By Ogova Ondego
Published September 2, 2007
Canada-based Kenyan director of photography, Stan Barua, has been nominated for a Gemini Award in the Best Photography in a Comedy, Variety or Performing Arts Programme or Series category. The 22nd Gemini Award -the Canadian equivalent of the Emmy Awards of the United States of America’are scheduled for October 15-17, 2007. OGOVA ONDEGO reports.
Barua, whose wildlife conservation documentary is set for screening across Canada via the CBC network in October 2007, has been nominated in the Best Photography in a Comedy, Variety or Performing Arts Programme or Series category.
“This nomination is for my work as Director of Photography on the television mini-series, The TO Variety Show. It is specifically for the episode, Toronto Dances,” says Kenya’s best known director of photography and elder brother of film director Jakub Barua of Nairobi, Kenya.
The Gemini awards, granted annually by The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, honour the best achievements in Canadian television. The awards are scheduled for October 15-17, 2007. The Gemini Awards are the equivalent of the Emmy Awards of the United States of America.
Though a great honour, this is not the first time Barua (whose well shot film, Rain, that was shown at Lola Kenya Screen film festival for children and youth in Nairobi in August 2006)has been nominated for the Gemini.
“I had previously been nominated in 2002 for a Gemini Award for ‘Best Photography in a Dramatic
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Program or Series’ for my cinematography on the drama titled Baba’s House.
The half-hour film had also been nominated for a separate Gemini Award in the category ‘Best Short Dramatic Programme’.
Film Club, a documentary on which Barua was director of photography, received the Canada Award at the 17th Annual Gemini Awards.
Journey to Justice, yet another documentary shot by Barua, had also received a Gemini Award nomination in the Best History Documentary Programme category in 2002.
“I am currently engaged on the paranormal detective television series, Psychic Investigators, for the A&E channel in the USA and the W channel in Canada. Locations have included Hawaii, Louisiana, Arkansas, Maine, Ontario and British Columbia,” Barua says, adding that he has(with a Toronto film production company)shot a film in South and North Korea “on the implications of any reunification of South and North Korea.”
Barua says all his films are filmed on High Definition Television equipment.
