting on her having academic certificates in film. But perhaps what is more shocking is the denial of registration to Mohinder Dhillon’s Africapix. Dhillon has been in business for 53 years and many of his productions have won international awards. He cannot be registered, Department of Film Services (formerly Film Production Department till January 2005 and that still has the name emblazoned on its building) insists, because he has no academic qualifications.

It is also ironical that although her Pontact Productions—that has handled international productions like Nowhere in Africa, White Maasai, To walk with Lions—was denied registration because Pont lacks academic qualifications in film, she has been appointed to the board of the newly created Kenya Film Commission. The Gazette notice raised film agency fees by 500 percent from Sh2000 (US$25) to Sh12000 (US$150) per annum; daily filming charges by 150 percent from Sh400 (US$5) to Sh1000 (US$12.5); and general filming levies by 972 percent from Sh1400 (US$17.5) to Sh15000 (US$187.5).

Somewhere in Kenya: Nowhere in Africa Kenya supervising producer Jenny Pont flanked by actor Sidede Onyulo and executive producer Peter Hermann at the Goethe-Institut in Nairobi

Previously the government charged filming fees of between Sh700 (US$8.75) and Sh1400 (US$17.5) based on the screening length of the production and had not categorised films according to genre as it has now done. A full length feature film will now attract Sh15000 (US$187.5) fees, while documentaries, dramas, short features and stills will be charged at Sh5000 (US$62.5) each. To register a film agency in order to service foreign films, one must be trained in film besides raising Sh24000 (US$300) registration and annual subscription fees. Previously one needed just Sh2000 (US$25) and no academic qualification was called for. Perhaps what is more contentious is the requirement that one be trained in film whereas, strictly speaking, Kenya has no film schools and Kenya Institute of Mass Communications—that has produced most players in Kenya’s audiovisual sector—cannot pass for one. Save for a handful film practitioners trained in European and North American schools, this requirement would effectively disqualify most local film practitioners who, Department of Film Services sources say, recommended that film agents be trained in film production.

Filmmakers like Wanjiru Kinyanjui argue filmmakers are artists and not academicians or industrial product to be handled commercially. Amit Tyagi of Themescape Media contends that there should be exceptions to the rule that has seen internationally-acclaimed filmmaker Dhillon denied registration for not possessing academic qualifications in film production. He wonders why any one providing logistical support like location scouting, license and work permit acquisition as Pontact and Viewfinders do should be forced to be trained in film when they are not making films. The number of film agencies in Kenya tumbled from 46 in 2004 to 30 in April 2005 and then rose again marginally to 36 in August 2005.

DFS say they have now licensed Pontact, Viewfinders, and Baraka after they either submitted academic certificates in film production or after promising to do so by December 2005. Africapix, they say, will also be licensed this year as long as either Dhillon or his son Fam Dhillon undergoes a short course in camera-handling at Mohamed Amin Foundation Television School in Nairobi in December 2005. Unless this is done, the firm will not be in business in 2006. However the junior Dhillon takes issue with the government saying it is stifling filmmaking instead of promoting it. “The work my father and I have done should qualify us for licensing. This is our CV,” he says, adding, his father has written to minister Tuju who has allowed Africapix to be licensed. But before this, however, Africapix had to go through accredited firms to do film business. He recommends that the new film commission be involved in funding of productions instead of just promoting Kenya as a filming location. Hartley, on the other hand, is hopeful that with the establishment of the film commission in Kenya, the audiovisual sector will be streamlined. For it to be recognised, she further argues, it will have to be an independent body, free of government control.

The commission was set up through an Executive Order (Presidential Decree) via Legal Notice Number 10 in the Kenya Gazette signed by President Mwai Kibaki on January13, 2005. Largely viewed as too mortgaged to special interests to improve the audiovisual sector of Kenya, critics contend the commission should have been set up through normal parliamentary legislation and not through a Presidential Decree as that also makes it easy prey to manipulation by the Executive arm of government. This, critics point out, could also see it not recognised by the Association of Film Commissions International as it does not appear to be independent.

The critics appeared to be vindicated when the body was set up hurriedly and rather secretly without any structures in place and George Nyamweya, a political activist and deputy secretary-general of President Kibaki’s Democratic Party, appointed to chair the board of the commission on May 11, 2005. Others appointed to the body were Jenny Pont, Albert Wandago, Ingolo wa Keya, Mark Mwithaga and Billy Muta. Although set up through an ‘Executive Order’, sources say, the commission is regulated by the State Corporations Act (Chapter 446 of the Laws of Kenya). It however has been bogged down by bureaucratic bottlenecks. It has no secretariat and just got an office a fortnight ago. It has now advertised for a suitable candidate to take up the post of CEO.

Raphael Tuju, Kenya’s communications and information minister

Olivier Lechien, the Audiovisual Attaché at the French Embassy in Kenya whose term ends in August 2005, says the composition of the new commission may be ‘a bag of mixed fortunes’ but that ‘it is a good start.’ The commissioner or Chief Executive Officer, says Lechien, “will probably make the difference. He or she is supposed to be recruited competitively to allow for someone committed to the spirit of the commission, preferably from a marketing background, which was one of the recommendations of the Film Commissions workshop held in 2003. Kenyans, however, will still have to lobby a lot.” The Audiovisual Attaché who has done more than his fare share of uplifting the audiovisual sector in Kenya during his four-year term, says, “We look forward to supporting the film commission once its objectives are clarified and we know where it is going.” Producer Njeri Karago of the Kenya Film and Television Professional Association, however, says: “If the film commission is not constituted via an act of parliament, it is probably illegal” and that this “could threaten its recognition” by bodies like the Association of Film Commissions International that brings together various commissions around the world.

It is hoped that the Kenya Film Commission will aspire to do better than, say, the Namibian Film Commission that has done little since its establishment via an act of parliament in 2000. Will it just promote Kenya as a consumer of foreign audiovisual productions and set for servicing foreign films or will it also empower locals to build a vibrant filming sector? Little is to be expected unless the commission is de-linked from the government as Tuju’s performance record on communications and information matters is wanting and has been taken to court by various players several times. Tuju failed to show up at the opening of the 14th European Film Festival at Alliance Francaise on May 11, 2005 without explanation. Not even a representative from his ministry showed up forcing the event to begin half an hour late.

One could not tell whether the minister’s failure to show up had been caused by his perceived fear of an impending confrontation by angry audiovisual players who are accusing him of killing entrepreneurial initiative in a country lacking in world class film personnel and infrastructure, or was suffering from the hubris he has heaped on himself through dictatorial and ill informed decisions taken in a rush. For instance, in September 2003, the minister demanded that local radio and television stations broadcast at least 20% and 30% local content, respectively, by January 2004. The quotas were to have been increased to 40% and 60% in that order by the end of 2004. The Media Owners Association—through its then chair Wilfred Kiboro—opposed the directive saying it was impractical and terming it "a slap in the face of liberalisation and an attempt to introduce official suppression."

Observers argued that the government needed to come up with appropriate legislation before attempting to ‘reform’ the broadcast sector. Fearing legal action, Tuju beat a hasty retreat. Then he formed a committee to ‘probe the conduct of Kiss FM’ allegedly for defaming water resources minister, Martha Karua. This saw him taken to court. After that he sacked all the directors of Kenya Wildlife Service and Communications Commission of Kenya before pulling the rug from under Econet Wireless that had won the tender to run the third mobile service provision in Kenya. EcoNet has sued the government. Earlier in January 2003, Tuju had led the government in taking back what he termed as 'idle', 'hoarded' or ‘irregularly acquired broadcast frequencies and licenses’.

There is concern that the Kenya Film Commission may be ineffective if the minister’s past performance is anything to go by. Meanwhile Trushna Buddhdev, the long serving marketing manager at Fox Theatres (EA), has moved over to Nu-Metro Cinema, in the same capacity.

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