By Ken Njenga Wambui
Published November 28, 2014
Nairobi’s premier critical film platform wound up 2014 on November 24 with the screening and discussion of Kenya’s first psychological thriller.
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Gracing the 81st monthly Lola Kenya Screen film forum (LKSff) that brings together lovers of film on the last Monday of the month for networking as they celebrate movies through screening and discussion was writer/director/editor/producer Mark Maina Maingi and the team that worked on his neo-noir mystery-psychological thriller called CONSIGNED TO OBLIVION that has so far won the Best Short Film Award at 3rd Arusha African Film Festival and has been snapped up by South Africa-based pay TV channel, M-Net, for screening across Africa.
On what led him into creating CONSIGNED TO OBLIVION, Maingi said, “Depicting what makes me watch films was what motivated me in coming up with the script of this film. Lola Kenya Screen has really been of help to my team because we learnt a lot from it during the screening and critiquing of our maiden film called TOO LATE. The feedback we got here acted as a catalyst to creativity.”
Maingi, flanked by lead acts Kevin Mugo Macharia and Faith Kibathi and cinematographer Marvin Kariuki, assistant director Joseph Wanyoike, set designer Ariel Gakunga and production designer Maina Mwangi said they were developing the film into several mini TV series.
“From the exposure and invaluable feedback we got and continue to receive from Lola Kenya Screen, we can’t predict where our next stop will be,” Maingi said. “It was the show at Lola Kenya Screen that exposed us to the world beyond the borders of Kenya.”
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Maingi further explained that the idea to make the film had been conceived in April 2013 when he combined forces with six former colleagues and alumni of Youth Film Platform, an NGO-funded school for film and video production.
The project had taken two months to complete from the commencement of the filming on January 31, 2014.
Faith Kagae, a student at University of Nairobi, commended the crew and cast of CONSIGNED TO OBLIVION on a job well done, especially on what she termed as good use of background music, voice overs and the uniqueness of using Faith as both both Liz and Julie who are twins.
“Though it was a hard task of acting as the other twin of myself, I really enjoyed doing both roles,” said Faith Kabathi.
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The cast of the production include Faith Kibathi (female lead as Julie), Kevin Mugo (male lead as Nick), Vincent Masore (hotel security officer), Ann Wambui (hotel cleaning manager), Penina Nyambura (hotel room attendant) and Caroline Cheche and Elmar Grace Mwangi (hotel receptionists), the crew members are Mark Maingi (writer, editor, director,producer), Marvin Kariuki (cinematographer), Joseph Wanyoike (assistant director), Maina Mwangi (production designer) and Peter Wanjeri (sound director).
As December 29 (the last Monday of the month) falls during Christmas and New Year’s holiday, the 81st LKSff was the last event of 2014. The 82nd LKSff will be on January 26, 2015.
But if you thought the fun is already over, you wouldn’t be more wrong!
The 9th annual Lola Kenya Screen festival is on.
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Yes. December 6-12, 2014 brings participants from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to Nairobi for a seven day celebration of children, youth, family, creativity and culture.
Here, 11-16-year-old East Africans shall, through the highly popular Lola Kenya Screen’s hands-on, learn-as-you-do mentorship in cinematography, be equipped with the skills for frog-leaping eastern Africa’s motion pictures’ sector.
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“We shall explore innovative camera techniques, tantalizing lighting, hypnotic sound and visually arresting editing tricks on the theme, Youth Culture and New Markets in East Africa,” Ogova Ondego, director of Lola Kenya Screen, says.
As ever, participants shall be expected to make their own films that Lola Kenya Screen shall produce and present to the world.
Besides the specialised training, many more festivaliers are expected to engage with in-door and out-door film shows, art seminars and exhibitions, live performances and high level decision-making and policy-formulation conferences and networking meetings with industry captains in the fields of mass media, motion pictures, culture, business, development and yes, politics!
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I’ve saved as a favorite for later!